Matchups
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- Replay Theater is a great resource to find high-level matchup footage.
- High-level replays may also be found in-game (Main Menu > Collection > Replay > Search).
- The Counterstrategy page will generally have some basic counterstrategy against each character in the game.
- Please keep in mind that matchup charts are subjective and not all players may agree on them.
General Advice
Nago generally has some of the strongest and most threatening round start options in the game, so most players will play defensively from the start.
This defensive playstyle generally extends to neutral as well. This means that they’ll constantly back away from you and concentrate on whiff punishing your bigger buttons such as 2S or 5H, and forcing you to approach them since it’ll drive up your Blood gauge, or they’ve practiced stuffing Fukyo. With this in mind, don’t always try to take the initiative and force your approach/skip neutral with Fukyo and Beyblade. You'll occasionally want to slow down and play footsies against your opponent. Punish their approaches, and then spend your Blood to make the most out of their mistakes.
At round start, if the opponent has Burst, it's risky to open up with a special move that isn't Fukyo as well as routing into a longer combo that requires multiple special moves to complete. Even if the opponent doesn't have Burst, as mentioned previously, they'll likely play defensively right away and simply jump back and chicken block to avoid/defend against round start special moves. It's worth representing the option occasionally, but a well timed Burst can set you back pretty quickly.
In neutral, some players will try to play keep away in order to drive up your Blood, especially if they play a highly mobile character like Chipp, Millia, or Giovanna. Try using less commital pokes such as 5K and 2K with a buffered 214H, since they can easily whiff punish your larger buttons. Don't spend a lot of Blood chasing them down. Walk if you have to. Slow and steady wins the race. If they’re not a zoner, they have to approach you eventually. Then, you can punish their approaches and get more of a reward using your special moves.
You'll have to be a lot smarter with your Blood management against characters that you do have to chase down, specifically characters that can zone such as Axl, Faust, Happy Chaos, Jack-O', Testament and Zato. These are match ups that Nago tends to have difficulties with due to his lack of traditional movement options. He does have a strong anti-zoning tool in 236S but you generally have to combine it with 236K in order to get in. This is very costly, as it will drive up your Blood a lot. Overreliance on it can be a death sentence.
Matchup Charts
Charts for the current patch (1.24)
NBNHMR is considered the current best North American Nagoriyuki who has a very balanced playstyle. He won CEOTaku 2022, which qualified him for ArcRevo 2022 Finals, and also placed in Top 6 in Frosty Faustings 2023. He got a 4th place at ArcRevo 2022 Finals.
Source: Twitter
Snorlax is a top NA Nago player who likes to play at high Blood Levels and crank opponents' RISC Gauges in the corner.
Source: Twitter
Charts for the previous patch (1.18)
Hotashi was a very dominant North American player during 2021 and most of 2022, known for aggressive playstaly. He got a 4th place at EVO 2022, and either won or got Top 8s in multiple major offline events.
Source: Twitter
Verix is one of the strongest EMEA Nagoriyuki players, known for his calculated and patient playstyle. He placed highly in The Mixup 2022 and VSF 2022.
Source: Twitter
Jetstream is one of the strongest EMEA Nagoriyuki players, known for his creativity and great awareness during scrambles. He placed highly in multiple major European offline events.
Source: Twitter
Anji Mito
Anji MitoHis Spin beats your Spin, time to get creative.Anji forces Nago to play more patiently, since he can Spin his way through the normals Nago likes to use to control neutral. Once Nago gets in, there's little Anji can really do to get Nago off of him except for mashing 2P or Kachoufuugetsu Kai, or relying on burst/YRC.
Overview | Frame Data | Matchups | Counterstrategy | Reverse Matchup Return to Top
Round Start
| Anji's Button | Loses To | Beats | Trades | Whiffs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
2S GuardLowStartup10Recovery16Advantage-6 |
Walk Back (2S punish) | All Other Buttons | 2K (-2 at a distance) | 5K (+9, another 5K punish) |
Charged Fuujin GuardAllStartup16 [32]Recovery21Advantage-8 [-6] |
623H (forced to block follow-up), 6~6D, 6~623P |
All Buttons that reach it (punish varies heavily) |
5K and 2K (another 5K beats full charge, loses on partial charge) | |
Charged Spin GuardStartupRecoveryTotal 34~50Advantage- |
623H (forced to block follow-up), 6~6D, 6~623P |
All Buttons that reach it (punish varies heavily) |
5K and 2K (punish with 6D/623P on reaction after) |
There are only 3 moves that you need to be worried about on roundstart: 2SGuardLowStartup10Recovery16Advantage-6, and charged FuujinGuardAllStartup16 [32]Recovery21Advantage-8 [-6] and SpinGuardStartupRecoveryTotal 34~50Advantage-.
Anji's 2SGuardLowStartup10Recovery16Advantage-6 beats all of Nago's buttons except for 5K (it whiffs so you can punish the recovery with another 5K) and Walk Back 2S. However, both of these options get blown up by partially charged FuujinGuardAllStartup16 [32]Recovery21Advantage-8 [-6] (if you press 5K again after whiffing 5K). Partially charged FuujinGuardAllStartup16 [32]Recovery21Advantage-8 [-6], in turn, is weak to 623H because Anji is forced to block the second hit after Autoguarding the first one (less commitment due to covering more options like Jump Back and other buttons than 2S but costs Blood) and to Walk Forward 6D/623P (hard read, doesn't cover other options but immense reward especially on the Bite).
Charged SpinGuardStartupRecoveryTotal 34~50Advantage- is less rewarding than FuujinGuardAllStartup16 [32]Recovery21Advantage-8 [-6], but it gives him more Autoguard frames and moves him forward enough to punish any buttons after a whiffed 5K other than 5P and 623H with Throw.
In conclusion, it is recommended to rotate between 5K, Walk Back 2S and 623H to cover most of his roundstart options. Try to visually confirm if Anji whiffed 2SGuardLowStartup10Recovery16Advantage-6 so you dont get counter-hit by FuujinGuardAllStartup16 [32]Recovery21Advantage-8 [-6]. After forcing him to block 623HH, cancel into 214K > f.S to punish mashing attempts (less Blood cost), or enforce your offense with 236S > 236K (costs a lot of Blood).
Changes after a Wall Break:
623H now beats every normal but requires a tiny delay for the first hit to connect against Spin.
Walk Back 623H will beat every option other than 6H
GuardAllStartup12Recovery21Advantage-8.
BL2+ 2S beats or trades with every normal, loses to immediate Spin, but counter-hits it if Spin is delayed even by a single frame.
Neutral
In neutral, Anji’s going to be fishing for hits with f.S
GuardAllStartup11Recovery21Advantage-9 and 5K
GuardAllStartup8Recovery9Advantage-2. He'll also be doing random Spins to try and catch Nago's slower, long range pokes such as f.S , 2S and 5H. He may throw out Kou randomly as well, if he notices you're jumping in a lot.
Play neutral slowly and patiently. Position yourself a little outside of the range of charged Fuujin, that way you can whiff punish it, or whiff punish Spin or one of Anji's pokes. Then you can get in on him and run your offense. Don't rely too heavily on controlling neutral by throwing out your longer range pokes. That's what Anji wants you to do, so he can spin through them and get in on you. Only use them to whiff punish. If you do accidentally trigger Spin, you can PRC to avoid the slowdown from triggering the autoguard. You can knowledge check Anji by throwing him after the PRC, but if the Anji's aware of this, he can immediately jump or backdash to avoid the throw and then punish you. You may be better off moving backwards using drift PRC to avoid any possible punish he could attempt.
Anji may throw out Butterfly
GuardAllStartup29RecoveryTotal 52Advantage-6 from a distance to try and control space. This is not really a tactic he should be doing, but if you notice that he's attempting this, you can bulldoze your way through it with and get in on him with 236S > 236K > f.SSS.
Autoguard Frame Data
Anji's SpinGuardStartupRecoveryTotal 34~50Advantage-, FuujinGuardAllStartup16 [32]Recovery21Advantage-8 [-6] and Kou
GuardAllStartup12 [28]Recovery14Advantage- all have Guard Points that put Anji into forced recovery, while Nago "whiffs" whichever move he used. This means you cannot cancel any of his moves except for 623H into 623HH, 236S and PRC (any move). Frame advantage depends on the move blocked, but all are minus except for jump-ins and 236S (because projectiles don't force you into hitstop, unlike strikes).
| Nago Move Blocked | Frame Advantage | Anji's Punish |
|---|---|---|
| 236S | +17 | Not Punishable |
| j.K, j.S, j.H | Usually Plus | |
| 5P | -1 | |
| 2K | -2 | Close-Range: Throw GuardGround ThrowStartup2Recovery38Advantage-
|
| 2P, 5K | -3 | |
| c.S | -5 | |
| 214H | -11 | Close-Range: c.S GuardAllStartup7Recovery11Advantage+1 Far-Range: K and S normals |
| 623H | -13 (cancellable into 623HH) | |
| 2S | -14 | |
| f.S | -20 | Death💀 |
| 5H | -22 | |
| 623HH | -24 | |
| 2H, 6H | -25 |
- Most of your usual pokes are very minus after getting Autoguarded, use them carefully.
- Use 5K in neutral, it is very good at stuffing Fuujin
GuardAllStartup16 [32]Recovery21Advantage-8 [-6] while not being punishable if Autoguarded at range. - Use 5P after approaching with 236K in neutral to avoid being punishable by Throw. From there, you may RPS with Backdash, Jump, or Throw Tech.
- Clone > Fukyo leaves you very plus right next to him, while he is forced into a true 50/50 strike/throw because he has no Throw protection after leaving recovery of Autoguard.
Offense
On defense, the tools that Anji will mainly be relying on system mechanics such as Burst, YRC, jump or backdash. For mashing, 2P
GuardAllStartup5Recovery10Advantage-2 has a gigantic hitbox
GuardAllStartup5Recovery10Advantage-2 for a 5 frame button, meaning he can disrespect pressure from much farther away than other characters.
Anji has a surprisingly high jump, which often makes c.S whiff on him. He can also stall his jump with j.D
GuardHighStartup8Recovery18Advantage-. Use Air Throw to counter extended stalling in the air.
He doesn't have a meterless invincible reversal, but you do need to be careful with your pressure once Anji has Tension. Counter Super
GuardStartup1Recovery10Advantage- is impossible to safe jump, and has a tiny 10 frame recovery window. It's much easier to punish it with 623P instead of a strike. On hit, it deals a lot of damage but doesn't give him good oki midscreen, which means you can often simply not care and tank the hit on a large enough life deficit.
Defense
Defending Against Fuujin
Just about all of Anji's blockstrings will end in Fuujin, and likely, one of its follow ups. Anji doesn't have to do a follow-up, but Fuujin by itself is -8 on block, so he's punishable by Nago's 5K if he doesn't do one. All of Fuujin’s follow ups have answers to them:
- During Fan Toss
GuardAllStartup30 (43 if early cancelled from Fuujin)RecoveryTotal 43+6 after LandingAdvantage+7, jump and either Air Throw or hit him with j.K. It is also slow enough for you to react with reversal 632146S. - Hop
GuardStartupRecovery22+6 after LandingAdvantage- is punishable by Throw. Anji players usually try to Throw after it as well, meaning that a Throw Tech usually happens if you react late. - The Low
GuardLowStartup15 (28 with early cancel)Recovery20Advantage-7 is -7. If he’s close enough, you can punish with 5K. - The Overhead
GuardHighStartup21 (34 with early cancel)Recovery24Advantage-9 is -15. It has 21 frames of start up, so you're going to have to learn to fuzzy block or react to this. Anji is more likely to go for this option with 50 Tension to keep himself safe or Red RC into a big combo.
Defending Against Butterfly Oki
After a hard knockdown, Anji can toss out Butterfly and put you in a high/low and strike/throw mix with Fuujin on your wake up. Some of his options:
- Kara Fuujin > OverheadGuardHighStartup21 (34 with early cancel)Recovery24Advantage-9 just before the Butterfly's second hit that lets him get a small meterless combo. React and block High.
- Same thing, but with uncharged 5D
GuardHighStartup20Recovery26Advantage-15. He can only get a combo from this when throwing the Butterfly from a close distance. React and block High. - Throw
GuardGround ThrowStartup2Recovery38Advantage- in-between the Butterfly hits. This option isn't as strong as seems because it's possible to Option Select it with delay Throw Tech (up to 15 frames after your wake-up), whereupon your Tech attempt will get eaten by the Butterfly's second hit if he doesn't try to Throw you, but you will successfully Tech if he does. However, because Teching requires you to be Standing during the input, this opens you up to... - Lows (Kara Fuujin > LowGuardLowStartup15 (28 with early cancel)Recovery20Advantage-7 or 2K
GuardLowStartup7Recovery11Advantage-2). Same principle as before, the Butterfly's second hit gives him a meterless combo from his Low options.
Axl Low
Axl LowThe vampire samurai isn't a frequent flyer, and it shows.Axl really takes advantage of Nago's lack of air mobility in particular by controlling the ground with his long reaching normals, as well as Rensen. It's easy for him to anti-air Nago because of his slow and obvious jump arcs. Careless management of Nago's Blood can make this match up very difficult for him.
Overview | Frame Data | Matchups | Counterstrategy | Reverse Matchup Return to Top
Round Start
| Axl's Button | Loses To | Beats | Trades | Whiffs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
2P GuardLowStartup10Recovery14Advantage-6 |
214H | All Other Buttons | Jump (Axl recovers in time to AA) | |
f.S GuardAllStartup10Recovery19Advantage-8 |
6P (CH), 214K > 214H | All Other Buttons | Jump (Axl recovers in time to AA) | |
Rainwater GuardAllStartup24Recovery21Advantage+3 |
2H (CH), 623H~H (CH) | All Other Buttons | Walk Back (214H punish on reaction), Jump (j.S punish, 236K > 2S is meaty) | |
IADB j.S GuardHighStartup14Recovery18Advantage- |
2H, 623H | All Other Buttons | Jump (Cannot punish, Axl recovers first) |
Round start is mostly in Axl's favor. From that position, the vast majority of Nago's buttons and special moves lose to Axl's. Unlike other match ups, Nago doesn't have anything that can beat several of Axl's round start options at once. 2PGuardLowStartup10Recovery14Advantage-6 beats everything except 214H, but is unsafe on block by itself, which forces Axl to RPS after. Jumping forward will avoid all of Axl's buttons and special moves except for 5P
GuardAllStartup7Recovery19Advantage-11 [-3] or 6K
GuardAllStartup11Recovery25Advantage-13. You can punish RainwaterGuardAllStartup24Recovery21Advantage+3 and 2H
GuardLowStartup11Recovery26Advantage-18 [-8] with j.S, though you don't get a combo after punishing Rainwater. Aside from those two options, Axl will recover in time to anti-air if he opts for anything else at round start, so if you do end up jumping forward, don't press a button and block in case he does anything else.
Mix up your approaches between the ground and the air. If you attempt an aerial approach, punish him if you can, or just block if you want to be absolutely safe. Jumping and blocking allows you to safely advance forward and keep him from getting away. You'll jump over any low and you'll block if he reads your jump with 5P or 6K.
Changes after a Wall Break:
f.SGuardAllStartup10Recovery19Advantage-8 can now be Walked Back out of and whiff punished with our own f.S. For this reason, 2HGuardLowStartup11Recovery26Advantage-18 [-8] is a common choice instead, but it loses to 623H and BL3 2S, and trades with BL2 2S (Axl is plus at full screen). 2PGuardLowStartup10Recovery14Advantage-6 now trades with BL2+ 2S (+2) and 623H (236K > OTG 6H combo). Rainwater cannot be hit with j9 > j.S and now clashes with 623H~H and BL1 2H. You are still at an advantage due to Axl recovering in the air while Nago stays grounded.
Neutral
Dealing With Rensen and It's Follow Ups
Axl can control the ground extremely well with his normals and Sickle Flash (aka Rensen)
GuardAllStartup24Recovery29Advantage-19~-9. Since Nago cannot alter his jump with a double jump or an airdash, it's easy for Axl to anti-air him as well. You need to play slow and patient in this match up. It’s hard for Axl to do a lot of damage if Nago plays defensively, so take your time, hold your ground, and see if Axl gets frustrated or impatient. Rensen is mainly effective at fullscreen. Once you get closer to mid-screen, there's a deadzone where his follow-up will whiff. You can punish Rensen with 236K > 214H pretty easily if Axl uses any of the follow ups at the wrong distance. Don't let them get away with it.
However, at full-screen, Rensen and its follow ups are what Axl will mainly be using to zone us out and control the ground. In neutral, try to avoid blocking Rensen and jump over it. Axl can really lock Nago down if it’s blocked. If Nago does block it, KEEP blocking in case he does a follow up. Rensen has three follow ups, each with their own weakness:
- Winter Cherry
GuardAllStartup18 [22]Recovery24Advantage-3 [+10]: There are 2 versions to this: a fast one and a slow one that Axl has to input with delayed timing after a Rensen. He uses the Fast Bomb to catch Jumps and Dashes, while the Slow Bomb deals a ton of chip damage and leaves him Plus. To counteract this: try normal jumping forward after the Fast Bomb to avoid another Rensen, and normal jumping forward before the Slow Bomb happens after blocking the initial hit. You can also 236K out of Slow Bomb but that requires a read and wastes Blood if the Fast Bomb is used instead. If Nago blocks either of the bombs and Axl does another Rensen, he’s guaranteed to be able to do the Upwards Chain after shooting out another Rensen with perfect timing. You’re going to be in this situation a lot where Axl is constantly pulling you in, here's how to deal with it: - Axl can use Soaring Chain Strike
GuardAllStartup8Recovery34Advantage-11 on reaction to you jumping to avoid Winter Cherry. Use Faultless Defense to fall faster in the air and improve your frame advantage after blocking it. Depending on the height, this usually allows you to Throw the Axl player out of his 2K
GuardLowStartup5Recovery11Advantage-4. After that, they'll try to RPS with you by using Backdash or Jump so vary your responses after landing. If you block the Chain very close to Axl, you'll fly over and switch sides with him, be prepared to block in the opposite direction. Instant Block makes you fall straight down to the ground but usually doesn't grant you a punish since you're too far away. - Spinning Chain Strike
GuardLowStartup7Recovery19Advantage-6 has no hitbox above Axl's waist
GuardLowStartup7Recovery19Advantage-6, despite what the animation might suggest. Jump over it on reaction and punish with j.H. If you do end up blocking it, don't let go from holding back or you will get hit. Take your turn after since he's -6.
Approaching Axl
You need to know when and how to advance on him. With that being said, do not constantly spend Blood from full screen on anything that isn't Fukyo. Instead, you should save your Blood for when you get in and go on the offensive. The loss condition is almost guaranteed if Nago's built up two bars of the Blood gauge and he's behind on the life lead. This is almost impossible to come back from.
To approach Axl, alternate between normal jumping, super jumping and 236K. Try getting crafty. Bait Axl's anti airs by jumping back and then doing 236K. If you're successful, you could then attempt to hit Axl if he’s airborne or just be content with closing the distance to the mid-range. It might be tempting to approach with 236S > 236K since Clone beats Rensen, but you need to be reserved with it. Don't rely on it as a crutch in this match up. Axl can bait it out or Burst you away, and you will have filled up almost half of the Blood Gauge trying to approach. The same applies for using 236K > 214H from full screen. Bear the risk of these options in mind, don't rely on them frequently, and mix them with your other methods of approach.
If Axl's jumping around a lot with j.SGuardHighStartup14Recovery18Advantage-, try and hit him with 6P or swing 2H preemptively if you see a pattern. 2H might even work if Axl is grounded. It can hit him out of a bunch of his normals or special moves, especially if you’re on level 2 Blood. Finally,236K > 623HH destroys jumpy Axl players from any range but costs a lot of Blood and requires a read, use with caution.
Other Things To Avoid
You need to avoid Winter Mantis
GuardGround ThrowStartup28Recovery34Advantage- at all costs. This is the most important thing to look out for, especially at full screen or mid-range. The best way to avoid this is with a backdash or a jump. Don’t jump forward though, because it can catch Nago doing that. Bear in mind it starts up faster the closer you are to the back of the screen. If Nago happens to evade this, he can punish Axl from any range with 236K > 214H. Get good at punishing this.
If Nago is full screen, and Axl activates One Vision (aka Time Stop)
GuardStartup5Recovery30Advantage-, he’ll likely try to bait you into blocking and use Winter Mantis to pull you in and set you up for a damaging combo. Be aware of this, and react to whatever Axl does once Time Stop is prepped. Axl is 0 on block after he activates it, so be patient and wait for his next move, don’t immediately go charging in.
Offense
When you finally manage to close the distance and begin running your offense, you need to always keep Axl's 2K
GuardLowStartup5Recovery11Advantage-4 in mind. It has 5 frames start up and low profiles your f.S and 5K. Don't use sequences like meaty c.S > 5K, his 2K will low profile it. Instead, replace 5K with either 2K (auto-timed frametrap but low damage starter, pushes you back) or dl.6K (requires manual timing to frametrap but high damage starter, leaves you closer on block). This is Axl's primary method of getting people off of him. Your offense needs to be air tight, and you need to avoid leaving gaps in your pressure as much as you can. If Axl manages to get a successful hit in, any string he does will send you right back to fullscreen and you will have to work to get in on him all over again, likely with the Blood Gauge partially filled as well.
2K will most commonly be used after blocking 214H. You could try to frametrap Axl with 623H, but this will drive up the Blood Gauge a lot. Instead, you can 214K on block and punish with a slightly delayed f.S, it has to be delayed or he will low profile it during 2K's recovery. This applies to his H normals as well, but does not apply to 214K cancels from f.SS, 2S, 6K and the like, no need to delay there.
You'll also have to worry about Axl's 2-hit invincible reversal Overdrive Sickle Storm
GuardAllStartup11+1Recovery26Advantage-2 when running your offense. The second hit is safe on block. You can either jump forward over the second hit and j.H after blocking the initial hit (less Blood Gain, slightly awkward to time, less damage), or 5K in-between the hits (more Blood Gain, easier to time, more damage).
Defense
Defending Against and Punishing Axl's Special Cancels
When defending against Axl up-close or in the mid-range, it's important to remember his obvious special-cancel windows. Whenever Axl presses 2D
GuardLowStartup10Recovery17Advantage-9,2HGuardLowStartup11Recovery26Advantage-18 [-8] or 5H
GuardAllStartup16Recovery19Advantage-4, he is forced to special cancel if he wants to further his pressure and not forfeit his turn. Jumping forwards the moment you recognize any of those normals will allow you to avoid 3 out of 4 of Axl's special cancels (Winter Mantis, Rensen and Rainwater), though it does lose to Snail
GuardAllStartup14Recovery29Advantage-24, which is -24 on block.
From the close and mid-ranges, Axl is limited to canceling into either Rainwater or Snail. Rensen and Winter Mantis have too long of a start up. It's a free counter hit if he tries. Between the two, Axl will most likely cancel into Rainwater. It's plus on block, allows Axl to safely retreat, and even if Nago jumps over it, Axl will land first and can immediately repressure Nago with 2P or 2H. It's very difficult for Nago to deal with this move due to a lack of an airdash.
If Axl is up-close and you have Tension, Rainwater can be punished during it's start up with 632146S. Depending on the string Axl does, you may not get the full version of the Overdrive. If he does f.SGuardAllStartup10Recovery19Advantage-8 > 2H/5H > Rainwater, he'll push himself too far out, and you'll only get the initial hit from the Overdrive. Be ready to convert, specifically into the f.SSS if your Blood Gauge is high.
You won't be able to punish Rainwater this way if Axl's not at close range. At about the max range of his 2K, 632146S will not reach. Jumping forward or blocking is the safest option there.
Snail is the only special that can actually properly frametrap but it's -24. Axl players will only use it in 2 situations: they're desperate to frametrap you with a special, or they have 50 Tension to RC and make it safe. If you do end up in a rare situation of blocking it without a Roman Cancel, punish it with f.S, BL2 5H or 214H.
Baiken
BaikenA volatile samurai battle. Nago has the bigger sword.Our fellow samurai has a hard time approaching Nago in neutral both on the ground and in the air. On offense, her Parry
Guard-Startup1Recovery32Advantage- and fast buttons
GuardAllStartup4Recovery10Advantage-2 make her hard to pressure, but one successful interaction usually wins you the round. That said, Nagoriyuki's limited defense means Baiken can also often win after a single knockdown.
Overview | Frame Data | Matchups | Counterstrategy | Reverse Matchup Return to Top
Round Start
| Baiken's Button | Loses To | Beats | Trades | Whiffs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
f.S GuardAllStartup9Recovery15Advantage-7 |
6P (CH), 214K > 214H | 5K (cannot combo into 2H GuardLowStartup17Recovery26Advantage-13),2S (CH), 623H (CH) |
2K (+10, can't punish) | |
2S GuardAllStartup11Recovery19Advantage-8 |
5K (CH), 214K > 214H | 6P (CH), 2K (CH) | 623H (f.SSS combo) | 214K (f.S punish) |
| 2HGuardLowStartup17Recovery26Advantage-13 |
2K, 2S, 214H, 623H (All CH), 214K > 214H |
6P, 5K, Walk Back | ||
H Kabari GuardAllStartup18Recovery19Advantage-3 |
6P, 2S, 214H, 623H (All CH) | 5K, 214K > 214H | 2K (recovers in time to block) |
Baiken's f.SGuardAllStartup9Recovery15Advantage-7 is her most problematic button on roundstart, with it beating 623H, 5K (forced to block 2H) and whiffs against 2K but you can't punish it. This forces Nago to either play passive, or go for riskier options like 6P or 214K > 214H.
This, in turn, opens Baiken players up to use her other buttons like 2SGuardAllStartup11Recovery19Advantage-8, 2HGuardLowStartup17Recovery26Advantage-13 and H KabariGuardAllStartup18Recovery19Advantage-3.
In conclusion, Baiken forces you to either play passive or take relatively big risks at the start of the round. While the damage she gets off successful interactions isn't big, her knockdowns are terrifying. This leaves you with one of the rare roundstarts that you will have to carefully consider before making a decision.
Changes after a Wall Break:
623H~H now beats every button (2SGuardAllStartup11Recovery19Advantage-8 trades into 236K > OTG 6H and H KabariGuardAllStartup18Recovery19Advantage-3 trades on the second hit into OTG 2S). BL3 2S beats every button as well (2SGuardAllStartup11Recovery19Advantage-8 trade, +0).
A new option Baiken gets with 50 Tension is Kenjyu
GuardAll (Guard Crush)Startup8+3RecoveryTotal 47Advantage+5. It always goes off after the superflash regardless if she got hit or not, resulting in favorable trades for Baiken. There are three ways to beat:
- 6P > 214H to low-profile the projectile. Note that 6P does not counter-hit.
- j9 > j.H to jump over the projectile and punish the recovery. Tricky timing for the attack to reach, it's easier to time j.H at higher Blood Levels. If you want a guaranteed punish, do j9 > rising j.P before the superflash for an auto-timed j.H. None of Baiken's buttons can punish you for it, so this is safe to do.
- Walk Forward until superflash > Shallow Hit 632146S. You have to walk forward before the superflash to not get clipped by the explosion in the back, resulting in a trade.
Neutral
Baiken’s best range is up close. She doesn’t have many tools she can convert with from either mid or long range. Her fastest, farthest reaching buttons are f.S and 2S, both of which are mids. You can walk back freely and backdash or jump on reaction if she tries to get in with her slow advancing 2H. 2H has 26 frames of recovery. If she ever whiffs this, she’s wide open for a punish.
In neutral, the best way to play against her is space yourself just outside the range of her f.S and 2S, intercept her attempts to approach, and move in on her after her approach has been stuffed. As previously mentioned, Baiken’s approach is very linear and easy to deal with, though if you fail to stuff it, it does lead to massive reward for Baiken.You can afford to play slow and reactive.
Her most common method of approaching, and something you really need to keep an eye out for, is IAD-ing in with j.S
GuardHighStartup8Recovery19Advantage+1 (IAD), one of the best aerial normals in the game. On hit and counter hit, it leads to a very strong combo with a large corner carry. Keep your eyes open for when she approaches with this, and swat her away using your 6P. 6P will always beat it no matter how late you react. Do not be tempted to use 2H, it is far too slow to beat her air approach on reaction and gives her a free knockdown with 2H > H KabariGuardAllStartup18Recovery19Advantage-3 on a whiff. Stick to 6P. Just try not to block j.S if you can.
From j.S, Baiken can special cancel into Youzansen
GuardHighStartup9Recovery7 after LandingAdvantage-14 (IAS), an aerial special move that hits high, however, it can be used on the ground as an instant overhead. She can combine this with her low-hitting normals for high low mix ups during her close range pressure. She can also delay inputting Youzansen after j.S to frame trap in the air. If she doesn’t delay Youzansen after j.S, she is minus, and can be throw punished depending on the spacing. Aside from special canceling into it from j.S, Baiken can also IAD over you and use Youzansen to cross you up. Since Youzansen isn’t disjointed, it will lose to 6P if you manage to time it right after Baiken does the cross up air dash. On the ground, TK Youzansen is very punishable, at -14 on block.
If she has Tension, be wary of Kenjyu (Fireworks Gun)GuardAll (Guard Crush)Startup8+3RecoveryTotal 47Advantage+5 from a farther distance. This is a strong anti-zoning and whiff punish Overdrive where Baiken shoots an exploding ball of fireworks at you. The air version fires diagonally towards the ground. Its main purpose is to help Baiken close the gap from farther distances. It causes a hard knockdown on hit and a guard crush on block. The explosion from Kenjyu is an expanding one that lasts for 28 frames. Nago doesn't really have any methods of dodging this, so you'll just have to block it and then be prepared to deal with Baiken's approach. Baiken is better off spending Tension on Youzansen mix ups, so she may be hesitant to use this unless she absolutely has to in order to get in. Still, this is an important tool to bear in mind when keeping her out.
You don't have much reason to jump against Baiken since you beat her on the ground. However, she lacks anti-air options outside of 6P, which a well timed j.D done before landing will allow you to whiff punish with 5K. Don't jump too much, try to keep your feet grounded.
After wall break, BL0 2S loses to Baiken's own 2S, BL1 2S trades, and BL2 2S outright beats it.
Challenging H Kabari
In addition to the aforementioned methods of attempting to approach, another tool Baiken relies on in neutral is H Kabari. This is Baiken’s primary tool for engaging from farther distances, and she can use it to initiate RPS situations from further away. The chain pulls you towards Baiken on hit or block. This move has an optional follow up
GuardAllStartup11 [23]Recovery14 (23 on block)Advantage-7 that has Baiken advance forward. If the follow up connects, it leads to a hard knockdown on hit and you’ll be launched for a full combo on counter hit. The farthest she can advance is about a character space beyond the maximum length of the chain.
Baiken can either do the follow up immediately, or she can hold H to cross you up if the chain makes contact with you. She also doesn’t need to make contact with the chain in order to use the follow up. If you’re within range, the immediate follow up will only travel up to point blank in front of you. Otherwise, it will always travel max distance. If you block it, Baiken will be in a guard crush animation, but she’s only -7. After blocking the chain, the delayed follow up is always capable of crossing you up, even at max distance.
Try to avoid blocking H Kabari if you can. From just outside the range of Baiken’s f.S/2S (which remember, is the range you generally want to play at), you’ll always have enough time to jump or backdash out of the way. Nago outranges all of Baiken's grounded pokes with 2S except for H Kabari, which can usually be blocked on 2S whiff, and there's isn't much that she can mix up with at that spacing. At BL2, 5H becomes very useful against H Kabari, but Baiken can low-profile it with 2H and or dodge it with IAD > j.S, both of which give her a knockdown. Be very careful when using it, and alternate it with 2S and doing nothing. The chain has 19 frames of recovery, making it vulnerable to Beyblade, and the follow up has 14 frames of recovery, leaving it vulnerable to 2S or BL3 f.S depending on the distance.
You can also use 6P on H Kabari, which can lead to one of three situations afterwards:
1. 6P clashes with the chain
If 6P clashes with the chain, as long as you're just outside of Baiken's f.S/2S range, you can cancel into your own f.S to punish just about any option that Baiken could cancel into on clash. The only thing she can cancel into on clash to beat f.S is 2H, which will counter hit you. If she begins to start representing 2H as an option on clash, you can beat it with Beyblade and score a counter hit on her if she tries this. Beyblade will lose to her other buttons, however, so don't resort to it unless she's consistently using 2H in this situation.
2. 6P whiffs
If 6P whiffs and the Baiken is mashing 5H for the follow up, it's going to punish your 6P's recovery. Otherwise, whether or not Baiken can whiff punish the 6P will depend on spacing. If you're close enough, she could punish you with f.S or 2S, though she might not be able to convert if you're at those buttons' max range.
3. 6P counter hits
The closer you are when you 6P, the more likely you are to counter hit her. If you expect an H Kabari in neutral, try to get as close as you can before you let it rip. This is risky, however, and if you get counter hit, Baiken will get immense reward. Always buffer a post-clash option in case the 6P clashes, and then block.
RPSing with H Kabari on Block
If she lands H Kabari on block, you need to be prepared to punish her follow up option. The chain is -3 on block. Depending on the distance, Baiken can be thrown during either the immediate or the long follow ups. Both you and Baiken have several options that you could do after you block the chain. Wait, and watch for what she does. She could do the H Kabari follow up, dash in for a throw, punish you for pressing a button with Hiiragi (Parry)Guard-Startup1Recovery32Advantage- (see the Offense section for how to deal with this) or simply walk back and punish you if you throw or press a button with longer recovery.
Depending on the distance, Baiken can be thrown during either the immediate or the long follow ups. From up close and towards the medium length of the chain, both follow ups can be consistently throw punished. You can mash throw immediately after blocking the chain and it will always catch the follow up. However, always mashing throw is risky, and not recommended. If Baiken doesn’t do the follow up, then you’re wide open for a counter hit punish. Throwing is not the only option you have. After blocking the chain, you could wait and watch for which version of the follow up she does. If she does the immediate follow up and you block it, it’s -7 and can be punished with 5P or 5K. If the follow up crosses up, don’t panic. Throwing on reaction is the most reliable way to punish it, but if you’re too late, the throw will whiff and you can get counter hit. Remember: just wait, see which follow up she does (or if she does a follow up at all), and punish accordingly.
It’s also important to note that despite the benefits of Faultless Defense in this match up (which will be explained in the defense section), using Faultless Defense on H Kabari has mixed results. Faultless Defense affects the distance at which the chain pulls you in, and it pushes Baiken further back if you block the follow up. This can actually cause Baiken to frame trap your throws, and if you block the follow up, it can push her back too far to punish it. Your methods of punishing H Kabari will be much more consistent if you don’t use Faultless Defense when blocking it. However, FD does give you more space to attempt to escape her pressure with a delayed jump or backdash. This can be a risky option, however. You’ll have to be the judge of whether or not you want to use FD.
At all ranges of blocking the first hit, the safest play is to walk back and look to throw a cross-up or punish a blocked follow-up. At max H Kabari range, she’ll likely use the immediate follow up because it can't really be punished with anything. At close range, you can simply mash throw during the block stun from blocking the chain in order to beat it. Throwing will also cover both the immediate and long follow up. Because of this, Baiken is a lot less likely to use H Kabari at close range.
Offense
Baiken has unique options on defense to be aware of. One of which is her 4 frame 5PGuardAllStartup4Recovery10Advantage-2, which she can mash to challenge gaps in offense that other characters can’t. You’ll need to keep your offense tight when running your pressure on her.
You need to be wary of her reversal special move Hiiragi (Parry). This is a special move that parries attacks that come into contact with it. Getting hit by this is very dangerous, as a successful parry gives Baiken an opportunity to get in for a meaty c.S
GuardAllStartup7Recovery10Advantage+1. She’ll typically opt for this during frametraps or attempts to continue your pressure on her with a meaty. The parry is only active for the first 6 frames of the move. It has 45 frames of recovery and she’s in counter hit state for the entire duration, so she can really be blown up if she’s hit with a move that has a medium-to-large start up time. If she has Burst, chances are this is when she’ll use it, so be ready to Burst bait here. On whiff, Baiken can PRC the parry’s recovery and throw you out of slower or delayed buttons, so be careful when challenging it.
Parry also loses to projectiles and throws. This makes meaty Clone a very strong albeit Blood-intensive option against her, as it cannot be parried, backdashed or mashed on and leads into another strike/throw scenario if blocked. If you don't have the Blood to spend on Clone, you can attempt to meaty her with a long range button, such as 2S or f.S. If Baiken parries a long range attack, it will only force you into a guard crush state. She still has to go through the 45 frames of recovery if she parries a long range attack, and she can’t RC the recovery of the parry at this point, so at best, she’ll reset the situation to neutral.
When pressuring Baiken, make sure to vary the timing of your strike to deter your opponent from using Parry and stealing not only the turn, but your health and Blood from the move she parried as well. You should especially do this early in a set when she can’t RC it. On the other hand, try not to delay your offense so often that reversal 5P becomes a common response to your pressure. Using 214K during your f.SS
GuardAllStartup13Recovery19Advantage-8 is a fantastic option against Baiken players who like to gamble often, as 214K > f.S punishes Baiken's 5P, backdash, and Parry if done quickly enough, and is a low-commital extra layer to your f.SS mixups.
If she has Tension, she may opt for her invincible reversal Overdrive
GuardAllStartup8+1Recovery48Advantage-32. This Overdrive has three hits to it, and on the final hit, she’s -32, leaving her wide open if successfully baited. She can use this as opposed to her Parry if you’re relying on meaty projectiles or long range attacks to continue your pressure. One way to counter both Parry and reversal Overdrive is by using PRC after the startup of your meaty Clone. With this, you can counter hit her if she tries to parry, and you can also defend yourself if she goes for the reversal Overdrive. This is a very resource-heavy option, however.
Defense
Nagoriyuki cannot airdash, or double jump out of the corner, and his only invincible reversal is 632146S, meaning that you are going to want to pay extra attention to your opponents offense habits to exploit them to the maximum.
Defending Against Close Range Pressure
If Baiken manages to get in your face, this is a very dangerous spot to be in. The best thing to do in this situation is Burst or use YRC and attempt to take your turn back. Up close, Baiken can immediately start putting you in high/low mix ups with c.SGuardAllStartup7Recovery10Advantage+1 or 5K
GuardAllStartup7Recovery10Advantage-3. She can cancel into TK Youzansen or several low options:
- She can go into her two-hit 2D
GuardLowStartup10Recovery21Advantage-10. She can only special cancel after this, and if you FD just a single hit on her blockstrings, your 6P will counterhit both H Kabari and S Kabari
GuardAllStartup29Recovery15Advantage+3, and if they use Tatami Geashi instead, you won't get counterhit by the initial hit. - From c.S, she can go into 2H. This option does lose to 632146S.
- She can stagger into another c.S/5K or throw. If she delays inputting dash after either of these buttons, she won’t get a dash cancel, and she’ll dash normally, but she’ll still quickly get in your face for a mix up.
- She can frame trap with 6K
GuardAllStartup12Recovery10Advantage-5.
If Baiken ever scores a counter hit, the round is likely over. Not only is she able to do immense damage, but she gets a safe jump afterwards as well. Whenever you’re blocking Baiken at close range, always make sure you’re using Faultless Defense. If you can, try to Instant Block with Faultless Defense, as that will push her out even farther. You can do this during her attempted meaties.
The most dangerous out of all of Baiken’s post c.S/5K options is throw, as a successful throw will allow her to attach the Tether to you and let her run her strongest mix ups. However, using Faultless Defense will push her back farther and give you more time to react if she attempts to dash up for a throw. If you see her dash towards you, time your IBFD so that you’ll defend during her meaty, and then press Dust to throw in case she goes for a grab. You are going to have to just guess high or low when defending against her. If you do guess correctly on when she uses TK Youzansen, if you’ve been using Faultless Defense, you can jump after blocking it to avoid her attempts to repressure you.
Faultless Defense is Baiken’s major weakness, and if you don’t have Burst or enough Tension for YRC, it’s going to be your only hope of getting her off of you. Despite having some decent buttons to control space with, Baiken’s normals do not gatling into another depending on the distance from her and the opponent. This is why she’s particularly vulnerable to Faultless Defense, as it can cause her buttons to whiff. An example would be f.S > 5H
GuardAllStartup13Recovery25Advantage-8. While these normally gatling into one another, at close to max range, 5H will whiff. She could gatling into 2H from f.S instead, since 2H is a big, advancing normal. However, it doesn’t combo unless you’re crouching. You could get hit by f.S, and THEN crouch block, and you’d still be able to block this button. You could also just mash backdash after getting hit by max range f.S, and you can dodge 2H that way. This same concept applies to 2S into 2H. Faultless Defense is also essential for dealing with stagger pressure from 5K/6K as well. As long as you’re using it, she’s forced to commit to block strings if she wants to keep you within her optimal range.
Creating distance with Faultless Defense affects not just her mix, but her damage as well. Even if you get mixed, as long as you block the initial mid that she uses to start her pressure with Faultless Defense, she won’t be able to cash out for maximum damage unless she has Tension to Roman Cancel. Just because you guessed wrong, it’s not always the end of the world.
An additional way Baiken can do a high/low mix with 2D and Youzansen is by using Drift BRC after a blocked normal. This can be countered with YRC. Make sure you only input the YRC during the Drift BRC. If you use it immediately off of the c.S or 5K, the BRC will freeze you in the startup animation for YRC, and Baiken can block it and counter hit you if she notices you’ve input it.
Dealing With Tatami Pressure
Tatami Gaeshi
GuardAllStartup15Recovery5Advantage-3 is another element to be wary of during Baiken’s close range pressure. It’s generally used to frametrap her unsafe normals. You need to pay attention to the distance between you and Baiken when blocking this move. On the ground, the first hit Baiken lands is -3, but if the first hit misses and only the second hit lands, Baiken ends up slightly plus on block. Because of Nago's inability to jump out of the corner, Baiken players may be more inclined to structure their blockstrings to make Tatami Gaeshi plus-on-block. Any strings that go into Tatami Gaeshi can be back dashed midscreen, though this move is harder to punish since it only has 5 frames of recovery. From the right spacing and timing, this can be punished with drift BRC, and you can score a counter hit on her.
If you use Faultless Defense on strings that lead into Tatami Gaeshi, this will push Baiken out far and cause the first hit to whiff. From farther away, you can counter hit Baiken in between the first and second hits with 2S. Do NOT mash after the second hit of Tatami. She is plus. If she's close and tries to re-pressure with f.S after blocking both hits of Tatami, you can also mash here as well, specifically since f.S has a 9 frame start up. This spacing can be tricky to judge. Just bear in mind that Baiken essentially has to be in your face in order for you to mash after Tatami.
Tatami after an IAD is an extremely powerful okizeme tool. Its main use is for her auto-timed safe jumps after her H Kabari hard knockdown, letting her continue her pressure after almost any knockdown she gets. However, if Baiken does a combo that ends with ground Tatami, she can’t use it for a safe jump. Instead, she can super jump > IAD into j.H
GuardHighStartup15Recovery3 after LandingAdvantage+7 (IAD). From here, she can initiate another high/low mix, by special canceling j.H into Youzansen in the air, or she could land and go for a low option. This is a safe jump, so don't input 632146S here. Instead, look to IBFD her j.H safejumps to create enough distance that she can't continue her pressure.
Dealing With Tether Situations
The S version of Kabari as well as a grounded throw attaches a Tether to you. S Kabari has 31 frames of start up, so try and react to it with a jump, or punish the start up if you’re close enough. Just don’t let her attach this to you. On hit, S Kabari will pull you towards Baiken and leave her at a +5 frame advantage. On block, it’ll pull you less than half of the move’s maximum distance towards her, but she’s still +2 on block. With the Tether applied, she can backdash and then be pulled back in by it and hit you with j.S, cross up Youzansen or an aerial Tatami with an altered range. Only Baiken can slingshot like this, even though the Tether is attached to both of you. Baiken can also determine the timing of when she’s pulled back in by the Tether, depending on when she uses a jump normal. This is essentially her win condition, as this is a Millia-esque situation where Baiken can mix you up from just about any direction at any time. She can do a mix up with Youzansen where it can hit either side of you. Outside of guessing which direction to block or using Burst, there’s not much you can do when she attaches the Tether to you. Do not mash, mashing is extremely risky. If your mash fails and you get counter hit, Baiken can convert into very damaging combos.
You should always be looking to 6P or 2S it, but if the Baiken player manages to stick you with S Kabari, try to create distance with Faultless Defense so that you can counterpoke with 5K and 2S. Keep in mind that Nago's large Throw range allows him to grab her out of her 5P at closer ranges. They may attempt to backdash or jump instead. Otherwise, at this point, there aren’t any reactable options you have. Baiken becomes almost unblockable post-throw. There are no options you need to be aware of in order to make good decisions. Pick a direction and hope that it’s the right one or that the Baiken messes up. You can try and 6P her, but she can jump instead and hit you with a j.H > Youzansen to get around it. Again, it’s best to avoid mashing. If you somehow manage to successfully block a Tether mix up, Baiken has one last chance to continue her pressure. She could also just let the situation return to neutral if she doesn’t want to take any unnecessary risks. She has a few different options:
- Dash up and throw, which lets her attempt another Tether mix up
- Reset into a button
- H Kabari - this is a poor option because she’s up close and can be thrown out of it. It’s best used off of buttons with lots of pushback like 2D.
- Tatami Gaeshi - Tatami Gaeshi is the common option here. It leads to great reward on hit, has no risk, but it ends Baiken’s pressure. It stuffs mashing, builds distance, is disadvantageous, but not punishable. Do NOT mash before Tatami. Remember, Baiken is at advantage if ONLY the second hit of Tatami connects. As a general rule in this situation, if both hits land, it's your turn.
Bridget
BridgetYou only need to be right twice to turn Bridget into a pile of BrisquettesBridget's higher than average speed, great maneuverability, and large normals allows her to poke and pressure Nago outside of his effective range. Nago can't really use his special moves to get in on her effectively, so he has to save his Blood for conversions from successful counterpokes instead. Bridget's low health allows Nago to easily disintegrate her, but actually getting a hit in the first place can be very difficult.
Overview | Frame Data | Matchups | Counterstrategy | Reverse Matchup Return to Top
Round Start
| Bridget's Button | Loses To | Beats | Trades | Whiffs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
5P GuardAllStartup8Recovery14Advantage-6 |
6P | All Other Buttons | 5K (+4) | 2K (+4) |
2P GuardAllStartup7Recovery9Advantage-3 |
2D, 6K, 623H | All Other Buttons | 5K (+4), 2K (+2) | |
2S GuardLowStartup11Recovery20Advantage-9 |
214K > 214H | All Other Buttons | 2K (-2), 623H (f.SSS combo) | 5K (+16, 2S punish), 214K (f.S punish) |
5H GuardAllStartup11Recovery29Advantage-17 |
6P (CH), 623H (CH) | All Other Buttons and 214K | 2S (-3) |
623H beats all of Bridget's buttons except 5P, which is why it will be the default choice for most Bridget players. In turn, 6P is the only way to beat her 5P but due to the lack of a CH, the best combo you get is 214H > OTG 2S into bad oki. However, 6P loses to 2P and 2S.
Unfortunately, Bridget's buttons either have too little recovery or cannot be walked back against, which means whiff punishing isn't an option. Even 214K > 214H can only punish 2S from her relevant options. This means you will mostly want to rotate between 623H, 6P and blocking Low.
Neutral
Have you ever been annoyed by a bug that you just cant manage to slap with your hand? That's dealing with Bridget in neutral. You have the damage to easily squish her, but that's if you can get a hit confirm on her in the first place. If you have yet gained any Blood, she out-ranges and out-pokes you. It also doesn't help that Bridget has the movement to weave in and out of her own range to put you into her blockstrings. 2S, f.S and 2H can surprisingly be quite easily dodged by a Bridget, and easily taken advantage of.
In neutral, Bridget will mainly be poking from a distance with her long range normals. She wants to catch you pressing a button so that she can transition into her close range pressure using her special moves. Bridget’s pokes have long recovery times on whiff. Her f.S
GuardAllStartup10Recovery18Advantage-9 has 18 frames of recovery, her 2S has 20 frames of recovery, and her 5H has 29 frames of recovery. If she ever whiffs a button in neutral, take this time to advance on her or try to whiff punish them if you can. Also remember, aside from 2S, her pokes are vulnerable to 6P. Use a combination of whiff punishing and 6P to disincentivize her from relying too heavily on her pokes until she adapts and starts using other options, which opens the space up for you to approach more aggressively.
Dealing with Yo-Yo Setups
Eventually, Bridget wants to get in a position to safely set up her yo-yos with the 236
GuardAllStartup15RecoveryTotal 38Advantage-4 or 214
GuardAllStartup130RecoveryTotal 30Advantage~ version of Stop and Dash (Yo-Yo Throw). Both Yo-Yo Throws have an S and H version. Bridget tosses the yo-yo directly in front of her with the S version, while the H version sends it upwards at a diagonal angle on the ground, and downwards at a diagonal angle in the air. Depending on which input is used, the yo-yo either hits as it’s sent out (236) or on its return (214). The yo-yo automatically returns to Bridget’s hand after a set amount of time, or if Bridget is hit or blocks an attack. The 236 yo-yo stays out longer than the 214 version.
Whichever version of the Yo-Yo Throw she uses will determine her neutral and her pressure. Of the two yo-yos, 214 is the more dangerous one and the one you need to be especially wary of. If you just walk back out of its range, Bridget can just start pushing you towards the corner where her mix is a lot more potent. If you try to advance on her after the yo-yo has been thrown, she’ll have an opportunity for mix. You’ll need to know the differences between the two Yo-Yo Throws so that you’ll know when you can challenge her.
At longer ranges you can see that:
- 236 YT will be glowing/sparking and expanded so you can know to block and not worry about it coming back. This leaves Bridget slightly negative (unless you got hit) but either way the range almost makes both null, it's just an excuse for Bridget to have a yo-yo out so that she can have access to Rolling Movement
GuardAllStartup20~38Recovery0Advantage+16 (Airborne). It only has 15 frames of start up, 3 frames of recovery and is -4 on block, so it can’t really be punished.
- 214 YT will always be in its shrunk form until it reaches its max distance. A rule of thumb for this set up is that if you are between Bridget and said yo-yo, you'll be at a disadvantage because it will come back and hit to either put you in a combo or just pressure in general, which is scary. This version of the YT has significant start up, with 130 frames, as well as 30 frames of recovery. Bridget can’t ever safely set this up except for during okizeme. Never let her get away with sending this out for free. Always try to advance or punish if you ever notice she sends this out.
Up close, it can difficult to tell which one she throws out. This can leave you prone to getting hit as a frametrap from trying to mash/move out of the way. At closer ranges, look for hitstop after she throws a yo-yo. If there is hitstop after she throws it, you’ve blocked a 236 YT. If there isn’t any, then she's thrown a 214 YT and you need to advance and try to take your turn back. Since Nago can't really avoid 214 Yo-Yo, the only thing he can really do is challenge Bridget after she's sent it out. You can try cover space with a delayed 5H, or you can approach and challenge by cancelling Fukyo into 623H. If you can at least get Bridget to block during the two seconds that the 214 Yo-Yo is out, you won't have to worry about it, as it will return to Bridget without causing damage.
Dealing With Rolling Movement/Bridget's Aerial Approaches
After a yo-yo has been sent out, Bridget can use Rolling Movement to dash through the air towards whatever yo-yo is active. This is Bridget’s mixup/pressure tool, and is central to her strongest okizeme. She can run very strong mix-ups with this, as she can cancel into certain actions during the movement like jumps, air dashes, or aerial attacks. She can cancel the air movement early using a whiffed Air Throw or j.P
GuardHighStartup6Recovery10Advantage+1 (IAD j.PP) to go for a low or a throw, or cancel it later for an overhead attack. Bridget recovers immediately after Rolling Movement connects with her opponent, making it so advantageous on block that she can gaplessly chain into an air normal or even land and frame trap with 2K
GuardLowStartup5Recovery11Advantage-2. From lower yo-yo setups, she can even jump cancel the air moves for a fuzzy overhead mix-up. This is the foundation of Bridget's setplay.
Nago's lack of mobility options can make dealing with Rolling Movement particularly difficult for him. Blocking Rolling Movement allows Bridget to put you in free 50/50 situations. Since it can't really be avoided, taking a risk and challenging it is your next best option. Rolling Movement has a 20 frame startup, making it really easy to 6P from a farther distance. However, Rolling Movement can be used as additional air action on top of any of Bridget's universal options - she can use it like an airdash after using up her universal air options, like I-No's hoverdash, to high profile certain moves in neutral, or even like a divekick to punish attempted anti-airs. The potential behind Rolling Movement's ability to drastically alter Bridget's air momentum is enormous. This makes it harder to anti air than you’d expect. Mashing both hits of 623H can be a decent option, since it's fast and covers a lot of horizontal and vertical space. A successful counter hit is going to result in a lot of lost life from Bridget.
Another aerial option Bridget has in neutral is Roger Dive
GuardAllStartup25Recovery15Advantage-5. In this move, she dives directly down in the air while holding her bear, Roger, performing a two-hit attack. Bridget flies upwards and then back down during this move, allowing her to bait and punish anti-airs, making it harder to challenge her jump-ins. It’s also very safe on block unless used at point blank range. Between 6P and 2H, Nago's anti-airs are very committal, and Bridget's large amount of aerial options makes it difficult for Nago to anti-air her consistently. A decent option is 236K~623H, but this is very Blood taxing. Between her long range pokes and her ability to play outside of Nago's effective range, the best use of your special moves is likely to reposition yourself and focus on punishing Bridget's aerial options after she's committed to them. Roger Dive has 25 frames of startup, so it's easy to react to. It’s also not an overhead, meaning you can block it low. The strength of this move comes from its ability to maintain Bridget’s horizontal momentum, allowing her to set up Ambiguous Cross-ups, including from Rolling Movement or the later frames of 6H
GuardAllStartup13Recovery13Advantage-12. However, again, this is slow and reactable. The cross up can be blocked with Faultless Defense to make it more punishable.
Rolling Movement is only completely safe off of knockdowns from 2D
GuardLowStartup13Recovery15Advantage-6, or by using a returning yo-yo from 214 Stop and Dash. It’s extremely important to avoid getting knocked down by Bridget’s 2D. If she lands it, she’s able to loop into constant 50/50s that are almost completely safe. This is her win condition. You need to avoid this at all costs. Save your burst for whenever you get hit by a 2D. You need to time your burst carefully. Once she starts running her oki, she has many points where she’s burst safe.
In neutral, don’t try to use big, slow normals with large hitboxes to control space. Bridget can easily whiff punish you thanks to the versatility of Rolling Movement and the reach of her f.S and 5H. If Bridget has Tension, she can also whiff punish with her Overdrive Return of the Killing Machine
GuardAllStartup9+1RecoveryTotal 37Advantage+16. This is a niche option however. It starts up relatively fast, but it has slow travel speed, making it hard to use from far away.
Dealing With Kick Start My Heart in Neutral
Kick Start My Heart
GuardAllStartup10Recovery9Advantage-20~+4 is a special move where Bridget rides her yo-yos forward. This is a fast approach tool, as well as used as a setup for okizeme. Its movement can be increased or decreased by holding either forward or back, allowing Bridget to vary her approach times. Kick Start My Heart has two follow ups:
- Brake
GuardAllStartup7Recovery19Advantage-6 has Bridget perform an attack while halting her momentum. Brake is best used as a poke, as it has a long hitbox. It can also be used as a frametrap, however, it’s - 6 on block, so if used up-close, it can be throw punished.
- Shoot
GuardAllStartup3Recovery29Advantage-35 has her leap forward with a fast upwards strike. It deals more damage than Brake, however, it’s -33 on block, making it very punishable. It’s rare you’ll see Bridgets use this to attack unless they have Tension to Roman Cancel it. By Roman Canceling it, Bridget maintains its aerial momentum and can put you in a high/low mix by either opting for one of her aerials or going for a low option. Combined with Kick Start My Heart and ambiguous drifting it becomes several frametraps in a row, with a mix-up, into a pressure reset, from long-range, for as little as 36% Tension.
In neutral/during blockstrings, an option you have after blocking Kick Start My Heart, even if she delays the start up to make the block advantage plus, is throw. Her fastest button is her 5 frame 2K, which loses to throws. She can bait the throw by backdashing, so throwing shouldn’t be your go-to option every time you block Kick Start My Heart, but it is an option worth representing. Doing a delayed grab will keep her from being able to immediately throw you after blocking Kick Start My Heart.
Offense
Bridget's only invincible reversal is Starship
GuardAllStartup9Recovery39Advantage-28. You can really vaporize Bridget if you successfully bait this out and counter hit it. Neither of her Overdrives are invincible reversals. She also has a 5 frame 2KGuardLowStartup5Recovery11Advantage-2 that she can mash during gaps in her pressure. If she tries to escape the corner with an air dash, she can use Roger DiveGuardAllStartup25Recovery15Advantage-5 to bait out an air throw or beat a 6P.
Defense
Dealing with Rolling Movement Okizeme
If you’ve been knocked down by 2D and you don’t have burst, as mentioned before, you’ll be put in Bridget’s blender, where she’s able to loop constant 50/50s. It’s impossible to account for every possible mix up that Bridget can do. You’re just going to have to block either high or low in relation to Bridget’s attacks. One option she has is j.D
GuardHighStartup15Recovery16Advantage+0 (IAD), which hits overhead. Another option is whiffing a j.K
GuardHighStartup7Recovery18Advantage~ into an immediate 2K for a low option. Keep an eye out for a whiffed j.K as an indication that she’ll go for a low option. Rotating these two options will allow Bridget to beat a lot of wake up options. They’re both safe jumps that beat invincible reversals and they both catch backdashes.
If Bridget does go for a 2K, she can gatling into either 2D or 6H. There’s a gap between both of these that loses to 632146S but the timing can be tight. Bridget can also bait this out by simply not doing anything after the 2K. 2K is -2 on block, so if you think she's going to bait the reversal Overdrive, you could go for a throw punish instead.
Defending Against Bridget's Pressure and Mix Ups
When defending against close range pressure from Bridget, always make sure to use Faultless Defense, especially if she manages to get a meaty Yo-Yo out. Her S and H normals push her out far, so she has to rely on stagger pressure with her multi-hitting c.S
GuardAllStartup7Recovery13Advantage+1 if she wants to maintain her pressure. Her 5D
GuardHighStartup20Recovery26Advantage-15 reaches far and she can convert into a combo from a meaty Yo-Yo setup, but using Faultless Defense will push her out of range for her to be able to use this to mix you.
During her blockstrings, you need to watch out for Rock the Baby
GuardGround ThrowStartup27Recovery28AdvantageN/A. This is a command grab that has Bridget leap forward with Roger, who’ll grab and damage you. It can be special canceled during blockstrings, and since Bridget leaps forward, this can be used from a distance to take you by surprise. It does have 26 frames of start up, it can be interrupted with many normals, including 5P, 5K, 2K, or even a well-timed c.S. You could also backdash and punish the recovery. Fuzzy jumping during gaps in her pressure will cause her to whiff, and you can do this to cover both Rock the Baby or a regular throw. If she whiffs either a command grab or a throw, fall down with j.H to punish it. Be sure to chicken block when jumping to protect yourself in case she staggers with a normal or special instead. With Tension, she can Roman Cancel Rock the Baby and put you in a potential high/low mix up. You’ll just have to guess here.
When Bridget knocks you down or hits you with any of her ranged normals, she can use Kick Start my Heart without any follow-ups to scoot right next to you. It may not look like it, but she is in an advantaged oki position, and depending on the range, she can hit you with a meaty button. (This also applies to many combos that end with Kick Start my Heart.) This means she can put you into an oki-loop. It is consistent, it puts her right next to you and allows her to repressure you with a meaty c.S. If c.S hits, she can wall-break from it, so you should expect it to be the standard option and respect it accordingly, unless you want to hand out free wins to Bridget. She could also go for a throw, or repressure you from a distance with 2S. Bridget can loop this strong and relatively safe pressure. You don’t ever want to mash because she can easily frame trap off c.S with a delayed 2S .The best thing to do is to simply block it, and use Faultless Defense to push her out when she’s in your face. Bridget's normals might reach far, but they also push her out far as well, and Faultless Defense will push her out even farther. Look for an opportunity to counter poke one of her attacks.
She may attempt to repressure you with Kick Start My Heart again. If she does, she’ll either use Brake in your face, or mix you up if she has the Tension to RC Shoot. You could take a risk and try to poke Kick Start My Heart with 5K, but it’d be safer to simply jump and chicken block, which would protect against all options from Kick Start My Heart. If she DOES do Shoot, you’ll block it and can punish it if she doesn’t have the Tension to RC. If you have Tension, you could also use Drift BRC to move yourself forward and punish the recovery of whatever Kick Start My Heart Follow Up Bridget does.
If Bridget ends her blockstrings with a Yo-Yo, that means her pressure is over and the situation has returned to neutral. You can attempt to take your turn back with 623H or canceling Fukyo into 623H depending on the distance, which will either counter hit or trade with most of her options. Again, as long as you get her to block, you don't have to worry about Yo-Yo in case she tosses out a 214 one. Try not to just stand there post Yo-Yo toss if you can, because otherwise, you're just handing over another free opportunity for mix to Bridget.
Chipp Zanuff
Chipp's high mobility forces Nago to play a mostly pre-emptive neutral with his K normals. Combined with his lacking defensive options against Chipp's pressure, and you get rounds that either last painfully long with you in the corner, or end in a flash.
Overview | Frame Data | Matchups | Counterstrategy | Reverse Matchup Return to Top
Round Start
| Chipp's Button | Loses To | Beats | Trades | Whiffs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
f.S GuardAllStartup9Recovery20Advantage-8 |
5K (CH), 2K (CH) | All Other Buttons | ||
2D GuardLowStartup10Recovery19Advantage-7 |
5K (CH), 2K (CH), 214H | All Other Buttons | ||
6P GuardAllStartup9Recovery25Advantage-16 |
2K, 2S, 623H (All CH) | 5K | Walk Back (2S punish) | |
IAD j.H GuardHighStartup8Recovery17Advantage+4~5 (IAD) |
623H | High Recovery Buttons | 214H (slightly plus after), 5K and 2K (AA with 5P) |
5K will beat pretty much all of Chipp's immediate round start options on the ground except for 6P but the combo after leaves him spaced and -2, which makes it terrible risk/reward wise. As a result, Chipp might be more likely to either take to the skies or look to whiff punish as opposed to immediately challenging Nago, especially considering his low health and Nago's high damage.
His IAD j.H is fast enough to punish most of your grounded buttons like 2S, f.S and even 6P on whiff. Be ready to anti-air it with 5P (easier) or c.S (harder) after a whiffed 5K or 2K.
Neutral
Chipp is a character that might try to use his movement options to bait Nago into chasing him down. Chasing Chipp, or any character with strong mobility options, is not a good idea, as this can quickly fill Nago's Blood Gauge. Stand a solid mid-range away from Chipp and make him come to you. That way you’ll be able to react to his dashes in neutral. However, don’t put yourself in the corner doing this, as Chipp’s offense becomes a lot more volatile in the corner.
Chipp will mainly be looking to whiff punish Nago's bigger normals, or get in range so that he can land either his 2K
GuardLowStartup5Recovery8Advantage-2 or 5K
GuardAllStartup6Recovery8Advantage-3. Gatlings from his kicks into 2DGuardLowStartup10Recovery19Advantage-7 are extremely valuable to him because he can convert into his BNBs easily, use the hard knockdown to push Nago into the corner where Chipp's mix is more potent, and with Tension, give him low into overhead mix off of command normals and specials.
Midscreen, stuff his grounded approach with 2K or 5K and stuff his aerial approaches with 6P. If he tries to bulldoze his way in with his 6PGuardAllStartup9Recovery25Advantage-16, 2K will stuff it.
These are going to be Nago's primary buttons in this matchup. Nago can’t afford to whiff bigger buttons because Chipp can easily whiff punish him.
In general, the best way to fight Chipp is to anticipate his buttons and try to fight them head on. Don’t ever run away by backdashing. Chipp’s 2K recovers so fast that he can input 2D afterwards, even on whiff, and still catch Nago with it.
Don’t use 236S against Chipp. He can’t really harass you from afar, and Clone is just way too harsh if it doesn’t work out because of the Blood cost. Use it for okizeme when you land a successful Bite and it doesn’t cost anything.
Offense
Chipp's 5P
GuardAllStartup3Recovery10Advantage-2 is the fastest normal in the game with 3 frames of startup. He can mash this during gaps in blockstrings, however, mashing as Chipp can be extremely risky. If you notice the Chipp isn't respecting you, try frametrapping him and see what happens. This also applies to his meterless reversal Beta Blade
GuardAllStartup9Recovery23Advantage-27. If this whiffs or is blocked, and Chipp is counter hit out of it, you can make him explode.
His invincible reversal Overdrive Zansei Rouga
GuardAllStartup20+1Recovery49~53Advantage- is not frame 1 invincibile, so a well-timed meaty will take care of it. If you bait it, he will always land on the OPPOSITE side he started the Overdrive on. 236K forwards twice towards Chipp for either a c.S punish or a free Bite if you block it. You don't have to wait until the Overdrive is complete in order advance towards Chipp. When Chipp goes towards the top of the screen, the Overdrive won't hit you unless you just jump into it. You can input the Fukyos once he's above Nago and immediately get in his face for your punish of choice.
Defense
Chipp can cancel his 2S
GuardAllStartup10Recovery17Advantage-7 into his 2H
GuardAllStartup12Recovery24Advantage-14 on whiff. In addition to his 2K > 2D, this is what he'll use to punish back dashes. If he manages to make contact in neutral, always make sure to use Faultless Defense when blocking him, as it'll hinder his pressure. He can't stagger 2H after 2S or f.S if you're using Faultless Defense, or else it'll whiff. This will force Chipp to start relying on his special cancels.
Defending Against Rekka Pressure
The safest special he could cancel into is his rekka, Resshou (Rekka 1)
GuardAllStartup13Recovery16Advantage-4. Chipp’s rekka has two possible follow ups: Rokusai (Rekka 2)
GuardLowStartup8Recovery21Advantage-6 which hits low and Senshuu (Rekka 3)
GuardHighStartup20Recovery20Advantage-9 which hits overhead. After Rekka 1, Chipp can go immediately into either of the follow ups, or chain all three together. You are able to challenge the Rekka, but this is a volatile, multilayered guessing game where whoever is right gets to reap a very high reward. You can challenge the Rekka at the following points:
- If there's a delay after Rekka 1
- After Rekka 2
The problem for Nago is that he can't really punish Rekka 2 unless you've managed to instant block it. Rekka 2 is only -6. The only buttons Nago has that could theoretically punish this are 5P and 2P, and both of these buttons whiff after blocking Rekka 2. Rekka 3 has 20 frames of start up and is vulnerable to 6P, but you have to time it properly, otherwise you'll get counter hit.
You could attempt to mash 2K after a delayed Rekka 1 or after Rekka 2 to counter hit any low option Chipp could go for afterwards. However, if Chipp opts to go for Rekka 3 instead, then you will get counter hit. You will also get counter hit if you attempt to 6P Rekka 3 and Chipp goes for a low option instead. Chipp could backdash after either of these options, but 2K will recover in time for you to block. If Chipp backdashes, then the situation has returned to neutral. Watch what Chipp does, and return to the plan of stuffing his approaches with either 5K or 2K or using 6P if he tries to IAD in with j.H.
Rekka 3 is -9. If you do block this, Chipp will be wide open for a c.S punish. Given that it is -9, Chipp might be less likely to go for this unless he has Tension he can use to Roman Cancel it with. He can put you in an additional high/low mix up after Roman Canceling Rekka 3, so if he has Tension, be prepared for this.
If Chipp special cancels into the Rekka after 2S/f.S > 2H, use Faultless Defense on his normals, but stop using it once he cancels into it. If you use FD the entire time, he’ll be pushed out too far for you to punish any low options from Rekka 2 at all.
Dealing With the Rest of His Specials/Special Cancels
During blockstrings, mashing 5P on reaction will counter hit Chipp out of almost all of the rest of his special moves on start up. Horizontal Alpha Blade
GuardAllStartup29Recovery19Advantage-4, Diagonal Alpha Blade
GuardAllStartup27Recovery17Advantage-2, Leaf Grab
GuardGround ThrowStartup27Recovery15AdvantageN/A, and Gamma Blade
GuardAllStartup25~50RecoveryTotal 42Advantage+9 all have lengthy start ups that are at least 25 frames long. Mashing 5P will also counter hit Chipp if he delays the start up of Rekka 1.
Make sure to only mash 5P on reaction, as simply mashing it all the time can result in you getting frametrapped. The only special move you can't mash during the start up of is Beta Blade since it's an invincible reversal, but remember, if that gets blocked, you can make Chipp explode. Furthermore, Beta Blade has significantly less start up than Chipp's other special moves. As long as you're mashing on reaction during Chipp's other specials, you won't get frametrapped by this.
Bursting During a Wall Run Combo
If you’re caught in a wall run combo, it’s important to wait until at least the second hit before you Burst, so that he ends up in the corner. Bursting early will just turn the situation to neutral. You can really put him in a bad spot with this knowledge check.
Faust
FaustOur solemn samurai, trapped in the toon dimensionFaust has strong tools to keep Nago out, as well as control neutral and make it difficult for him to approach. The longer a match goes on, the more likely it is to snowball in Faust's favor. Nago has to do his best to keep Faust pinned down as fast and efficiently as possible.
Overview | Frame Data | Matchups | Counterstrategy | Reverse Matchup Return to Top
Round Start
| Faust's Button | Loses To | Beats | Trades | Whiffs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
2P GuardLowStartup7Recovery11Advantage-3 |
6K, 214H | All Other Buttons | 2K (Clash) | 5K (-1) |
f.S GuardAllStartup12Recovery20Advantage-8 |
6P, 5K, 623H (All CH) | All Other Buttons | 2S (+0) | |
6P GuardAllStartup9Recovery32Advantage-21 |
6P, 2K (CH) | All Other Buttons | ||
j.2K GuardAllStartup10Recovery9 after LandingAdvantage- |
6P, 623H, 214H (All CH) | All Other Buttons | ||
| Walk Back | 2S | All Other Buttons (f.S GuardAllStartup12Recovery20Advantage-8 whiff punish) |
f.S, 214H, 623H~H (Faust blocks) |
5K, 2K (both safe) |
This roundstart is one of the most complex for us. Your safest bet is to use 2K, which either beats, clashes, or doesn't net a big punish against Faust's buttons. If you clash with 2P, cancel into another 2K to beat most cancels. The Faust player may also cancel into another 2P. If you read this, cancel into 6K or 214H to beat it. The only options Faust has that can beat Nago's 2K is f.SGuardAllStartup12Recovery20Advantage-8 and j.2KGuardAllStartup10Recovery9 after LandingAdvantage-, but they both lose to Nago's 6P.
Faust has the fastest Back Walk in the game, which makes most of your moves not reach if he simply holds back. If you whiff any button with large recovery, he can whiff punish with f.SGuardAllStartup12Recovery20Advantage-8 and send you full-screen while summoning an Item. Beat it with 2S or 214H to force him to block.
Another thing to worry about is Faust's j.2KGuardAllStartup10Recovery9 after LandingAdvantage-. Despite being an air normal, this move isn't an Overhead. At roundstart, it hits low enough for it to be safe without a cancel. Faust can also cancel while in the air with either Love
GuardAllStartup27RecoveryTotal 48Advantage- or Mix Mix Mix
GuardAllStartup17Recovery14 after LandingAdvantage-7. To deal with both cancels, simply hold back after blocking j.2K. If he cancels into Mix Mix Mix, block and punish with c.S or 5K. If Faust cancels into Bomb Bag, react with 623H for a juicy CH.
Neutral
Approaching Faust
Faust will mainly be trying to play keep away and zone Nago with his long range pokes while he uses Item Toss to pull out as many items as he can outside of Nago's range. Like with any zoner, Blood management is crucial in this match up.
Faust's pokes include f.S, 5H
GuardAllStartup13Recovery18Advantage-7, 2H
GuardLowStartup14Recovery29Advantage-12 and Thrust
GuardAllStartup26~37Recovery19Advantage-12. Aside from 2H, all of Faust's pokes are vulnerable to 6P. Faust uses 2H to punish careless jump-ins.
If you're ever hit by Faust's 5H, he can do a follow up attack that will send you flying into a hard knockdown. This gives Faust enough time to toss out an item while still being plus (+32) or even toss two items and be slightly negative (-9). The windup is burstable and it can’t be Roman Canceled, so this is a good opportunity to use your Burst. If you Burst when Faust lifts you above him, you can send him flying in the direction Faust is facing. This means that you could Burst Faust into the corner if you manage to time your Burst right.
When playing against Faust, you'll need to memorize his items, what they can do, and what the appropriate responses to them are. Read up on them on Faust's Overview page and Faust's Counter -Strategy section. That way you can gauge when and how you should approach him in neutral. Don't bother ever trying to use Clone to get in. Clone has no effect on any of the items, it's just a waste of Blood. Instead, try to rely on a well-timed 214H. This will counter hit Faust during Item Toss. You can convert from there, assuming there aren't any items on the field that will hinder you.
What's important to remember about the items is that despite the fact that Faust can get a lot of them out due to your lack of mobility, the items will force him to take a break at some point, whether it's to capitalize on a specific item he's pulled (Mini Faust, Meteors) or to avoid or secure an item that can be also be harmful to him (Bomb, Trumpet, 100T Weight). That being said, however, you are going to have to account for the fact that there are multiple items on the battlefield. Faust can make neutral stressful and difficult to keep up with this way. If you're patient, you could wait until the Faust comes to you, but if he doesn't budge, then unfortunately, the only thing you can really do is brave your way through it and slowly approach until an opportunity comes your way.
How to Deal with Scarecrow/Scarecrow PRC In Neutral
Scarecrow can transport Faust directly in front of you with P Scarecrow
GuardAllStartup54 [84]Recovery10 [7]Advantage-8 [+7], behind you with K ScarecrowGuardAllStartup54 [84]Recovery10 [7]Advantage-8 [+7] or directly above you with S ScarecrowGuardHighStartup50 [69]Recovery36Advantage-40* [-35]*. Normally, Scarecrow has very high start up time, with 54 frames of startup minimum for the P and K versions and 50 frames for the S version. You will automatically turn to face whichever version of Scarecrow is used (except for S Scarecrow, where the camera will pan upwards quickly as Faust falls down from the sky).
By itself, this move isn't much to worry about. It’s high startup time makes it easy to react to. It’s when Faust does this in conjunction with items on the screen or Tension, or a combination of the two that this move becomes a lot scarier. You have to be wary of Scarecrow when items are out. Don’t become so focused on the items that Faust crosses you up with this. Pay attention and make sure to block in the right direction whenever he attempts to use this.
When Faust has Tension, this move is at it’s scariest. Faust can use Tension to rapid cancel S Scarecrow, causing him to appear almost immediately in front of you and get you with either a regular throw, his command grab Snip Snip Snip
GuardGround ThrowStartup6Recovery41Advantage-, or an uncharged 5D
GuardHighStartup28Recovery26Advantage-10. This is very difficult to react to because of how fast it is. A lot of Fausts like to go for this in low health situations. Snip Snip Snip is the option that Faust will be most likely to go for since it's un-techable and it's 6 frame start up it makes it very difficult to react to. The best way to deal with Scarecrow PRC is by jumping. It's difficult to jump in reaction to Scarecrow PRC because of how fast it is, but jumping during common neutral situations where Faust might use this could go a long way in helping you avoid this.
When Faust Will Approach and How to Deal with It
Faust will mainly only approach in neutral if he's working in tandem with an item (or multiple items), or an item's effects. Down below is a list of items that might make Faust come to you, as well as how he plans to approach and how to deal with it.
- 100T Weight - Since the only way to avoid the 100T Weight is jumping over it, Faust could air dash forward and try to snipe you in the air with j.H. If you block the shockwave from the weight, you will be Guard Crushed. Faust could also take this opportunity to air dash forward and then cross you up with Mix Mix Mix while he's in the air, as Guard Crush temporarily removes cross up protection. DO NOT GET HIT BY WEIGHT ITSELF, ESPECIALLY IN THE AIR: the guard-crush will enable Faust to set-up true 50/50s that can be frustrating to deal with and the added landing recovery allows him to whip out an unavoidable Snip Snip Snip.
- Bomb/Afro - Getting hit by an explosion from a Bomb or lit Afro might prompt Faust to air dash forward and attempt to pressure you.
- Mini Faust - After triggering a Mini Faust, Faust might use Scarecrow to cross you up. He could also use Scarecrow PRC to hit you with Snip Snip Snip while you're concentrated on blocking the Mini Faust. After triggering the Mini Faust, there are two phases to it's attack. First, he stomps the ground in anger, dealing two hits in quick succession. This is followed by a pause where there is a sizeable gap. Then, he flings himself at the opponent, dealing multiple, rapid-fire attacks. During that sizeable gap is when Faust will most likely try and use Scarecrow PRC. Jumping and then blocking in the air will allow you to avoid Snip Snip Snip while also protecting yourself from the Mini Faust's attacks.
- Trumpet - After pulling a Trumpet, Faust might dash forward to try and secure it for himself. Dashing forward is generally the fastest way for him to get the Trumpet, unless he chooses to Drift RC forward. He can also use 2H to keep you from getting the Trumpet for yourself.
- Meteors - Every meteor causes the Guard Crush state on block, and like 100T Weight, they will leave you vulnerable to cross ups if you block them. He could use Scarecrow to cross you up here, use Scarecrow PRC > Snip Snip Snip while you're concentrated on blocking the Meteors, or just air dash forward and try to cross you up in the air with Mix Mix Mix.
The rest of Faust's items likely won't prompt him to approach. The health gained from either the Banana or Donut are negligable, the Banana Peel causes a soft knockdown so Faust would want to avoid it, and the Hammer's purpose is to stuff approaches.
Other Things to Keep in Mind
If Faust is crawling, either forwards or backwards, he can low-profile our f.S. He can't low-profile it if he's just crouching, but otherwise, it's important to keep in mind that this poke may not work in neutral.
If Faust takes to the skies and tries to use Bomb Bag from the air, Nago can snipe him with j.D. Alternatively, if Nago is close enough, he can super jump and block, cause the bomb bag to be detonated mid air, and force Faust to either block it himself or cause him to get hit by it.
Offense
When running your offense, you really need to stick to Faust and make sure it's air tight. You can’t afford to let him escape and start getting items out, as it’ll let him take control of neutral and leave you with little way to stop him. 5P
GuardAllStartup5Recovery8Advantage-2 is his fastest button, at 5 frames. This can gatling into his 6P so try not to leave too many gaps on your offense.
Bone-Crushing Excitement
GuardAllStartup16+5Recovery48Advantage-32 is Faust's only invincible reversal. Unfortunately for him, it's start up is extremely slow. In most cases, you can actually block it after the super flash, even after you've pressed a button. To get around this, Faust can use Purple Roman Cancel to cancel the super during it's start up. Faust retains invulnerability frames to avoid attacks and punish with any option of his choosing (and this only costs 50% Tension since the move doesn't actually activate). Faust can use this to grab a meaty while not committing to an attack in case you chose to jump or block to bait it. RC startup is not invulnerable, so Faust can still get hit out of the PRC by cancelling the super too early or if you choose to do a delayed or highly active meaty option.
Defense
Defending Against 2K Pressure
Faust's 2K
GuardAll, Low, LowStartup5Recovery12Advantage-2 is a multi-hitting button with three hits that is a corner stone of Faust's close range pressure. The first hit is a mid, while the rest of the hits are lows. It’s important to use Faultless Defense whenever you block this button. Faust can go directly into a tick throw via Snip Snip Snip from any of the hits from 2K but using Faultless Defense will eliminate this option. He’d have do a quick run up if he still wants to use Snip on you, but this would be telegraphed because Faust would have to wait out all of 2K’s multihits.
He can gatling any of the hits directly into either 6P or 2D
GuardLowStartup12Recovery18Advantage-4 and toss out an item during your recovery. There is a gap in-between 2K > 2D where you can backdash. Faust can punish backdashes, but he’d have to start delaying his follow up options to do so. He could use a delayed 2D or do 2K > c.S. These options lose to mashing. Whether you backdash or block, it’s important to make sure you avoid getting hit by 2D so you can keep him from tossing items out. Fausts tend to backdash after this is blocked to keep from being punished, but you can punish that with Beyblade or f.S.
He can also condition you into blocking low and then catch you off guard with his 6H
GuardHighStartup25Recovery44Advantage-34, which is an overhead. If you choose to block during strings from 2K, block low, and react to the 6H.
From a distance, Faust may try to cancel a blocked 6H into Thrust. Remember, Thrust loses to 6P. From farther away, Nago can't really connect the 6P into anything, but it's still a counter hit that gives him time to get in. If you’ve been hit by Thrust, you can Burst during the pull back and punish it from afar. Just be aware that Faust can still go into the follow up hit even after you’ve used Burst to get out of it, and the hit will still launch you if it connects. You can use Clone to get in on him in this situation.
Keep Watching for Scarecrow
Faust can attempt to use Scarecrow and Scarecrow PRC in a blockstring to take you by surprise. Be on the look out for it, and try to backdash or jump in reaction to it if you can.
Giovanna
The Giovanna match up is fought in a similar way to the Chipp match up: stuffing her approach with pre-emptive, low recovery K normals in neutral. Giovanna is fast, but since her dash is a step dash, that means that she can't advance quite as fast as Chipp can, and it's a bit easier to stop her incoming approaches.
Overview | Frame Data | Matchups | Counterstrategy | Reverse Matchup Return to Top
Round Start
| Giovanna's Button | Loses To | Beats | Trades | Whiffs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Dash 5K GuardAllStartup6Recovery12Advantage-2 |
6P, 2K | All Other Buttons | 5K (+2) | |
5H GuardAllStartup10Recovery19Advantage-5 |
6P, 5K, 2K (All CH) | All Other Buttons | ||
| Walk Back 5HGuardAllStartup10Recovery19Advantage-5 |
6P, 5K, 623H (All CH) | All Other Buttons | ||
2D GuardLowStartup17Recovery12Advantage-8 |
2S, 214H, 623H (All CH) | 2K, 6P | 5K (in time to block) | |
6P GuardAllStartup12Recovery15Advantage-9 |
2S (CH), 623H (CH) | 5K (CH) | 6P (Clash) | 2K (+15, 2S punish) |
2K is the best button for beating Gio's strongest roundstart options in microdash 5KGuardAllStartup6Recovery12Advantage-2 and 5HGuardAllStartup10Recovery19Advantage-5. While 6P beats them as well, its long recovery makes it very whiff-punishable on a walk back. Beating 2K requires using either a microwalk back 5H or 2D, both of which lose heavily to 623H.
5K is a good option too, but it only trades with microdash 5K and loses to 6P (she can't combo from it). It recovers in time to block 2D.
Keep in mind that due to Giovanna's incredible ground mobility, she can vary the timings of her approaches significantly. For example, a delayed microdash 5K can beat 2K as well but now becomes vulnerable to 623H depending on how heavily she delays it. It's best to stick to your low recovery buttons to avoid being whiff punished.
Neutral
Giovanna's neutral is extremely straightforward. She'll be looking to whiff punish a button while trying to approach from either the ground or the air. Like the Chipp match up, make her come to you. Don't spend a lot of Blood trying to chase her down. Play just outside of her range, specifically the range of her 2DGuardLowStartup17Recovery12Advantage-8. Stuff her ground approach with quick, low recovery buttons like 5K or 2K and 6P her aerial approach or Spiral Arrow
GuardAll [All (Guard Crush)]Startup27Recovery13Advantage+4 [+15]. Don't just throw out larger buttons with long recovery, as Giovanna can easily whiff punish you if you do. If she whiffs 2D in neutral, you can punish it with 214H.
If you see Giovanna double jump high into the air with Tension, she's likely attempting to use her aerial Overdrive Divekick
GuardAllStartup3+1RecoveryAdvantage0~+6. You can punish this on reaction by inputting 632146S during the super flash. If you don't have the meter to punish this and you're forced to block it, it's not an overhead, so it can be blocked while crouching. However, it is +6, and Giovanna can do a tick throw immediately afterwards and begin running her pressure, so bear that in mind.
Offense
Giovanna has no meterless invincible reversal. She does have a 4 frame 5P
GuardAllStartup4Recovery9Advantage-2 and a 5 frame 2P
GuardAllStartup5Recovery10Advantage-2 that she can mash during pressure, but that's about all she has. Otherwise, just bait and punish her invincible reversal Overdrive
GuardAllStartup5+4Recovery49Advantage-37 when she has Tension.
Defense
Dealing with Her Special Moves
Both Spiral Arrow and Flip Kick
GuardAll, HighStartup{4} 27Recovery21Advantage-5 can be beaten by 6P. Nago can also interrupt Spiral Arrow with 5P since he’s tall.
Her DP
GuardAllStartup7Recovery21Advantage-15 will beat all mid-hitting pokes. It's not invincible, but it can be hard to punish because Gio's hutbox is so low to the ground that it can low-profile most attacks, even 2P. It is -15 on block, but if Gio has meter, she can PRC it and attack you with an aerial move. You cannot punish her in this case, it’ll stuff any button, even 6P.
Dealing with Post-Sepultura Options
Sepultura
GuardAllStartup13Recovery20Advantage-4 is the only special move Giovanna has that she can rely on as a safe blockstring ender. This move is only -4, so it’s not really punishable with anything. Attempting to do so can lead you to getting frametrapped by Flip Kick or another one of Gio’s fast abare options. However, if you let Gio scare you into not pressing anything, she can start stealing turns. You're going to have to play a bit of RPS around what option she'll do post-Sepultura. When it comes to dealing with this special move, the first thing you have to do is assess the distance between you and her. Figuring out just how far away she is after Sepultura determines how to deal with it.
If she's up close, you can use 2K to take your turn back after blocking it. 2Ks are low and too quick for her to interrupt. She can backdash the 2K, but you’ll still have frame advantage, meaning she can't punish you if it whiffs, only restart her pressure. Study the Gio player’s habits. If she keeps backdashing after Sepultura, then you can start using 2S to catch the backdash.
If she’s outside of the range of 2K, you won’t be able to take your turn back this way. She can recover in time to punish longer range buttons by dashing into her own 2K
GuardLowStartup6Recovery11Advantage-2 or 2PGuardAllStartup5Recovery10Advantage-2, despite the frame disadvantage. If you misjudge the distance between you and her and input your 2K, she can easily whiff punish you with these buttons. There are three ways to deal with post-Sepultura options outside of your 2K range:
1. If you use Faultless Defense, you can push her out farther and give you more room to intercept whatever approach she opts for from there. Intercept them using the same buttons you'd use in neutral: either 5K or 2K for ground approaches, and 6P for aerial approaches or Spiral Arrow.
2. Sepultura is -4 on block. If you successfully Instant Block it, it's a free grab punish. This is a difficult option however, as it will hinge on whether or not the Gio player delays the Sepultura.
3. Finally, you can simply backdash out of this guessing game. As long as you’ve got space behind you, she can’t stop you from doing it, only punish you if you’re too predictable about it.
Dealing with Her Dash Cancels/Dash-In Options
Keep an eye out for the flames that appear on the ground when Gio dash cancels her normals. This will be key for dealing with her tick throws and frametraps. All characters can only dash cancel off of either their c.S
GuardAllStartup7Recovery10Advantage+3 or 5KGuardAllStartup6Recovery12Advantage-2. You can punish both of these dash cancels with a throw. After a dash cancel from c.S, you have a 4 frame window to throw punish her. You have a slightly longer window of time to input throw after a dash canceled 5K.
When it comes to her tick throws, remember that Gio can’t grab you immediately after a blocked c.S This move always manages to push you out of her throw range. However, with dash momentum inwards, she can throw you immediately off of her 5K/2K. These are the buttons you need to watch out for, they’re your visual cues. From here, simply grabbing not only beats her grab, it also saves you from 5[D]
GuardHighStartup28Recovery25Advantage-10, Sepultura, and her delayed gatlings. This will also work if she tries to tick throw after a dash-in 5P or 2P as well.
However, just because throw is a solution in these situations doesn’t necessarily mean you should just do it every single time. She can shut you down from doing this by frametrapping her 5K with 6PGuardAllStartup12Recovery15Advantage-9 or her ability to jump cancel her 5K and hit you with an aerial. To avoid getting counter hit by these options, you’ll need to do a delayed grab. A delayed grab will block both frametraps for you and still break the grab that may come after the dash-in 5K.
Dealing with Common Frametraps
Like with any character’s pressure, be especially careful about mashing in-between her f.S
GuardAllStartup9Recovery16Advantage-4 and 5HGuardAllStartup10Recovery19Advantage-5. The only reason to mash between these buttons is if you think she’ll go for a throw after the f.S instead of a 5H. Use Faultless Defense to push her out. You can use this to create space or challenge her directly with 6P if she inputs a delayed 5H after the f.S.
Another frametrap to avoid is a delayed Sepultura at the end of her blockstrings. To avoid this, once she’s reached the end of her blockstrings, briefly delay your next action to see if she goes for it.
The next frame trap is tricky. Some Gios like to gatling from her kicks into either her 2D, Flip Kick, or jump cancel into an aerial option. You can interrupt all of these options with a 5P or 2P since she isn’t in throw range, but if you’re a little slow to react, you’re getting counter hit into a wall break. In this situation, the safest option is hold your ground and be on the lookout for that delayed Sepultura before you take your turn.
Off of Gio’s c.S, she has a potential high/low mix, as she can do either an uncharged 5DGuardHighStartup20Recovery25Advantage-15 or 2D. She might not be able to combo off of the 5D if it hits (unless she has meter for a Roman Cancel) but she’s so plus she can dash in for another c.S. You're going to have to guess here, but make sure you're using Faultless Defense to give yourself time to punish her if she tries to dash in again.
Dealing with Safe Jumps
When Gio gets a clean hit on you, one of three things are going to happen if you don’t have Burst: you’re going to die, you’re getting wall-broken (which means she’s getting positive bonus), or you’re getting safe jumped. 9 times out of 10, you’re likely going to just get safe jumped. After a hard knockdown, either from Sepultura, 2D, or a throw, use Faultless Defense on her jump-in to push her out. This will take some of the immediate strike/throw pressure off the table and give you breathing room to use all of the counterplay talked about up until now. Make her work for those c.Ses and you should be getting conditioned for her strike/throw game significantly less.
Goldlewis Dickinson
Goldlewis DickinsonHe brought a coffin to a sword fight?Nago has the tools to stuff Goldlewis' approach as well as easily whiff punish just about anything Goldlewis does in neutral, so long as he's playing outside of the range of 684 Behemoth Typhoon. Both characters can struggle against each other when either of them are forced into the corner. It'll mainly be a battle for control of neutral, and chances are, whoever wins neutral wins the round.
Overview | Frame Data | Matchups | Counterstrategy | Reverse Matchup Return to Top
Round Start
| Goldlewis's Button | Loses To | Beats | Trades | Whiffs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
f.S GuardAllStartup11Recovery23Advantage-12 |
6P (CH), 623H (CH) | All Other Buttons | 2K (-2) | |
j.D GuardHighStartup14Recovery14Advantage+13 (IAD) |
5K, 6P, 623H (All CH) | All Other Buttons | 214H (+4), 2K (GL is plus) | |
684H.png) GuardAll* (Guard Crush)Startup12Recovery21Advantage-5 |
5K (CH), 623H (CH) | All Other Buttons | 6P (HKD for GL), 2S (HKD for GL) |
623H beats all of Goldlewis' round start options, and even clips backdash with 623HH. The only thing that he can do against it is block. It may be worth spending the Blood just to guarantee your advantage early in the match, especially considering the consequences of losing round start. The respect 623H commands allows you to conserve Blood and go for much greedier options like f.S and 2H. Be careful however, as getting knocked down by Goldlewis from a wrong read places you one guess away from losing the round.
Neutral
Goldlewis' corner pressure is debatably on par with that of Ramlethal's in both restriction and possibility of imminent death. While he may be scary, you cannot let Goldlewis back you into the corner, as you'll lose the ability to utilize backdash effectively, leaving Faultless Defense as your only hope. If your Tension runs out, that's usually the end of the round, as Drift RC means just 50 Tension is enough for Goldlewis to loop frametraps and deal insane chip damage. Avoid the corner at all costs.
In neutral, play slow, patiently, and reactively. Remember, you don't ever want Goldlewis to land a hard knockdown on you. Make sure you're just outside of the range of his 684HGuardAll* (Guard Crush)Startup12Recovery21Advantage-5, as this is his farthest reaching Typhoon. Wait for him to either whiff something or make a blatant engagement. A number of Goldlewis' methods of engagement can be beaten with 6P, such as f.SGuardAllStartup11Recovery23Advantage-12. Approaching from the air by jumping forward into j.DGuardHighStartup14Recovery14Advantage+13 (IAD) is another common engagement of Goldlewis' that loses to 6P. Goldlewis' j.D is super strong since controls a lot of space. Do NOT try to backdash this, it’s going to catch you. Just challenge it with 6P.
Since 6P is such a strong option against most of Goldlewis’ methods of engagement, this means that you can generally play passively, wait for Goldlewis’ approaches, and just 6P no matter what he does. The only thing he can get away with is going for a raw 684H Behemoth or running in with a 2D
GuardLowStartup14Recovery24Advantage-10, which is a pretty slow poke, and can be whiff punished with 214H. 2K
GuardLowStartup7Recovery11Advantage-2 is Goldlewis' fastest poke, yet it’s small and stubby and doesn’t have much range. Goldlewis’ own 6P
GuardAllStartup12Recovery27Advantage-19 cannot be used as a counter poke a lot of the time due to its really high hitbox. It’s mainly a defensive 6P. This means that his pokes are incredibly weak and yours are harder for him to contest.
Most of Goldlewis’ options midscreen can be backdashed. In fact, all of them can be backdashed from a blocked f.S or 2D at their max range. Furthermore, Goldlewis has ZERO options to punish you for going for the backdash. NONE of the Behemoths can touch you. All he can do is go into a true string with his fastest 684H Behemoth, which leaves him -5 at full screen (which is pretty much neutral). You might eat the chip damage, but it could be worse considering he got a move out on you in neutral. In order to catch backdashes, Goldlewis will have to hard-call them out with specific options that only work at close range, such as 486H.png)
GuardHigh (Guard Crush)Startup12Recovery18Advantage+14~15. 426H.png)
GuardAll (Guard Crush)Startup12Recovery18Advantage+12~+16 also works if Goldlewis has backed you up close to the corner since it causes a wallbounce. He can also go for a delay 268H.png)
GuardAll (Guard Crush)Startup12Recovery18Advantage+6~14. 5H
GuardAllStartup19Recovery15Advantage-2 can also catch a backdash, but he needs running momentum. Lastly,he can j.D to catch a backdash, which is a very hard read, because of that button’s weakness (6P).
All of the Behemoths have a minimum 18 frames of recovery. This means that if any of them whiff, you can punish them with 214H. Just make sure you time it right. Goldlewis can get get free counter hits from a mistimed 214H with sequences like 268H into either itself or 684H. 684H in particular is actually quite punishable on whiff, with 21 frames of recovery, so don't let him throw it out like it's nothing.
Dealing with His Security Level Special Moves
Don’t let Goldlewis get a Security Level 3 Thunderbird (Drone)
GuardAllStartup57Recovery34 TotalAdvantage- out. It will travel across the screen until the Security Gauge is depleted and is immune to Nago's Clone. Drone has 57 frames of start up. From a distance, if you react in time, you can use Clone or Fukyo into Beyblade to counter hit Goldlewis during it's start up, make it disappear and keep it from traveling across the stage. Otherwise, Goldlewis can only safely get this out on a hard knockdown from any Behemoth, 2D, throw, or OTG 5H. Make it part of your gameplan to just not let him get it out. After Drone has been sent out, if Goldlewis takes damage, the Drone will disappear.
Security Level 3 Skyfish (Minigun)
GuardAllStartup25Recovery75~134 TotalAdvantage-13 also causes a hard knockdown. This gives Goldlewis a chance to close the gap and re-establish some pressure. Unlike with Drone, Clone will beat it. Follow it up with 236K for an opportunity to land a f.SSS knockdown.
If Goldlewis uses Burn it Down (Laser)
GuardAllStartup13+(84 Flash)+79Recovery27 TotalAdvantage- while close to you, but outside of your throw range, you can Drift BRC forwards and throw him after he activates it. You will be immune to the laser during the throw animation. If he goes for it while farther away, you could 236K, PRC and then throw him.
Offense
Goldlewis has no meterless invincible reversal. On defense, he can use his 5 frame 2P
GuardAllStartup5Recovery6Advantage+3 in order to challenge stagger pressure. Nago's 2K actually low profiles Goldlewis' 2P. This makes staggering with this normal very strong, as Goldlewis can't ever mash out of back to back 2Ks without getting hit. On hit, you can convert into a full combo. Otherwise, when he has Tension, be sure to bait out his reversal Overdrive Down With the System
GuardAllStartup6+(135 Flash)+4Recovery46Advantage-33.
Defense
If Goldlewis gets in on you, you need to use your Burst early. Be smart about using it, but still, use it early. Don't just hold onto it in pressure and only use it once you've been put into a combo or counter hit into a strong starter. With Goldlewis, this is very dangerous. His high chip damage and massive amount of plus frames means his offense is long and does a decent amount of damage on its own without even needing to open you up. Thus, you should be very considerate about where you Burst and use it to push Goldlewis back out. Remember, Goldlewis struggles in the neutral game, meaning it can be advantageous to force him to play it again by Bursting his pressure instead of saving it to prevent damage. If you don’t have Burst, then remember: mashing and jumping are generally not effective. Goldlewis has many back-to-back frametraps that all have anywhere from decent to devastating reward. The absurd area of effect and active frames of any Behemoth Typhoon will catch jumps 99% of the time. Mashing or jumping can be used in fringe reads, but should absolutely not be go-to strategies. This means that you’re typically going to have to block on wakeup. Make sure you use Faultless Defense whenever you block him. Although blocking Goldlewis is scary, patience is key. Goldlewis can catch a backdash on your wakeup easily with a meaty 268H or 5K
GuardLowStartup10Recovery12Advantage-7, which are common okizeme options for him. 268H also gives Goldlewis a comically damaging combo on counter hit, so avoid mashing as well.
A well timed 632146S can throw a wrench in Goldlewis’ pressure. Since much of his pressure consists of frametraps, Goldlewis must worry about reversals more than many characters. Be careful, however, as his punishes on baited reversals are very damaging. You also need to be careful about using a reversal on wakeup if Goldlewis is airborne, as he is likely using j.H
GuardHighStartup15Recovery20Advantage- to safejump (which he can do off of almost all knockdowns). Your reversal will usually be better spent on his plus frames, as he will have to call it out. Goldlewis is very likely to go for a Behemoth Typhoon after a c.S
GuardAllStartup7Recovery12Advantage+1. This is usually a good time to input 632146S. Additionally, you could delay using Burst until you see the a Behemoth Typhoon in his blockstrings. This will be a free Gold Burst almost all the time, unless Goldlewis goes for a 268H.
Midscreen, if Goldlewis lands a hard knockdown on you, this is a very dangerous situation to be in. From specific spacings, Goldlewis can do a safe jump or cross you up on your wakeup with j.H or j.D. Goldlewis will typically go for this after a knockdown from a throw or a 684H. He could also go for this after sending out Drone. You’ll have to guess which direction he’ll try to land this on during your wake up.
A strong but risky setup Goldlewis can do after a hard or soft knockdown in the corner is whiffing 5P
GuardAllStartup7Recovery6Advantage+3 into either 842H.png)
GuardLow (Guard Crush)Startup12Recovery18Advantage+16 or 862H.png)
GuardHigh (Guard Crush)Startup12Recovery18Advantage+12. This is a mix up that can be extremely hard to see coming and is a true 50/50. The damage off of a Behemoth starter is also great, and if he has enough Tension to Roman Cancel, Goldlewis can convert into any number of his devastating corner combos. Even worse, if he successfully times either of these Behemoths then it counts as a true meaty with all the plus frames that Goldlewis usually gets, making this remarkably safe. This setup is vulnerable to 632146S, however. Goldlewis also needs Tension to convert into a full combo, which may lead to worse reward compared to the standard frame traps that Goldlewis has on offer.
Using Faultless Defense Against Goldlewis
Using Faultless Defense in general is essential for getting him off of you. It will force Goldlewis to play slower and a little more reactive. Faultless Defense can make many options, (including most Behemoths) whiff and force him to work hard to stay close, whether it's by risking a jump-in or spending Tension to drift Roman Cancel in after a Guard Crush. If he tries for a tick throw after a blocked c.S, Faultless Defense makes him have to run a lot further to get close enough for one. Faultless Defense will also prevent c.S into 2H. This is important because this string frame traps, combos into itself, and leads to a really big combo. It will completely whiff if you FD.
When blocking Goldlewis, it's worth memorizing common pressure strings so that you have an understanding of what options you have and when you can use them. However, you won’t be able to use any option if you don’t use Faultless Defense. Pay attention to which options the Goldlewis is going for after c.S. It can be easy to get distracted by the different highs and lows when guarding this character, but it’s very important to understand that Goldlewis’ kit is harder to mix you up with if you haven’t been knocked down. The highs and lows are all reactable. Instead, it’s much more important to understand whether Goldlewis is going for a safe or unsafe option.
- If you’re blocking him up close, use Faultless Defense during the entirety of this standard gapless string: c.S > 268H > (button) > 684H or 624H
GuardAll (Guard Crush)Startup12Recovery21Advantage-5. After this string, his turn is over.
.png)
- If he loops 268H into 268H, this can be mashed on with 5K. If he goes for c.S into 486H, this can also be mashed on with 5K.
- Using FD on c.S means that 624H and 842H won’t hit. If you don’t have the Tension to use Faultless Defense on these and you block them, then it’s his turn.
Happy Chaos
Happy ChaosYou brought a sword to a gunfight.Happy Chaos can really take advantage of his ability to enforce strong pressure at just about any range and put Nago in situations where it’s borderline impossible to fight back. If Nago succeeds in an RPS interaction, he’ll either take a massive amount of Chaos’ life or get a chance to really pin Chaos down, but winning those interactions is very difficult.
Overview | Frame Data | Matchups | Counterstrategy | Reverse Matchup Return to Top
Round Start
| Happy Chaos's Button | Loses To | Beats | Trades | Whiffs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
2S GuardLowStartup11Recovery18Advantage-7 |
dl.5K (CH), dl.214H | All Other Buttons | 2K (-2), 623H (f.SSS combo) |
5K (-11, 5K punish*) |
2D GuardLowStartup10Recovery19Advantage-8 |
5K (CH), 2K (CH) | All Other Buttons | Walk Back* | |
6P GuardAllStartup9Recovery25Advantage-16 |
2K, 2S, 623H (All CH) | 5K (CH), 214H (CH) | 6P (Clash) | Walk Back* |
Curse Guard-Startup-Recovery29 totalAdvantage- |
f.S (CH), 214H (CH) | Not an Attack | Not an Attack | All Other Buttons |
Scapegoat Guard-Startup10Recovery43 totalAdvantage- |
(f.S) > f.SS, (2K or dl.5K) > 214H, (214H) > 623H (All CH) |
Not an Attack | Not an Attack | All Other Buttons |
*Chaos has a 35% chance to punish your whiff punish with Gun Shot GuardAllStartup1RecoveryAdvantage+23
| ||||
None of Happy Chaos' normals can be punished on block at round start because of how the gun works. On block, the reticle will automatically lock on to Chaos' opponent. At round start, Chaos has full resources and can use the gun to cover any gaps in his pressure. Simply blocking Chaos' normals will allow him to begin applying pressure immediately. The reticle isn't guaranteed to lock onto the opponent immediately on whiff unless you've been hit with CurseGuard-Startup-Recovery29 totalAdvantage-, but there is a 35% chance that the reticle does lock onto you immediately. He could land a round start Curse, but he would need to block immediately after it, as 214H will hit or counter hit anything else he tries to do. However, Chaos can cover this option with round start ScapegoatGuard-Startup10Recovery43 totalAdvantage-.
Nago's best round start options are 2K or 5K. These two buttons will either beat, trade, or whiff the majority of Happy Chaos' other options. There's an OS you can do with these buttons if Chaos opens up with either Curse or Scapegoat. First, input 2K/5K and then buffer 214H. If he does Curse, he can't do anything other than block, or else 214H will catch it (he could jump, but unless he's blocking after he jumps, 214H will still catch him). If he does block it, make sure to cancel into 214K so you don't get punished. If he does Scapegoat, you will special cancel the 2K/5K when either button makes contact with it, and counter hit Chaos during Scapegoat's recovery. This OS is more consistent with 2K than it is with 5K. With 2K you don't have to worry about the timing, but in order for it to work on Scapegoat, you'd have to slightly delay inputting 5K, or else it will whiff because the clone hasn't materialized yet. If you delay it for too long however, Chaos will recover in time to be able to back dash or jump over 214H.
623H can also be a strong option to represent. The only thing Chaos has that beats it is his 2DGuardLowStartup10Recovery19Advantage-8, which loses to our 5K/2K, so this would have to be a very hard call out.
Happy Chaos' 2SGuardLowStartup11Recovery18Advantage-7 is an extremely strong round start option against Nago. Nago does have a few different options to deal with it, but they all hinge on random factors.
- One option Nago has that can beat it cleanly round start is a slightly delayed 5K or 214H. The problem is the timing is extremely strict. If you input it too fast or too slow, you'll get counter hit. This will also hinge on the timing of when the Chaos player inputs 2S as well. If they alter their timing, or if their timing is just off, they can still get a counter hit.
- You can input an immediate 5K to cause the 2S to whiff, and then input a second 5K to try to whiff punish it. However, if Chaos pulls out the gun, there's a 35% chance this won't work if the reticle immediately locks onto you.
- You can trade it with 623H. This will trade in your favor, as it will launch Chaos into the air, and you can immediately go into the f.SSS.
Neutral
Thanks to the gun, Happy Chaos is capable of extremely strong pressure, conversions, mix ups and okizeme from just about any range. This is all nearly impossible to challenge as long as he has resources. In neutral, you’re just going to have to play extremely slow, defensively, and patiently. Proper Blood Management is especially critical in this match up. Avoid wasting Blood by excessively chasing him down, and try to make him come to you when/if you can. Chaos can comfortably and slowly zone you from afar if your Blood Gauge is high, and if he does this while both your Blood is high and you're at a life deficit, the match is effectively over as Nago can't really approach him at all. Unfortunately, the best way to play is just letting him just run his offense and blocking him and his pressure/mix ups for as long as he has resources, mainly Concentration. Most of Chaos’ blockstrings allow him opportunities to safely reload the gun, but if he wants to maintain his pressure, at some point he needs to take the time to use Focus
Guard-Startup41RecoveryTotal 46Advantage- and restore his Concentration. This is your biggest opportunity to advance and get a lot of ground. A well-timed 236K > 214H can help getting in on him here, but you’ll want to save this for after he’s used Burst, as he’s almost guaranteed to Burst here. You also can’t afford to do this frequently because this will drive your Blood gauge up nearly halfway. If Chaos lands a combo, he’ll almost always have time to replenish both of his resources either during the combo or during okizeme. However, if you successfully block his pressure/mix and he overextends, he could leave himself in a very vulnerable position.
If Happy’s zoning you out repeatedly with Steady Aim
Guard-Startup-RecoveryTotal 18Advantage- shots, you just have to wait it out for as long as he can keep it going. Flicker (but don’t hold) Faultless Defense until he (eventually) runs out of Concentration. Even if you get pushed full screen, it’s fine. At some point, he HAS to use Focus to get his Concentration back and this is your opportunity to go in on him, as you’ll have about 65 frames to do so, 75 frames if you’re not Cursed. If he uses his Overdrive Super Focus
Guard-Startup5RecoveryTotal 11Advantage- and then proceeds to zone, he’s just wasting Tension because he doesn’t build much Tension while zoning. Furthermore, the farther away Happy Chaos is, the slower his Concentration meter will replenish. Whether he’s zoning or if he’s hitting you with one of his strings, NEVER challenge or dash towards him after Super Focus. He’s extremely plus. Do not jump during Steady Aim strings. If you’re Guard Crushed while in the air, it’ll send you back extremely far. Since Nago can't dash, the only thing he can really do is 236K when Chaos does Focus. Keep an eye out for Focus at all times.
Once you get within a certain range, you’ll force him to either fight you directly or attempt to get away from you and prevent your approach with Scapegoat. In addition to special canceling after hitting the clone with a normal, you can use 632146S, which ignores it entirely. You can also red roman cancel after hitting Scapegoat, and this will catch every option other than blocking. Even if he IS blocking, it will still enforce your blockstring. When you do this, make sure you do a forward drift RC. If you don’t, there’s a chance that it’ll whiff, but drifting forward will guarantee that the shockwave will hit.
In the mid range, Chaos relies on his normals, specifically 2SGuardLowStartup11Recovery18Advantage-7, 6S
GuardAllStartup12Recovery24Advantage-14, 2K
GuardLowStartup7Recovery12Advantage-4, and 5K
GuardAllStartup6Recovery12Advantage-3 to stuff approaches. 5K and 2K can lead to grounded corner carry which ends in a wall slump. In addition, if you’ve been hit with Curse, Chaos is able to do fast and easy punishes, as well as stuff approaches, which leads to easy and good reward. When Cursed at farther distances, it's better to hold your ground and block as opposed to attempting an approach.
When Moves Hit Scapegoat
When hitting a character, both the attacker and defender are put into an equal number of 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. frames. However, hitting HC's ScapegoatGuard-Startup10Recovery43 totalAdvantage-does not put Chaos himself into Hitstop, which effectively extends the total duration of any move that hits Scapegoat, specifically, its Active Frames. These Active Frames cannot be Gatling'ed or Special canceled out of, because you cannot cancel out of hitstop:
The Yellow line shows the cancel window.
Nagoriyuki's H normals have above average Hitstop of 25 Frames (compared to regular 15f), which massively extends Active Frames of any H normals that hit Oppose, but also effectively freezes you in place for almost 1/2 of a second without an ability to cancel. This time can be extended if Chaos uses PRC on Scapegoat when you're in the slowdown bubble's range. Be especially wary of this possibility after a Wall Break when Chaos has 50 meter. If you swing into a PRC'ed Clone with almost any normal, you will get CH punished for a full combo.
Offense
Happy Chaos' fastest buttons are his 5 frame 5P
GuardAllStartup5Recovery7Advantage-1 and 2P
GuardAllStartup5Recovery10Advantage-2. He does not have any reversals.
When running your offense, you NEVER want to reset to neutral with Chaos. This is NOT optional. This means you need to avoid breaking the wall if you do get in on him. This will require you to do shorter combos, which we should already be doing since again, we really need to be managing our Blood well in this match up especially. The only time you can really afford to go for bigger combos is if you have low Blood, Chaos is in the corner, he doesn’t have Burst, and you have Tension for 632146S. This will lead to a wallbreak with a hard knockdown, giving you an opportunity to keep the pressure going in case it doesn’t kill. Try and intercept his attempts to jump out of the corner with an air throw if you can. Be offensive with your Burst. Use it to keep him in the corner in case he successfully mashes out of your pressure or tries to IAD out.
Defense
As mentioned, the only way to deal with Happy Chaos’ offense is to simply block it until he needs to take the time to restore his Concentration. He has far too many ways to successfully cover and punish just about all other defensive options because of how the gun works. You also need to use Faultless Defense when blocking his close range strings. Only use it during the hits of his strings, but not the shots themselves. Using Faultless Defense on the shots won’t push him back, you'll just be wasting Tension.
When it comes to worrying about throws, Chaos doesn’t get much in terms of damage off of them without Tension to RC, though he does get an opportunity to replenish his resources. He can’t ever go for a throw after a regular gun shot from Fire
Guard-Startup-RecoveryTotal 12Advantage- because of throw protection, however, there is no throw protection after a guard crush shot from Steady Aim. If he’s up close and starts dashing towards you after a Steady Aim shot, this might be an opportunity to buffer a throw.
Remember, whenever Chaos has the gun out, he can’t block. This leaves him vulnerable to well-timed YRC depending on how close you are to him, and it can be essential for taking your turn back. When it comes to using your burst on him, you really only ever want to use it when he’s close to the corner. If he successfully mashes out of your corner pressure, bursting in this situation will keep him in the corner and you can resume your pressure. You generally want to avoid sending him to fullscreen with burst, because that will either give him a chance to replenish his resources or start running his full screen pressure. The only time you should use burst non-offensively is if you’re in the corner and he’s comboing you into a wallslump loop. On a successful hit, Chaos can loop 5K > 6K
GuardLowStartup16Recovery16Advantage-7 > Fire until you wall splat. This gives Chaos an opportunity to do Focus and reload two bullets, then dash up and do a meaty c.S
GuardAllStartup7Recovery10Advantage+1 into mix. This is extremely strong, loopable okizeme that lets him maintain his resources, so you’ll want to burst here to deny him that.
I-No
I-No's neutral isn't the best. It's very easy for Nago to shut down her methods of approach as well as brute force his way through her attempts to keep him out. Once she's cornered, it's also very difficult for her to fight back.
Overview | Frame Data | Matchups | Counterstrategy | Reverse Matchup Return to Top
Round Start
| I-No's Button | Loses To | Beats | Trades | Whiffs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
f.S GuardAllStartup12Recovery18Advantage-13 |
6P, 2S, 623H (All CH) | 5K, 2K | 214K (f.S punish) | |
2S GuardAllStartup10Recovery23Advantage-11 |
6K, 214H | 6P, 2S, 623H (All CH), | 2K (-2) | 5K (-14, 2S punish), 214K (f.S punish) |
H Stroke GuardLowStartup28Recovery16Advantage-2 |
All Other Buttons | 6P, 214K > f.S | 5K (6D on reaction) | |
Jump dl.Divekick GuardAllStartup10 [37]RecoveryUntil Landing + 15Advantage-3 ~ -4 [+2 ~ 0] |
623H and 2H (airblock) | All Other Buttons | 5K and 2K (blocks in time) |
Even round start against I-No is a gamble, and while it is mostly in our favor, she does have a few options that can really call us out. If we're wrong, she can immediately start putting us in the blender. One of our most consistent options that can beat her round start is 623H. It beats all of her round start options except for 2SGuardAllStartup10Recovery23Advantage-11 which she can use to get a counter hit on us. I-No's S and H pokes have a lot of recovery, making 214K > f.SSS punish all of them. However, it doesn't truly punish her 6P
GuardAllStartup9Recovery18Advantage-9 and can be counter hit with H StrokeGuardLowStartup28Recovery16Advantage-2 and a delayed DivekickGuardAllStartup10 [37]RecoveryUntil Landing + 15Advantage-3 ~ -4 [+2 ~ 0]. These would have to be a hard read though, as both of these options lose 623H.
Neutral
While I-No’s hover dash grants her access to strong offense, it oftentimes makes it harder for her to approach her opponent. Her special moves can help with this weakness as well as keep the opponent away from her, but they’re not especially strong in neutral, and are more so meant to help her offense. The overall objective is to force I-No to play neutral, where she struggles. Memorize and understand her neutral options/special moves and how they work. Then, punish or navigate your way past them, get in on her, and run your offense.
Preventing Her Approach
Her dash forces her to be more airborne over time, making her approach vulnerable to 6P from a distance. You need to be careful when timing your 6P, as she can whiff punish it with Sultry Performance. There are three variations: K
GuardAllStartup10 [37]RecoveryUntil Landing + 15Advantage-2 ~ -4 [+4 ~ +1], SGuardAllStartup10 [37]RecoveryUntil Landing + 15Advantage-3 ~ -4 [+2 ~ 0], and H
GuardAllStartup8 [32]RecoveryUntil Landing + 6Advantage-7 [-2], all of which hit at various angles. With proper timing, you can use 5P or 6P to hit her out of this move at any angle. If blocked, she can’t take a free turn, so toss out a 5P after blocking to make sure she doesn’t try and take one. You should NEVER let her get away with tossing out this move. The only time she can really do it is if she has Tension to Roman Cancel it.
If she tries to fish with Chemical Love
GuardAllStartup11Recovery22Advantage-9 during her dash, crouch underneath it and punish. Chemical Love has 30 frames of recovery, and she’s in counter hit state the entire time. It's a free counter hit 214H or f.S. If I-No uses Antidepressant Scale (aka Note)
GuardAllStartup29RecoveryTotal 51Advantage-8 from a distance, she can use the hit/block stun to lock you down and give her enough time to get in your face. It gains hits as it travels so if you block it from full screen, she gains access to her win condition. Once the move is out though, I-No can’t move for more than half a second. This is a perfect opportunity to get in on her with Clone > Fukyo > f.SSS. Be careful though. If I-No is full screen, you’ll be too far away for the f.S to connect in time, and you’ll have built up a lot of Blood. I-No might retreat to full screen and bait you this way. Try not to let her get too far away from you, and keep yourself spaced just outside of the range of Chemical Love.
Dealing With Stroke the Big Tree
There are two variations of Stroke the Big Tree: SGuardLowStartup16Recovery16Advantage-7 and HGuardLowStartup28Recovery16Advantage-2. S Stroke has 16 frames of startup, goes a shorter distance, and is -7 on block. You can punish it with 5K. H Stroke has 28 frames of startup and is -2 on block, but you can grab her during it's start up, or hit her out of it with low attacks such as 2K or 2S. If you get hit by Stroke, I-No gets a free high/low mixup. You’ll need to go for a Gold Stagger recovery to get the chance to even attempt to block it.
In neutral, I-No might attempt to use Stroke the Big Tree to get in on you. H Stroke is -2 on block but pushes you too far for her to threaten a strike/throw mix. Fuzzy mashing a 2P denies her access to either an I-No Hop or a 5[D]
GuardHighStartup28Recovery26Advantage-10. If she wants to continue her turn, the only thing she can do after this is 2K
GuardLowStartup6Recovery12Advantage-2 > 2D
GuardLowStartup12Recovery18Advantage-7, or she can try to follow up 2K with S Stroke. Whenever I-No goes for either Stroke during a blockstring, do a delay/fuzzy throw upon seeing the animation for it, timing it such that you would block if it was S Stroke and throw if it was H Stroke.
If I-No does 2K > 6H
GuardAllStartup7Recovery19Advantage-8 > H Stroke, this is NOT a real blockstring. Again, you can fuzzy throw her out of H Stroke every time. If 2K > 6H is followed up with S Stroke you can punish it with 5K. Do NOT Burst during this string. There are two hits to 6H, and I-No can cancel either of them into H Stroke to bait your Burst. When you’re looking to punish Stroke, be careful not to get too conditioned to punishing it that you forget I-No’s other options to approach as well.
Offense
I-No's fastest buttons are her 5 frame 5P
GuardAllStartup5Recovery9Advantage-3 and 2P
GuardAllStartup5Recovery10Advantage-2. She has no meterless invincible reversal. Her invincible reversal Overdrive is Ultimate Fortissimo
GuardAll (Guard Crush)Startup7+2Recovery13Advantage+26. This Overdrive has two hits to it, with the second hit causing a Guard Crush state. There's a sizeable gap between the first and second hits where you can punish her with just about anything, including c.S or 2H. Make sure you punish it during this gap, otherwise, I-No will be free to start running her offense.
Defense
If I-No manages to win neutral and get in on you, this is a dangerous spot to be in. I-No’s hoverdash allows her to perform aerial attacks while being close to the ground. These are instant overheads. She can also jump cancel all of her aerials except for j.P
GuardHighStartup5Recovery12Advantage0 (IHD), or cancel them into j.D
GuardHighStartup16Recovery20Advantage-4 (IHD) which is also jump cancellable. These traits allow her to perform strong blockstrings that constantly force you to guess whether or not she’ll go high or low and switch your guard accordingly. For example, she can go from j.S, her typical string starter, into 2K > 2D, or she could jump cancel j.S and do another j.S. j.K
GuardHighStartup7Recovery14Advantage+3 (IHD) is even harder to react to, as it’s faster than j.S. However, she’s not as close to the ground if she goes for this and it has a lot of recovery, giving you more of an opportunity to guess here. She can use j.H after a short hoverdash to fake an overhead and go for a 2K or throw.
If you guess wrong during her blockstrings, she can land a 2D and put you in a hard knockdown again. On your wake up, you’ll have to guess if she’ll hit you with an aerial or if she’ll do an empty hop into a low. There are a multitude of high and low options that she can do, and it’s not really possible to react to any of them. The hoverdash is so low to the ground, almost any option she goes for happens pretty much instantly. She’s able to loop these mixups and push you towards the corner until you either guess right or use Burst/YRC, she breaks the wall and resets to neutral, or she kills you. Multiple hops are not real. If she ever tries to go from an aerial, lands, and tries a second hop, you can 6P her out of this at any time.
Fuzzy guarding here can really help you when she gets her mix ups going. On your wake up, going from high > low > high will defeat the j.S > 2K/j.S mixup. If I-No knocks you down with a 2D she can use Note to put you into blockstun on wake up using, which will get her one guaranteed high-low mix up upon blocking it. However, you can still fuzzy guard in this situation. If she goes from an overhead to a low, however, this will not work. If she tries to fake you out with a whiffed j.H and goes for a low, or if she just goes for a low without any prior follow up, you can mash throw to beat it. If you block an overhead, you could fuzzy mash 6P. This means, as opposed to immediately pressing it during a blockstring, you wait, and press it during blockstun. This isn’t a matter of reacting. This is preemptively sending out an attack to beat out I-No if she goes for a second aerial.
I-No does have a way to counter fuzzy mashing, however. If I-No goes from an empty hop to 2K, she can gatling into 6H to counter you if you try to punish her here. One thing to keep in mind is that once I-No has opted to go for a low option, she’s committed to low/mid options for the rest of the blockstring. She can’t go from a low into another instant overhead, she can only go from lows to mids. Knowing this can really help mitigate the guessing game. Her pressure should be over after she special cancels, especially after pushing her out with Faultless Defense. Remember the previously mentioned methods for dealing with her special cancels. She’ll likely cancel into one of the two Strokes. Chemical Love whiffs on crouching opponents so she can be counter hit out of it, and she can also be counter hit out of the start of Note as well.
Jack-O
Jack-OThis Whac-A-Mole simulator is rigged!This matchup can be very rough for Nago. It's difficult for him to keep Jack-O' pinned down, and once her Servants are out, Jack-O' can very easily control the screen and prevent Nago's approach.
Overview | Frame Data | Matchups | Counterstrategy | Reverse Matchup Return to Top
Round Start
| Jack-O's Button | Loses To | Beats | Trades | Whiffs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
f.S GuardAllStartup11Recovery17Advantage-9 |
6P (CH) | All Other Buttons | 623H (f.SSS combo) | 214K[6] (f.S punish) |
5H GuardAllStartup10Recovery23Advantage-6 |
6P, 5K, 623H (All CH) | All Other Buttons | 2S | Backdash or 214K (f.S punish) |
2D GuardLowStartup10Recovery18Advantage-19 |
2K (CH) | All Other Buttons | Backdash or 214K (f.S punish) |
This roundstart is hard. Her 2DGuardLowStartup10Recovery18Advantage-19 beats every button except 623H while only losing to 2K which has low reward. But 2K loses f.SGuardAllStartup11Recovery17Advantage-9 and 5HGuardAllStartup10Recovery23Advantage-6 which both provide her a knockdown to set up her Minions.
However, all of these options have such long total durations that either Backdash (2D and 5H) or 214K punishes them. For using 214K against 2D and 5H, you cannot hold [6] immediately or you will get clipped. With f.S, however, you do have to hold [6] immediately or you won't reach. The issue with these options is that they give up space in a matchup that is disadvantageous for Nago in neutral. Jack-O's buttons can make you give up valuable screen space by doing nothing at all.
You really do have to pick your poison here.
Neutral
Before she’s able to do any effective neutral, Jack-O’ has to get a Servant out. Your goal has to be to stay on top of Jack-O’, keep her cornered, and prevent her from getting her Servants out. In addition, there are two situations when fighting Jack-O' that need to be prevented at all costs: letting her position a Servant behind you, and letting her force you into the corner. Both of these situations are her win condition. Prioritize getting in and staying in with this match up. It's another one where you'll want to be especially conservative with your Blood.
Dealing With Her Zoning
Clone isn't that effective on the Servants, and it won't work at all if the Servants have been launched with Servant Shoot
GuardAllStartup15Recovery25Advantage-12. It's not recommended to rely on it much in this match up. If she manages to get her Servants out, the Servants themselves all die in one hit unless they have been buffed with S Cheer
GuardStartup3RecoveryTotal 15AdvantageSee Notes, and all Servants die at once if you manage to land a blow on Jack-O' herself, either on hit or block. Use your low recovery normals, namely 5P, 2P, 5K, or 2K, to swat the Servants away if they’re launched at you. Don’t rely on 6P, it’s a very committal button. Even if a Servant is successfully intercepted with 6P, the hitstun will add to that button’s recovery, and Jack-O’ has enough time to advance and run her offense from full screen. That being said, you could take advantage of the extended hitstun by hitting the Servants from afar with 5H. If Jack-O' tries to approach during the extended hitstun of this button, she could get hit by it's disjoint. This does leave you vulnerable to aerial approach, so it's not a tactic that should be used frequently. Otherwise, stick to your low recovery buttons instead, and continue to use them to stuff Jack-O’ if she tries to approach.
Jack-O’ may opt to keep Nago at bay by spamming Attack Command
GuardAllStartup12RecoveryTotal 23Advantage+15 while she’s got Servants out. Eventually, however, she has to move in at some point if she wants to maintain pressure because of the Servant Gauge. Play patiently, wait it out, and don't always try to force your way in.
When Moves Hit a Minion
When hitting a character, both the attacker and defender are put into an equal number of 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. frames. However, hitting Jack-O's Minions does not put Jack-O herself into Hitstop, which effectively extends the total duration of any move that hits a Minion, specifically, its Active Frames. These Active Frames cannot be Gatling'ed or Special canceled out of, because you cannot cancel out of hitstop:
The Yellow line shows the cancel window.
Nagoriyuki's H normals have above average Hitstop of 25 Frames (compared to regular 15f), which massively extends Active Frames of any H normals that hit a Minion, but also effectively freezes you in place for almost 1/2 of a second. This is not such a big deal, however, because Nago's H normals cover large portions of the screen with an active hitbox, meaning Jack-O cannot really approach Nago due to the presence of these hitboxes. Jack-O's 2D cannot low-profile 5H, for example, and even IAD approaches get clipped if she presses an air button on her way down.
Offense
Jack-O's fastest buttons are her 5P
GuardAllStartup5Recovery8Advantage-2 and 2P
GuardAllStartup5Recovery9Advantage-3 at 5 frames each. She'll likely mash 2P during gaps in your pressure. Otherwise, she has no meterless invincible reversal. You do need to be very wary of her Forever Elysium Driver
GuardAllStartup10+1Recovery58Advantage-41, however. This is a command grab Overdrive that ignores guts and is very damaging. You can input 632146S during it's start up animation to beat it , but not if you were using Faultless Defense beforehand. If you were Faultless Defense and she uses this, she can actually be hit with a Gold Burst after the super flash. You can also bait it by neutral jumping during Jack-O's wake up, as it doesn’t hit airborne opponents. She can gatling into this from 5H so take care not to get hit by that normal when she has Tension.
Defense
Dealing with Servant-less Pressure
Jack-O' without any Servants on screen heavily relies on reads to start actual pressure. All of her attacks are unsafe and easily punishable without them. Jack-O' players will try to use frame traps to condition you into blocking so that they can safely summon Servants. With no Servants out, Servant Shoot is a free punish for Nagoriuki's wide buttons. 2H will be your go-to normal after blocking Servant Shoot. If she immediately cancels into Summon Servant
GuardStartup10RecoveryTotal 25Advantage-, 2H will net you a free counter-hit for massive damage. It will also catch her running or jumping away in most cases. 2H is not fast enough to be a true punish, but her fast pokes like 5K
GuardAllStartup7Recovery10Advantage-4 are likely to whiff or trade in the worst case. If she has 50% Tension however, this option will be off the table because she can cancel into Forever Elysion Driver from Servant Shoot, which has invincibility on start up.
Dealing with Sandwich Pressure
If you fail to keep the Servants from getting behind you, you’ll be placed under Jack-O’s Sandwich Pressure. This is a difficult position to be in. Try to avoid getting thrown during Sandwich Pressure, because she has way too many oki options with her Servants. Ultimately, the best thing to do in this scenario is use your Burst or YRC to get out of the situation entirely. There are ways to defend against Sandwich Pressure, but Jack-O’ has answers to those defensive options. Still, it’s worth going over them. Block and be on the look out for two things: a gap in her pressure (since this is where she’ll likely go for a throw) or her 5D
GuardHighStartup20Recovery26Advantage-15 since it’s an overhead. Here are a few scenarios that you need to keep an eye out for to keep from getting grabbed:
- She may go for a grab immediately after using an Attack Command while the Servant is behind you.
- She may go for it after a dash-in > c.S
GuardAllStartup7Recovery10Advantage+1. She can do a delayed 2H
GuardAllStartup15Recovery18Advantage-5 to catch you if you try to backdash here. If you notice a delay after the c.S, go for a throw. That way you’ll tech her throw if she goes for one, or you’ll interrupt the 2H and take back your advantage if she goes for that instead.
Jack-O’ can also go for aerials during her Sandwich Pressure as well. This looks scarier than it actually is. When blocking, react to her jumping and stand up to block the aerials.
Jack-O’ can also take advantage of hitting the Servants to extend the active frames of her attacks, turning normally fake interactions into ones that can't be mashed out of. For example, she could do c.S > 5D. The c.S's active frames would be extended because of the Servant, so you wouldn't be able to mash on the 5D despite its start up, even if it’s charged. You can only block high in order to avoid getting hit by it. The 5D is still punishable if successfully blocked, however. She can also make it so that c.S > c.S, which would normally be a fake and mashable option, into one that leads to a counter hit if you try to mash in-between both of them.
On a hard knockdown, Jack-O’ will often jump and release the Servant from above. From here, she threaten her Sandwich Pressure by jumping forward and then Instant Air Dashing backwards for a cross up. You will have to guess which direction to block here.
Dealing with Corner Pressure
The other bad position Jack-O’ can place her opponents in is in the corner. This is where she can apply her most threatening and almost non-stop pressure. While in the corner, Jack-O’ will try to frame trap with Servant Shoot. This leads to massive reward, especially on counter hit. She’ll usually try to go into it from either 2H or 2D. Both of these buttons are very unsafe unless she cancels them into Servant Shoot. You can input 632146S after blocking either 2H or 2D to get out of this situation.
Jack-O’ is also capable of using H Cheer
GuardStartup3RecoveryTotal 15AdvantageSee Notes to apply massive amounts of pressure that quickly leads to a cranked RISC gauge and immense chip damage. If she doesn’t cancel into H Cheer from 2H or Servant Shoot, you can simply mash 5P and get out of that situation entirely. You can also input 632146S during the super flash of H Cheer as well. This will also work on S Cheer. Otherwise, the only thing that can be done is relying on Faultless Defense to prevent the chip damage. Keep an eye out for her 5D or if she tries to do a Dash > Throw to reset pressure.
Ky Kiske
At lower Blood, Ky is able to slug with Nago in the midrange, and has a lot of good tools to compete with Nago for controlling space. Nago's able to brute force his way through those tools, but he relies on his special moves to do so, meaning proper Blood Management is very important in this match up.
Overview | Frame Data | Matchups | Counterstrategy | Reverse Matchup Return to Top
Round Start
| Ky's Button | Loses To | Beats | Trades | Whiffs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
f.S GuardAllStartup10Recovery16Advantage-5 |
6P (CH), 623H (CH) | All Other Buttons | 2S (+0) | 2K (+11, 5K punish) |
2S GuardLowStartup11Recovery20Advantage-8 |
5K (CH), 2K (CH), 214H | All Other Buttons | ||
2D GuardLowStartup10Recovery18Advantage-10 |
5K (CH) | All Other Buttons | 2K (HKD for Ky) | Walk Back |
6P GuardAllStartup9Recovery17Advantage-8 |
2K, 2S, 623H (All CH) | All Other Buttons | 6P (Clash) | Walk Back |
Stun Dipper GuardLow, AllStartup7Recovery30Advantage-19 [-14] |
Low Block (-15, 5K punish) | All Other Buttons | 2K (+2) |
This roundstart is advantageous. His 2DGuardLowStartup10Recovery18Advantage-10 has the biggest reward out of his arsenal but loses to 5K and a simple Walk Back. While Stun DipperGuardLow, AllStartup7Recovery30Advantage-19 [-14] does beat every button except for trading with 2K, it's punishable by a full combo on block and gives a mediocre knockdown on hit. Other options that beat 5K only combo into Stun Dipper, once again leading to mediocre reward on hit, while getting blown up by 623H.
Ky has to take massive risks to call out Nago's non-committal options and gets rewarded with low damage and bad oki.
Neutral
Ky is a versatile character that's able to operate at any range with varying levels of efficiency. He has a lot of good tools to compete with Nago when it comes to controlling the mid range. He can pressure Nago from full screen with Stun Edge
GuardAllStartup13RecoveryTotal 46Advantage-14 and Charged Stun Edge
GuardAllStartup39RecoveryTotal 62Advantage+22 [+25]. He also has decent strike/throw pressure in the close range. You need to be conservative with your Blood in this match up, as a lot of the answers to Ky's tools will require the use of your special moves.
Dealing With Ky in the Mid Range
In the mid range, while Ky's farther reaching pokes are generally shorter than Nago's, they are overall faster, especially when Nago's at low Blood. This makes them great for whiff punishing. Be extremely careful with the use of f.S and 2S in neutral. Whiffing these buttons could spell death. The same could be said for Ky, however as his pokes also have long recovery times.
f.SGuardAllStartup10Recovery16Advantage-5 is Ky's strongest poke. It reaches really far with dash momentum, has a lot of active frames, has a fairly notable disjoint and some of the shortest recovery on a slash normal in the game. It's likely to score a counter hit or interrupt an approach when used in footsies range, and is in turn also much harder to whiff punish. However, Nago can whiff punish this with 5H or even 2H. It becomes easier to do so at higher Blood levels, when the speed of your S and H buttons increases. Ky's 2SGuardLowStartup11Recovery20Advantage-8 has longer recovery, shorter active frames and an extended hurtbox compared to f.S, but complements it well by hitting low and having faster startup to contest in midscreen scramble situations. His 6H
GuardAllStartup15Recovery20Advantage-7 is a very far reaching button with a massive disjointed hitbox. Both of these buttons have 20 frames of recovery, and can be whiff punished with Beyblade. He also has one of the best 6PGuardAllStartup9Recovery17Advantage-8s in the game. It's a very strong counter poke and anti-air.
Ky's pokes are all minus on block, but if Ky is further away, they can't really be punished. Early into the round, play footsies outside of the range of Ky's pokes and try to react to what he does. Avoid blocking them if you can, as Ky can easily transition from a blocked poke into his close range pressure. Once Ky has Tension, you’ll be forced onto the defensive because of the threat of Stun Dipper, which can be Roman Canceled into a corner carrying combo with decent damage. Remember, it's a 5 frame advancing low, so you're not going to be able to react to it. This is an option a lot of Ky players heavily rely on, since it leads to strong reward for them. You can check for it with 2K.
You also need to keep an eye out for Foudre Arc
GuardAllStartup24Recovery6Advantage-2~+6 [+5~+12]. It has 24 frames of start up, so intercept it with either 5K, 5P, or 2P. If you don't react in time to press a button, try to at least stand when you block it. If the Shock State hasn't been applied to you, Foudre Arc is -2 and can be throw punished. Keep in mind that if you block it while in Shock State (or Ky is in Dragon Install), he will always be at advantage, even if stand blocked. Therefore, Ky players might be more tempted to go for it during the three seconds you're in Shock State (or when he is in Dragon Install). Try to predict the attack and interrupt it.
If Ky tries to get in with an IAD > j.H, try to react to this as well with either a 6P or a 5P. It may be easier to use 5P since it has faster start up. Remember, j.H hits very deep, so if you're too slow with your 6P you can get counter hit during it's start up.
Dealing with All Versions of Stun Edge
A tactic Ky might employ when facing Nagoriyuki is to retreat to full screen and force him to approach with Stun Edge, S
GuardAllStartup21RecoveryUntil Landing+10Advantage- and HGuardAllStartup21RecoveryUntil Landing+10Advantage- Aerial Stun Edge, and Charged Stun Edge. You don’t want to give Ky a chance to control the screen with this. Try not to let Ky get to full screen if you can. On the ground, you can easily get through and punish Stun Edge and Charged Stun Edge with Clone > Fukyo > f.S rekka. However, from full screen, you’ll be too far away for the f.S to connect in time, and you’ll have built up a lot of Blood. Always try and keep yourself spaced just outside of mid range in neutral whenever you can. Aerial Stun Edge can be a bit trickier to challenge. Nago can snipe Ky out of the air with a well timed j.D but the timing is crucial.
If Ky is full screen, the only thing that he can do from that position is spam some version of Stun Edge at you. Stay calm, and call him out by simply walking forward and blocking whenever Stun Edge comes into contact near you. Don't try to Fukyo forward, you'll just get hit out of it and waste Blood. See if the Ky gets impatient and approaches you instead. If Ky is able to get Charged Stun Edge out from full screen, however, it can be difficult to deal with his approach if he travels forward behind it. You can try to intercept his approach with Clone > Fukyo, but he’s likely trying to bait you into doing this. He can dash block and then stuff your Fukyo with his 2P
GuardAllStartup5Recovery8Advantage-2. If you try to jump over it, he can anti-air you with 6P. It’s just best to not let him get this out from a distance whatsoever.
Offense
Ky has numerous ways of challenging gaps in your pressure. He could mash his 5 frame 5P or 2P. He could use Stun Dipper to steal a turn, or convert into a combo if he has Tension for a Roman Cancel. He has a meterless invincible reversal with Vapor Thrust
GuardAllStartup11Recovery43Advantage-33 [-28] and an invincible reversal Overdrive Ride the Lightning
GuardAllStartup8+1Recovery99Advantage-82. You need to be very careful when it comes to running your pressure. Avoid constant use of f.SS RPS, as being predictable with it can get you killed.
Defense
At close range, Ky relies on good strike/throw offense to open opponents up, with mixups only being available with Tension or in hard knockdown situations. c.S
GuardAllStartup7Recovery10Advantage+1 and 5K
GuardLowStartup7Recovery6Advantage-2 are his best tools to start/restart his pressure with. c.S has a lot of active frames, threatens with high damage, and has a variety of useful gatlings to threaten with frametraps, namely f.S, 2D, 6H and 5D
GuardHighStartup20Recovery25Advantage-15. It is the easiest to use and a good, basic meaty to start offense up close. 5K's unusually long active frames, low recovery and status as a low make it an excellent meaty if it hits at its latest active frames. It is a +5, reversal safe, low meaty, and one of Ky’s strongest normals.
Dealing with 5K Setups
Ky’s 5K is used for a majority of his strike/throw setups. His most ambiguous setup is dash > 5K > pause > throw. When weighing your options to beat strike/throw, keep in mind that if you’re trying to do buttons preemptively to beat them, Ky’s counter hit combos are his strongest ones. Not only do they do a healthy chunk of damage, but Ky’s combos are great for carrying you to the corner as well. You can jump during the pause in order to mitigate the throw, but you need to be careful if you press a button on your way down, as Ky can hit you with 6P. When dealing with his strike/throw game, keep in mind that run up 5K/5P are difficult to react to, but if you block these normals with Faultless Defense, you’ll push Ky a bit further out, giving you more time to react. His options post 5K > dash > 5K include:
Layer 1:
- Dash up > crouch blocking (which baits out invincible reversals)
- Dash up > throw
These options can be beaten by backdashing on wake up and punishing the crouch block/throw with a throw of your own.
Layer 2:
- 2D (which punishes backdash).
This leaves Ky vulnerable to our 632146S.
It is possible to option select both layers of offense. In GGST, you cannot be thrown 5 frames after you get up from a knockdown. The idea is to block on wakeup, then throw, backdash, or jump in that 5 frame window. You can input 4D after blocking the 5K, but if Ky goes for the 2D, you’ll still block it. Also remember to use Faultless Defense on the 5K during your wakeup to give yourself more space and keep from getting tick thrown. If you have meter, backdash + BRC also beats strike/throw. This is easy to mash in the corner, but harder midscreen. If Ky does 6K
GuardAllStartup25Recovery11Advantage+4 after the OTG 5K, it’s a frame kill that leads to an autotimed throw. Mash 5P here.
Other Things to Watch Out For on Defense
- Dire Eclat
GuardAllStartup14Recovery25Advantage-8 [-6] usually comes at the end of blockstrings, so you can try to predict it and go for an Instant Block. If you IB it, he’s wide open for a 5K or 2K punish because of the massive endlag. Otherwise, Ky is generally pushed out too far to be punished.
- If you block Stun Dipper and Ky doesn’t have Tension to RC, he’s -10 on block and can be punished with a 5K/2K starter.
- When dealing with Charged Stun Edge oki after a hard knockdown in the corner, the only thing it’s vulnerable to is 632146S, and it needs to be timed well.
Common Safe Jumps
Ky has a number of common safe jumps/approach options after these specific situations:
- After Dire Eclat (air dash forward > j.S
GuardHighStartup7Recovery21Advantage0 (IAD)) - After a wallbreak from an Overdrive (dash up > 5K)
- After a throw OTG (throw > dash up > 5K > dash up > 5K)
These are instances where Ky can’t really be challenged, so avoid mashing/inputting 632146S here.
Leo Whitefang
Leo WhitefangThe Lion gets leashed.Nago has strong answers to just about all of the tools Leo relies on to get his offense going. It can be a bit difficult when it comes to dealing with Backturn Stance pressure, but Nago can really blow Leo up if he guesses right. All it takes is one successfully baited flashkick to put Nago at a major advantage.
Overview | Frame Data | Matchups | Counterstrategy | Reverse Matchup Return to Top
Round Start
| Leo's Button | Loses To | Beats | Trades | Whiffs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Dash 2K GuardLowStartup7Recovery11Advantage-5 |
5K (CH), 2K (CH) | All Other Buttons, Walk Back |
||
6P GuardAllStartup10Recovery17Advantage-5 |
2S (CH), 623H (CH) | 5K | 6P (Clash) | 2K (+13, 2S punish), Walk Back |
Dash H DP GuardAllStartup10Recovery42Advantage-52 |
Block | All Buttons |
This roundstart is dumb.
The vast majority of Leo's buttons are useless against Nago's 5K and 623H. Dash 2KGuardLowStartup7Recovery11Advantage-5 is great against 623H as it gives him BT Oki
GuardAllStartup25 [25]Recovery22 [15]Advantage-6 [+2] on hit and sets up stagger pressure on block while catching Walk Backs, but it requires good execution with an unbufferable 3f window after the Dash to hit 2K. To beat 5K, 6PGuardAllStartup10Recovery17Advantage-5 gives him a guaranteed Run-ThroughGuardAllStartup25 [25]Recovery22 [15]Advantage-6 [+2] on hit but either loses to or whiffs against most other Nago's buttons, including a simple Walk Back.
Finally, for an option that beats any option other than passive play, Leo has Dash H DPGuardAllStartup10Recovery42Advantage-52 that gives him his win conditionGuardAllStartup25 [25]Recovery22 [15]Advantage-6 [+2] on hit. For counterplay other than simply Blocking, you should always mash the follow-up of 623H, which will make his H DP Counter-Hit you. Against heavy characters like Nago, this reduces the frame advantage enough that a meaty bt.K
GuardLowStartup5Recovery6Advantage+3 [+0] becomes throwable. Not only that, due to Nago's extended Throw range he can't backdash it either, which denies BT Oki from his H DP entirely.
Mashing 623H follow-up will also CH whiff-punish attempts from options like Walk Back into Dash 2D
GuardLowStartup12Recovery19Advantage-8 or 5K
GuardAllStartup9Recovery13Advantage-3, killing two birds with one stone.
Neutral
In neutral, Leo will mainly be trying to get in on us. Once he's close enough, he'll be in a position to apply his Backturn Stance pressure, which we need to avoid as much as possible. We need to be especially careful when it comes to our spacing. Play the Leo matchup outside his f.S
GuardAllStartup12Recovery21Advantage-13 and 5H
GuardAllStartup15Recovery22Advantage-8 range. Leo's range isn't especially long, though it is still decent. He also doesn't really have fast approach options. He has a slow-ish step dash as opposed to a standard dash, which causes him to struggle with ground mobility, though he does still have a standard air dash.
Leo does have tools to help him get in, but you can shut these tools down if you're able to react to them. The first of Leo's tools are two similar looking special moves that involve dashing towards you: 236S
GuardAllStartup12Recovery20Advantage-6 and 236HGuardAllStartup25 [25]Recovery22 [15]Advantage-6 [+2]. 236S is primarily used as a blockstring ender and frametrap tool. If you block it, Leo is -6, so you can punish it with 5P depending on the spacing. 236H is a longer dash that passes through characters and can cross you up. Leo will also immediately go into the Backturn Stance if he successfully dashes through you. Leo can’t go directly into Backturn off of his f.S or 5H. If he lands these, or any slash normal in the mid-range, he can only cash out a bit of damage, so he will typically follow these normals with either 236S or 236H. The primary way to deal with 236H is to just grab it. The timing can be a bit rough, but with practice, it becomes fairly easy to execute. Try to time it as soon as he is on top of you. You can grab him out of it even after he's hit you. Just stay calm and look for the cross up. You can also hit him out of it if you see him coming, but grabbing it is most likely going to be your best option. Grabs are 2 frames, making them faster than any normal in the game, and you can get a combo off of a grab if you Roman Cancel it.
The other tool Leo can resort to is the S
GuardAllStartup10RecoveryTotal 50FAdvantage-12 and HGuardAllStartup35RecoveryTotal 66FAdvantage+17 versions of his Fireball, the multi-hitting Cross Projectile. The S version is small, has 10 frames of start up with 54 frames of recovery, hits twice, travels fast and goes about three fourths of the screen. The H version is large, has 23 frames of start up with 73 frames of recovery, hits four times, travels slow, and goes across the entire screen before it disappears. Leo is in counter hit state for the lengthy recovery of both versions, and they both can easily be beaten with Clone > Fukyo > f.S rekka. If you're close enough, you can also counter hit Leo during the H version's start up with a well-timed 5H. If you're point blank, you can block the S version and also get a free counter hit. Try to keep him from getting these out. Leo can launch one of these and then super dash into an aerial to cover the air, which guarantees that he gets in.
Leo has a Guardpoint Stance that he can enter after holding the button down after inputting f.S or 5H. This stance only blocks overheads and mids, it doesn't protect against lows. You can score a fat counter hit with 2S if he’s using this while not spaced properly.
Offense
Leo's fastest button is his 5P
GuardAllStartup5Recovery6Advantage-1, at 5 frames. He also has two versions of a meterless invincible reversal: his Flashkick. There's the SGuardAllStartup9Recovery33Advantage-28 version and the H version, though Leo will rarely ever use the S version. This is an important move to look out for and carefully space yourself around, as the Flashkick's hitbox is very large. The H version adds an additional hit that spikes you to the ground. If you get hit by the H version, Leo can freely can freely cross you up with 236H during your wake up and begin his Backturn Stance pressure. Both versions of the Flashkick are very negative on block, so be wary of it, bait it frequently, and punish accordingly. Leos also like to throw these out on wake up, but remember, all meterless invincible reversals are not throw invulnerable. If you think a Leo will do a wake up Flashkick, you can put them in a strike-throw mix with 623P. Leo can Roman Cancel the Flashkick on block. He may do this and then immediately attempt a 236H, so be on the look out here as well. He can't Roman Cancel on whiff, however. You can stand next to him like you’re going to apply pressure and then just backdash or Fukyo backwards to make it whiff, and then you can get a full combo punish.
Finally, there's his multihitting invincible reversal Overdrive
GuardAllStartup10+1Recovery43Advantage-33. If you're baiting out Flashkick, you'll automatically be baiting this out as well, so if he does it during his wake up, just block it and punish. There are five hits to this Overdrive. There is an interruptable gap between the 4th and final hits, but the final hit is -33. It's easier and safer just to block all five hits and then punish it.
Defense
Use Faultless Defense when defending against Leo’s kicks. His blockstrings from his kicks are pretty narrow, and they’ll usually range from 5KGuardAllStartup9Recovery13Advantage-3 > 6K
GuardAllStartup14Recovery18Advantage-4 > special cancel or 2KGuardLowStartup7Recovery11Advantage-5 > 2DGuardLowStartup12Recovery19Advantage-8 > special cancel. He can cancel into any of the aforementioned special moves, as well as Turbulenz
GuardAllStartup21Recovery21Advantage-8. Leo can transition into Backturn Stance if S is held during this special. If you block it, it is -8, so you can punish it with 5K. Otherwise Just keep an eye out for gaps in his pressure, because he may attempt to dash up and throw. If lands a throw, he'll automatically go into Backturn Stance, so take care not to get thrown.
For a detailed explanation on how to defend yourself from Backturn Stance pressure, you can refer to the Leo Whitefang Counter Strategy Guide which transcribes professional Zato player Jonathan Tene's video on the subject.
May
This matchup is annoying for Nago. May likes to jump in the air constantly since it can be difficult for Nago to anti-air her. Once Nago is able to pin her down and run his offense, however, May really struggles, especially considering her lack of a meterless invincible reversal.
Overview | Frame Data | Matchups | Counterstrategy | Reverse Matchup Return to Top
Round Start
| May's Button | Loses To | Beats | Trades | Whiffs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
5K GuardAllStartup8Recovery11Advantage-5 |
6P (CH) | All Other Buttons | 5K (+2), 2K (+0) | Walk Back (5K punish) |
5H GuardAllStartup13Recovery15Advantage-4 |
2S (CH), 623H (CH) | All Other Buttons | Walk Back (2S punish) | |
2S GuardAllStartup10Recovery18Advantage-7 |
Microwalk Back 5K*, 214K > 214H | All Other Buttons | 2K (-2) | |
S Dolphin GuardAllStartup7Recovery20 (24 OH)Advantage-3 |
6P, 5K, 2K (All air CH) | 2S (CH), 623H (CH) | ||
| *Very tight timing, and gets CH by all other options on the table | ||||
May is another one of the few characters that gives us trouble round start. Her 2SGuardAllStartup10Recovery18Advantage-7 in particular is a big problem. It beats pretty much all immediate round start normals and specials and cannot be Walked Back out of, unlike 5KGuardAllStartup8Recovery11Advantage-5 and 5H. At best, it trades with our 2K. It can be beaten with a delayed 5K but the timing is difficult, and if you get it wrong, it'll trade instead. It is punishable with a backwards Fukyo > Beyblade, but that that will get CH by S DolphinGuardAllStartup7Recovery20 (24 OH)Advantage-3. Even if you do get the delayed timing down for 5K, she can mix it up with 5HGuardAllStartup13Recovery15Advantage-4 or S Dolphin to Counter-Hit you.
The safest thing to do is to 2K since it'll beat S Dolphin and not outright lose her other options. If May mixes it up and opens with H DolphinGuardAllStartup25Recovery20 (18 OH)Advantage+7 instead of S Dolphin, 2K will whiff, but you'll recover in time to counter hit H Dolphin with 5P, 2P or 6P. May's 5[D]
GuardHighStartup28Recovery26Advantage-10 has a far enough hit box that it can actually hit Nago round start, and while it doesn't truly punish any of Nago's typical round start options, it can be used to catch you by surprise if you're just autopiloting into 2K and then crouch blocking round start. You can buffer 623H or press 2S after the 2K whiffs to counter hit May out of the charged dust, but the timing can be tight. Alternatively, you could microwalk backwards after the 2K and punish May with either 2S or Beyblade.
Neutral
May's neutral structure heavily revolves around Dolphin. Nago needs to make May come to him. As long as she’s approaching, she’s not charging Dolphin, and Nago only has to worry about her normals and aerial approaches. May likes to jump a LOT in this match up because she doesn't want to get stuck blocking Clone > Fukyo and because it can be difficult for Nago to contest her aerial buttons like j.H
GuardHighStartup12Recovery15Advantage+9 (IAD) or j.2H
GuardHighStartup13Recovery6Advantage+2 (IAD). Cancelling Fukyo into 623H is a strong, but Blood-taxing option that will mess with her spacing if she plays this way. It is possible to beat her aerials with 6P, but depending on the angle May is jumping in from, it can be difficult to time it.
Space Nago outside of the range of her f.S
GuardAllStartup12Recovery19Advantage-8 and 2S. If she uses these in neutral, whiff punish them, they have 19 and 18 frames of recovery respectively. It's fairly easy to whiff punish these using our own f.S. Counter poking with 6P is another option that will also cover S Dolphin. You can even counter poke and potentially counter hit her during the start up of those buttons with our own disjoints 5H and 2H (though 2H is far more likely to clash with 2S). Engaging her without Dolphin locked and loaded is only possible if you have space behind you to position yourself. Having space behind Nago is key to responding to May's offense. Prioritize positioning over pressure when possible.
Against high Blood Nago, she cannot get in range to threaten f.S or 2S because of Nago's 5H. She will more than likely either try to set up either the P Version
GuardAllStartup48RecoveryTotal 45Advantage+29 or K VersionGuardAllStartup48RecoveryTotal 45Advantage+29 of Arisugawa Sparkle just outside of Nago's max 5H range, or will threaten air dash > j.S
GuardHighStartup12Recovery15Advantage+6 (IAD) or 3K
GuardLowStartup11Recovery15Advantage-10 > RRC if she has Tension. Try to hit the beach ball from Argisuwa Sparkle with 5P or 6P. Don’t just block it, it’ll give her time to advance. It's possible to gatling/special cancel off of the ball. Alternatively, you can also use 5H, Clone or Beyblade to hit May during it's start up as well.
Offense
May's fastest buttons are her 4 frame 5P
GuardAllStartup4Recovery8Advantage-1 and her 5 frame 2P
GuardAllStartup5Recovery8Advantage-2. She has no meterless invincible reversals. Her invincible reversal Overdrive summons a giant Orca
GuardAllStartup6+4Recovery55Advantage-31. If she only has 50% Tension, you can simply bait this out and punish it like any other invincible reversal. However, if May has 100% Tension, she can use a Purple or Red Roman Cancel during the move to get off the whale while the attack continues anyway. This can lead to an extremely damaging combo on hit or a potent high/low or left/right mixup on block. Keep an eye on her Tension. If she goes for this with 100% Tension, instead of blocking and punishing it like normal, input your own invincible reversal Overdrive 623146S during the super flash to punish her instead. This will keep her from getting a chance to Roman Cancel it.
On defense, May's backdash has very few i-frames, so she gets clipped from everything. c.S stagger pressure can be very valuable because of this.
Defense
If you're in the corner with no space, and May’s gotten a chance to charge Dolphin, 5P and 2P can protect you in a lot of cases. Using 5P also gives you time to respond to Vertical Dolphin or other counter play. You can 6P if you see that she DOES do Vertical Dolphin. Make sure to use Faultless Defense when blocking May. If May uses H Vertical Dolphin
GuardAll→HighStartup11Recovery8 (19 OH)Advantage+6 (Airborne) after being pushed out with Faultless Defense, Nagoriyuki can actually walk forward underneath it, which will side swap and put her in the corner. He can then get a c.S counter hit punish.
May doesn’t have much in terms of mix unless she has Tension. If she tries to bait you out on defense by charging 6H
GuardAll [All (Guard Crush)]Startup16~39 [40]Recovery24Advantage-8 [+8], hit her with 632146S. Mash 2K if May dash cancels 5KGuardAllStartup8Recovery11Advantage-5 or c.S to prevent a tick throw.
If May ever uses H Dolphin in her pressure, make sure to counter hit it during it's 25 frame start up with 6P. Do NOT press buttons if you block it unless you have Tension for 632146S, or you read a throw or reset attempt. Her 5K will counter hit all of Nago's buttons and convert for half his life or more.
Dolphin RPS
Upon blocking S Dolphin, you will be forced to engage in RPS with May. Both you and May have an abundance of options that you can do after a blocked S Dolphin, and both of you will have to guess what the other will go for. Below is a table of options you have after blocking S Dolphin, and how they interact with May's options. It is RPS, so make sure to rotate your options and don't default to one action. Not every single possible option of Nago's has been listed, but the best possible options have been narrowed down and placed in the table.
| 6P | 5K | 2S | 623H | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5K | Win | Minor Loss | BL0 Loss, BL1 Trade, BL2 Win | Win (Trade) |
| 2K | Loss | Mutual Whiff (+0) | BL0 Trade (+2), BL1+ Loss* | Win |
| 2S | Trade (+0) | Minor Loss | Win | Win |
| S Dolphin | Win | Win | BL0 Loss, BL1 Trade, BL2 Win** | Win |
| Walk Back | Minor Loss | Not Punishable | May Blocks | May Blocks |
Millia Rage
Bad on paper, good in practice. Millia has the tools to fight Nago, but suffers from a heavily skewed risk/reward ratio. Knowing how to anti-air Millia's arsenal of air moves is essential for this match-up.
Overview | Frame Data | Matchups | Counterstrategy | Reverse Matchup Return to Top
Round Start
| Millia's Button | Loses To | Beats | Trades | Whiffs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
f.S GuardAllStartup9Recovery19Advantage-7 |
5K (CH), 2K (CH), 6P | All Other Buttons | ||
6P GuardAllStartup9Recovery16Advantage-11 |
6P, 2S, 623H (All CH) | 5K (CH) | 2K (-13, 5K punish), Walk Back (2S punish) |
All of Millia's buttons lose to 5K except for 6PGuardAllStartup9Recovery16Advantage-11, which only combos into S Disc
GuardAllStartup12RecoveryTotal 45Advantage-10 for bad damage and oki. On the other hand, her 6P gets beaten by almost any other button Nago can press.
f.SGuardAllStartup9Recovery19Advantage-7 is her best button risk/reward wise, giving her a full Wall Break combo on CH. It beats most of Nago's buttons, including 623H, and cannot be walked back out of, which forces you check her with 5K or 2K. Even still, due to her 6P's terrible reward on hit, there is nothing really preventing you from checking her with 5K every roundstart.
For these reasons, most Millia players will play passive, starting the round with either a walk or jump back and try to take the initiative on your whiffed buttons.
Neutral
Millia is another character that’s extremely mobile. Don’t spend a lot of Blood trying to chase her down. In fact, keep her away from Nago as best you can. Millia has some of the fastest and most versatile movement in the game, both on the ground and especially in the air. Her neutral consists of rushing you down from either of those positions. Her overall goal is to score a hit with with 2K
GuardLowStartup6Recovery12Advantage-3 > 2D, or 2D by itself, so try to avoid this as much as possible. It's best to try and put as much space between you and Millia as you can, so you have more time to react to both her ground and aerial approaches.
Dealing with Millia's Ground Approaches
Even more than other matchups, Millia's H Disk makes the match up a matter of who gets pressure first to steamroll over the opponent. Avoid committing to normals with long total duration in neutral, if possible. Focus on playing defensively and forcing Millia to come to you, as her approaches should be answerable if you try to react to her committing to something.
On the ground, when combined with her fast run speed, her buttons have a good balance of range and speed in neutral. Offensively, she’ll try dashing into either 5K
GuardAllStartup7Recovery12Advantage-3 or 2K, as well as c.S
GuardAllStartup7Recovery13Advantage+1 if she can get close enough. 5K and 2K both lead to her 2D, which in turn, leads to her win condition, so she’ll be fishing with these moves the most. 5K can be chained into itself, making it the safer of the two buttons to use in neutral. If you block this, Millia doesn’t have to commit to the end of a blockstring, she can just spam this and safely push her out. 2K has a farther reach than 5K, and when combined with her dash, it can be used from deceptively far distances. Getting hit by either of these buttons is extremely dangerous, and in neutral or on defense, the primary things you want to avoid getting hit by. 2K also low profiles a lot of mid range pokes, including our f.S. The downside to 2K is that it’s -3 on block, and since it can’t self-gatling, she’s forced to commit to something, otherwise she risks getting throw punished. Usually Millia will try to push herself out of harm’s way with 2D, but if Millia’s up close, she’s -8, allowing her to be punished with 5K.
Her f.SGuardAllStartup9Recovery19Advantage-7 has great range and speed, but will cleanly lose to 6P. It also has 19 frames of recovery, allowing it to be whiff punished with our f.S, 2S or Beyblade. Her f.S is easy for her to combo off of on counter hit, but has limited return on normal hit unless she's really close with it. She can only get good use out of it if it confirms into 5H
GuardAllStartup12Recovery23Advantage-8, which will whiff at full range.
The S version of Tandem Top is her safest poke hitbox-wise. It goes over lows and is a decent way to counter poke our 5K or 2K. It does lose to our 6P. On hit, it sends you tumbling into a soft knockdown. Combined with Millia’s run speed, she can take this opportunity to get in on you and start running her pressure, though she doesn’t get any combo returns. Depending on the distance, she can land a meaty 2K or c.S on you, so challenging her is risky. With forward-drift purple RC, she can use S Disc as a get in-option or blockstring extender that will combo on-hit or extend pressure on block. On block however, this may leave mashable gaps depending on the distance.
She can also use her command dash Mirazh
Guard-Startup-RecoveryTotal 26Advantage- to avoid attacks. Millia is invulnerable above the knee for 24 frames during this special move. She can also cancel Mirazh into her other grounded special moves, including S Tandem Top. She can approach very quickly by canceling Mirazh into a PRC S Tandem Top poke.
She can also cancel Mirazh into Iron Savior. Iron Savior serves two purposes: ending combos and being a high commitment poke. In neutral, it can be used to advance from a distance, but it has 20 frames of start up and is -12 on block, making it easy to see coming, block, and punish. Millia needs to Roman Cancel this in order to keep herself safe. With Red RC, it can be used as a means of setting up mixups by either using normal RRC or Fast RRC. Normal RRC mixups are impossible to react to and keep the opponent in block stun for 16 frames, giving her plenty of time to mix. Immediately stand and block when she does this, as her options here include going into j.K
GuardHighStartup6Recovery12Advantage- for a fast overhead or j.S
GuardHighStartup7Recovery14Advantage- or j.D
GuardHighStartup9Recovery27Advantage- to cancel the attack and go for the low. If you see her whiff j.S/j.D, return to blocking low. The main advantage of normal RRC is that it's easy to react and convert into a full combo if the Iron Savior hits. Fast RRC mixups for the most part are the same as their normal RRC counterparts, however by fast canceling the RRC, the opponent isn't in block stun and Millia can almost immediately grab you, so keep watch for this and try to tech it.
Dealing With Millia's Aerial Approaches
Millia has two air dashes, which makes her more agile than most other characters in the sky. She also has further ways to alter her air trajectory. She has very good air normals, however, they’re mostly used in her aerial combo strings and mix ups. She can also cancel all of her aerial normals with an air backdash, adding yet another layer to her mix ups. The general gameplan for a good Millia player is to get into the air and utilize her air mobility to mix you up and get you to throw out risky anti-airs.
Her instant air dash into j.H
GuardHighStartup8Recovery25Advantage+1 (IAD) is her typical aerial option, and can be used to punish our slower ground based pokes. j.H is her go-to button during jump-ins. It hits on both sides of Millia and is a core part of her aerial mix ups and blockstrings. She can cancel it with an air dash and either go forward for a left/right mix, or go back to keep herself safe. She can cancel into Kapel
GuardAllStartup13Recovery12Advantage-1 (IAS), or she can just land and go into a low. If you don’t anti-air this and end up blocking it, she can start running her mix and you’ll have to just guess which way to block. Naturally, it's susceptible to 6P, however, Millia can also mix up her aerial approach with Kapel, which will beat 6P. Nago can actually low profile Kapel with a delayed 2K, but the timing can be a bit tight. Once Millia uses Kapel, she can't air dash, she can only do aerials, so she'll have committed to whatever direction she's flung herself in. You can intercept Kapel with a well-timed air throw or 5P/6P depending on the distance. Otherwise, do NOT use big, high commitment anti-airs on the floor. TIME your 5P/6P and hit her after the Kapel. DO NOT JUST MASH THEM. She can find a gap and punish you for doing that. Millia can also alter her timing in the air by using Turbo Fall
Guard-Startup14Recovery9LAdvantage-. She can cancel into Kapel from this, and use this to throw your timing off when looking to intercept Kapel or her other aerial options. Play patiently, wait for her approach, and then press your anti-air button. You want to time this very specifically, and if you get it right, you can counter hit her and blow her up. You can try and snipe her from afar with j.D, but otherwise, don't try to jump in the air and challenge her with buttons except for when you have her boxed in the corner and you're running your offence.
If she's directly above you air dashing back and forth, use Fukyo or Beyblade and just get out of there. Don't let her mix you or lock you down with Kapel. Just get to saftey. She can also use Kapel to avoid punishes as well. If you try to get in on her with Drift BRC, she’s already in the air, and you attempt an air throw, she can jump again and use Kapel to launch herself to safety.
Offense
Her fastest button is her 4 frame 2P
GuardAllStartup4Recovery10Advantage-2, but you can deal with this in the same way as you would with normal 5f abares. She also has a low-profiling 2KGuardLowStartup6Recovery12Advantage-3, which can go under our f.S. Millia only has one reversal, Winger
GuardAllStartup8+1Recovery40Advantage-32. Its extremely punishable on block, and has very short horizontal range. If you space yourself properly and play a little defensively, you can often deny Millia's from using this. Millia doesnt have any other special tools to get out of defense, and will often try to get out of defense by using her strong movement. You can call out these attempts with 6P, j.D, or if you are feeling frisky, an Air Throw. Challenging her in the air is already super important in neutral, so this applies to offense as well. Don't be afraid to play this patiently, as Millia barely has any health to go for risky stuff.
Defense
Defending Against Millia's Blockstrings
Like most characters, Millia’s blockstrings stem from either 5K or c.S. Since these normals are universally jump cancelable, she has a multitude of different options she can go into from either of these buttons. Saving your Tension for Faultless Defense is extremely valuable when defending against Millia, as it will lock her out of a number of options as long as you’re prepared to deal with them.
As previously mentioned, Millia’s 5K gatlings into itself. Typically, Millia will initially pressure you by spamming 5K repeatedly for a number of reasons: on offense, it’s a great way to keep you locked down and prevent you from pressing buttons. The additional hitstop on counter hit allows her to easily hit confirm this. She’ll mainly do this to check for what you like to do on defense, as well as to hit certain mashing timings that would protect you from throws. Using Faultless Defense will push her out and give you more time to either mash or get away from her if she goes for a throw.
Millia’s c.S is very versatile. It works as an anti-air, pressure tool and confirm tool all at the same time. It has two hits, and either hit is jump cancelable. When blocking Millia using Faultless Defense, she’s forced to interrupt the first hit with something else. This means she can’t run strike/throw as well. Her c.S is +1. If you mash afterwards, she can catch you with her 4 frame 2P, however, blocking both hits of c.S with Faultless Defense will cause this to whiff. 2S is -6 on block, so if she chooses to gatling into this after c.S, she has to commit to a blockstring. She ends the majority of her strings with Lust Shaker
GuardAllStartup13Recovery-16, -18, -20Advantage-5, -7, -9. This is mainly used to make unsafe blockstings more safe, frametrapping, or to drain your Tension while you're using Faultless Defense. Depending on how much Millia mashes S, Millia can get 3 different versions: 3-hit, 6-hit, and 9-hit. Each version has slightly more range than the last but will also have more recovery. 3-hit and 6-hit are safe on block depending on distance. If Millia goes for the 9-hit, after pushing her out with Faultless Defense, you can punish it with f.S or Beyblade.
In pressure, Millia can cancel Mirazh into Lust Shaker, however, Lust Shaker has a 17 frame startup that’s vulnerable to mashing (though it will catch delayed mashing or slower buttons). She can’t cancel Mirazh into her other grounded special moves during pressure unless she has Tension, otherwise she’ll leave herself vulnerable. S Tandem Top is -10, H Tandem Top has a 73 frame start up, during which she’s in a counter hit state, and Iron Savior is -12. Don’t let her get away with canceling into any of these.
If she jump cancels 5K or c.S into an aerial approach, this gives her access to IAD > j.H, which is really important for her. You can counter hit her out of this with a delayed 6P and swap sides with her if you're in the corner (though this won’t side swap if defending with Faultless Defense). This leads to an opportunity for a corner combo. Nago's c.S hits high enough that he can actually counter hit her out of IAD > j.H, though getting the timing down could take some practice. Millia can also delay the air dash, but a delayed 6P should still at the very least catch her if she doesn’t immediately block after the IAD forward. Alternatively, you could also just Fukyo forward and escape altogether.
From 5K, could go into 2K, which again, is something you always want to avoid getting hit by. If you block this and she immediately gatlings into 2D, there is a gap in between where you can input backdash to dodge the 2D. If you’re in the corner, after you backdash you can punish 2D with a backthrow. You can also punish this gap with 632146S, but the timing to input it is tight.
She can go into her 6K
GuardHighStartup28Recovery10Advantage+2, which is an overhead. It has 28 frames of startup, so keep an eye out for this during her pressure. 6K shifts her lower hurtbox, allowing her to counter hit our 2K, but it still loses to 2P. This normal also isn’t airborne, so she’s vulnerable to throws as well.
She can jump cancel either 5K or c.S into Bad Moon
GuardHighStartup11Recovery20 + 12LAdvantage-21, which is an instant overhead. This is mainly used to catch you if you're constantly mashing backdash after 5K or if you try to tech a late throw. Millia isn’t likely to use this move without Tension. On hit she isn’t able to convert without it as it just leads to a soft knockdown, and on block, it’s-21, leaving her wide open for a punish. Midscreen, she is able to meaty with 5K, f.S or 2D off its soft knockdown. She can also meaty with c.S in the corner, or she can 2S/Bad Moon/Grab for a 3-way mixup. When blocked from 5K, the high/low mix from Bad Moon/2K can be dealt with by fuzzy blocking. From c.S, Millia can do a high/low mix up with either Bad Moon or 2S. This can NOT be fuzzy blocked and is a pure 50/50 where you have to guess. This is also completely gapless, you cannot mash anything at all here. Midscreen, Bad Moon can be backdashed as long as you’ve been pushing Millia out with Faultless Defense. This won’t work in the corner, however. You can also input 632146S to beat it if she does it after a jump canceled 5K or c.S, but again, the timing is quite tight.
Her two-hit 6H
GuardAllStartup15Recovery23Advantage-8 is another option she can do. With this, Millia’s return on hit or counter hit is really big, as such, 6H’s primary use is to frametrap opponents in a direct way. Millia generally doesn’t do high damage, but she does do a lot of damage from a successful 6H, so try not to get hit by this. Since it’s an advancing normal, it can also chase your backdash or continue her pressure when you're using Faultless Defense. She is airborne for the first of the two hits, making it invulnerable to throws and allowing her to go over lows. Millia can also special cancel into any of her airborne special moves (Bad Moon, Turbo Fall, Kapel) during the first hit.
- Whenever you’re defending against Millia, ALWAYS stand up after blocking the first hit of 6H so that you can block in case she tries to cancel into any of her aerial special moves. There’s no threat of a low here, so be sure to stand up whenever you block this.
- If you’re using Faultless Defense, Millia can’t special cancel the first hit of 6H into Bad Moon, or else it will whiff. Otherwise, keep the previously mentioned counter play for Bad Moon in mind.
- When using Faultless Defense, Millia will be pushed out too far to punish Turbo Fall. If blocked without Faultless Defense, Turbo Fall can be punished with throw or 5P.
- As long as you're using Faultless Defense, the start up of Kapel is vulnerable to a 5P, 5K, or even a c.S punish if timed well, which is very valuable.
Finally, there’s blockstrings that start from IAD > j.H. After blocking j.H, she can go into numerous aerial options, including:
- Kapel
- j.D > dl. Kapel > air normal
- IAD - If she instant air dashes, she can do another j.H as well as all of the aforementioned options. Remember, she can only do 2 air dashes.
- Land and do an immediate 2K
These options cover mashing after blocking a j.H. If you didn’t anti-air her j.H and you block it, just keep blocking as opposed to challenging. It is possible to challenge post-j.H follow ups and 2K, but it’s generally not possible to do so with the same button, so the risk/reward is not in your favor. With practice, it is possible to reliably fuzzy block either the j.H follow up or the immediate 2K by switching your block from high to low to high while in block stun. Millia can’t stay in the air forever, so the best thing to do is to continue to block her pressure until she lands and is forced to commit to something that’s unsafe in her pressure.
Dealing with H Disc Okizeme
Once Millia gets a knockdown into her H Disc okizeme, this is a very difficult situation to be in. The H version of Tandem Top is Millia’s best move and what her entire game plan and win condition is centered around. 2D into H Disc is very difficult to mess with, as it causes the H Disc to become a meaty. You can’t really interact with her, this is her win condition. It can’t be contested, not even with our reversal Overdrive. It’s best to use Burst or YRC to get out of this situation entirely. If she lands in front of you to try and bait your Burst/YRC, there’s not much she can really do except go in and attempt to resume pressure or go for a throw. At that point you can toss out a 5K/2K, or go for a throw yourself.
Otherwise, there’s not much else you can really do. You’re going to have to guess, but there are ways to eliminate some of her options. After the disc is set up, she can switch sides, land and go for a low option, or go for an overhead option. The only option that isn’t true is the side-switch low. This is a matter of observation. Observe what habits the Millia player likes going into. It’s up to the Millia player to diversify her options. There are also ways of limiting her options. If Millia ever immediately buffers her air dash, she’s committed to side switching, and it’s a lot easier to react to what she does. She typically wants to briefly delay the air dash in order to make her cross ups more ambiguous.
If she hits you with a 2D from a far distance, it’s a lot easier to react to her if she tries to side-switch, so just block same side and react to the cross up. Millia can input Mirazh and then cancel into H Disc from that. This will make the side-switch just as hard to react to. She doesn’t get as rewarding of a combo if she does this, but it’s still something to be aware of.
Wait for the ring to appear, and block the side that the Millia is on. It’s difficult to consistently do this, but again, this is her win condition. The other options are some variation of a high-low mix. Follow the Millia. When she goes for the high-low mix, block the first hit standing then try and block the second hit crouching.
It’s important to note as well that any disc that ISN’T setup from 2D IS NOT TRUE. Not from a throw, or ANYTHING else. You can fuzzy jump out of this setup if she tries it, however, she can cover this gap with j.H. If she does this, however, she’s giving up her opportunity to mix by doing a meaty. Anything else she tries is mashable or can be fuzzy jumped. The best thing to do is to try to block high (preferably with IBFD) and then fuzzy jump. This will IBFD j.H, and you’ll jump over any throw/crossup/2K attempts. If you end up forcing her to use j.H, her post-j.H options include:
- IAD > j.P
GuardHighStartup5Recovery12Advantage- > j.P > 2K - Landing after the j.H and doing a 2K
- Delayed 2K using Faultless Defense cancel while in the air
There is a fuzzy that beats this pretty consistently. Do the same fuzzy jump from before, and then block low, then high, then low. This will beat all of these options. If you’re able to IBFD the j.H, this is also really good at shutting down her options. Also note that this is a safe jump, meaning that if Millia does j.H after a throw, you cannot use 632146S, she will block it and punish you if you try.
Millia can cross you up using Turbo Fall, adding another layer to her mixups. If she ever crosses you up, you have to switch your guard. When defending against Turbo Fall, throw punish it on reaction unless there's an H Disc out, in which case you block. If Millia tries to use Turbo Fall while an H Disc is out, you have cross up protection for its entire duration, so you can simply hold back to block and be protected from any cross up attempts. You can spam grab here. She would have to frametrap the throw, which is difficult to manually time. If she crosses you up and goes for a 2K afterwards, you do have to switch your guard to low, but you can still hold the direction you were originally blocking. From a certain height, and by doing a string that involves j.D > Turbo Fall > Kapel, Millia can cross you up in the corner by falling with j.H while landing on the same side. She can then force a Wall Slump. You can hold forwards and block this setup. This is not a true left/right for her.
Nagoriyuki
NagoriyukiThe world's fastest game of Rock, Paper, Scissors.The matchup primarily boils down to which of the two Nago players is able to get their offense going first. Nago lacks methods of escaping his own brutal pressure, so he'll be engaging in constant RPS with himself.
Overview | Frame Data | Matchups | Counterstrategy | Reverse Matchup Return to Top
Frame Data • Counterstrategy • Reverse Matchup • Videos
Round Start
| Nagoriyuki's Button | Loses To | Beats | Trades | Whiffs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
623H GuardAllStartup11Recovery21Advantage-7 (no follow-up) |
214K > 214H | All Other Buttons | 623H | 214K [6] (f.S punish) |
| 623HGuardAllStartup11Recovery21Advantage-7 (instant follow-up) |
No Buttons | All Other Buttons | 623H | Backdash and 214K (214H punish) |
| 623HGuardAllStartup11Recovery21Advantage-7 (delayed follow-up) |
214K > 214H | All Other Buttons, Backdash and 214K punishes |
623H | Backdash and 214K (wait then 214H punish) |
214H GuardLowStartup14Recovery17Advantage-3 |
623H (CH) | Backdash and 214K | 214H | |
214K GuardN/AStartup-RecoveryTotal 16AdvantageN/A > 214HGuardLowStartup14Recovery17Advantage-3 |
623H (instant follow-up) | 623H (no follow-up/delay follow-up) | 214K > 214H |
This roundstart is complete clownshoes.
623HGuardAllStartup11Recovery21Advantage-7 beats everything except 214K > 214H and 214K[6] > f.S, which get smoked by mashing the Follow-UpGuardAllStartup11Recovery21Advantage-7. To counter 623HH, you have to make it whiff completely with a Backdash or 214K and then punish with 214H. This, in turn, gets countered by delaying the second hit, which gives a full CH combo on the attempted whiff punish. Or, by simply opting to do 214HGuardLowStartup14Recovery17Advantage-3 and getting a full combo this way.
One saving grace of this roundstart is that simply blocking 623H isn't that bad. The opponent's Nago will be compelled to spend Blood to make stay safe with 214K, or to enforce pressure with Clone > Fukyo, which costs a lot of Blood and is very bad if they can't land a hit or Bite immediately, since lower Blood Nago beats higher Blood Nago in neutral.
In the cases where you both trade 623H you'll have to either decide to Beyblade, which beats almost all of his options (but will trade with itself) or you can try to conserve Blood by neutral jumping with j.H or using a pre-emptive 2S. If you both trade 623H and then you both trade Beyblades, you'll both be able to do Clone > Fukyo forwards and still be okay to not pop on Blood. If they win an exchange like that, feel free to Burst them away, they can’t Burst-bait effectively with what they'll have left and they'll really be wanting the third hit of f.SSS so they can drain their Blood Bauge. Denying it and going to neutral on high Blood can be an effective way to beat an impatient Nago who can't control their Blood as well.
Neutral
Both players will have to keep track of both of each other's Blood Gauge. Whichever Nago fails to get their offense going first will have to play on the defensive and force Nago to overextend with his special moves. Nago will mostly be using 2S, 5H and 2H a lot in this match up. You can punish 5H with a well timed Beyblade.
Forwards Fukyo has 25 frames of start-up. Stuff it with 5P. Be cautious challenging this at lower Blood, since Nago can cancel Fukyo into his other special moves and frame trap his opponents that way. If he does this, he’ll fill the Blood Gauge up nearly halfway. Get good at stuffing this. Limit the use of Fukyo to force him to spend more Blood for safer approaches. If you see him toss out Clone from full screen, jump either backwards or forwards so that you avoid Fukyo and whatever Nago chooses to do next. Clone > Fukyo also fills nearly half of the Blood Gauge, so baiting it can put him in a rough spot. If you manage to create some distance, he’s high Blood, and you’re low Blood, you can force your way in with your own Clone > Fukyo, as he doesn't really have much he can do to fight back.
When both Nagos are at high Blood, play patiently and try to make the other Nago approach. Nago will typically try to approach via the air unless he's attempting a Hail Mary Fukyo > 623P. Use either 6P , 2S, or 2H to punish Nago’s jump-ins. If the other Nago goes into Blood Rage, this is a pretty good time to Fukyo > 623P > 88RRC combo.
Offense
Nago's fastest button is his 5 frame 5P. His only reversal is his invincible reversal Overdrive Wasureyuki
GuardAllStartup7+(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 or look to punish or abare something.
Defense
Nago can frametrap almost anything into his special moves. This makes mashing against him extremely risky since he can do immense damage during 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 risky to do so. In general, when blocking Nago, use Faultless Defense and don’t consistently mash except when Nago Fukyos forward. Faultless Defense will protect you from almost everything outside of the strike/throw mix forced by Clone. You’re pretty much always going to want to use Faultless Defense during engagements with him, especially if the other Nago's on higher Blood. 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. 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.
Whenever you get knocked down, do NOT go for a wakeup throw. Upon knockdown, he'll go for one of two options: 623P or a meaty c.S. Both of these options will beat wakeup throws. Your safest bet is to jump on wakeup, chicken block, and be ready to tech an air throw. Backdashes can be beaten because Nago can use PRC to cancel 623P if it whiffs, and punish with a normal. Jumps can’t be true punished by the PRC however, and Nagos will generally go for an air throw upon a PRC’d command grab.
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.
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 623H. 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.
Dealing with Beyblade
If Beyblade is blocked from ANY range that’s NOT max distance, the other Nago can either reclaim their turn with a 5P starter or throw punish. Nago HAS to special cancel into either backwards Fukyo or 623H to make Beyblade safe from throws. That being said, it’s safer to go for this when Nago's at higher Blood. He can’t afford to do this frequently because it’ll drive up his Blood Gauge either nearly halfway or to nearly two full bars. If the opponent cancels into Beyblade from a blocked 5H, whoever did Beyblade second will win that exchange. Not exactly a hard counter but it's a notable interaction.
Defending Against Blood Rage
Blood Rage Activation is -12 on block with 70 frames of recovery. If blocked, especially in the corner, it absolutely should be punished. If you are too far away to be punished, just chill and block low until the Blood Gauge is fully drained. There is no need to be a hero and risk getting hit by something that leads into 632146H. Once the Gauge is drained, Nago will likely attempt an approach with one of his special moves, so be ready for whatever approach he goes for.
If the Blood Rage Activation hasn't been blocked, or the other Nago has managed to combo into the Blood Rage activation, be aware of the high/low setup that comes from this. When Blood Rage is active, j.H becomes an instant overhead, and with Tension, Nago can Red Roman Cancel into 6H to get a wall splat. This situation boils down to guessing if he’ll go for a high, low, or throw after the Blood Rage activation.
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, and Nago can act immediately afterwards. 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 the most damaging combo possible in if Blood Rage is successfully punished, 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 during Blood Rage, chances are he’s very close to death. Force him to approach you, and then punish his attempt to approach.
Potemkin
PotemkinHe never got briefed on no vampires.Potemkin's large hurtbox and abysmal mobility makes it very easy for Nago to bully him, especially since Nago can special cancel both his normals and specials to get past Potemkin's armor.
Overview | Frame Data | Matchups | Counterstrategy | Reverse Matchup Return to Top
Round Start
| Pot's Button | Loses To | Beats | Trades | Whiffs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
2P GuardAllStartup8Recovery9Advantage-1 |
5K (CH), 2K (CH) | 5P, 2S (CH), 623H (CH) | ||
2K GuardLowStartup10Recovery14Advantage-4 |
5K (CH), 2K (CH) | 5P, 2S (CH), 623H (CH) | Walk Back (2S punish) | |
6P GuardAllStartup11Recovery25Advantage-15 |
2S (CH), 623H (CH) | 5K (CH) | 5P (+28), 2K (+23), Walk Back (5K punish) | |
Kara Potemkin Buster GuardGround ThrowStartup5Recovery37Advantage- |
5P (CH), 5K (CH), 2K (CH) |
2S, 623H | Walk Back (CH 2H punish) | |
Kara Back Mega Fist GuardHighStartup25~27Recovery12Advantage-2 |
5P (CH), 623H (CH) | 2S | 5K/2K (in time to block) | |
Hammer Fall GuardAllStartup18~62Recovery26Advantage-9 |
5P > 623H (CH), Block (5K punish) |
All Other Buttons | 5K/2K > 623H (around +24) |
5P, 5K and 2K will beat the majority of Potemkin's round start options and should be your go-to buttons. The only thing Pot has that can beat 5K is his 6PGuardAllStartup11Recovery25Advantage-15, however, Pot's 6P has bad recovery on whiff. If you open up with a 5P or 2K, you both will whiff, and you will recover from 2K in time to punish 6P with just about anything, including: 2S, 214H, 623H, even 2H. Every one of Pot's Specials and their Kara versions can be beaten with 5P. Kara Pot Buster and Mega Fist get counter-hit, while Hammer Fall gets hit by canceling 5P > 623H. Other Specials are less relevant, but do also either get counter-hit with Flick
GuardAllStartup18~36Recovery19Advantage-6, or 5P recovers in time to block, like with regular Forward Mega Fist
GuardHighStartup25Recovery16Advantage-6, Slide Head
GuardLowStartup29Recovery24Advantage0 and Garuda Impact
GuardAll (Guard Crush)Startup28Recovery24Advantage+19.
Neutral
We generally have the advantage against Potemkin in neutral, and it's easy for us to take our turn and run our offense against him. Like us, Potemkin lacks a dash or air dash, and he also has slow walk speed. His primary methods of getting in are a combination of jumping forward, as well the use of his special moves Slide HeadGuardLowStartup29Recovery24Advantage0, Hammer Fall and Mega Fist. Remember, Slide Head creates a shockwave that hits low and fullscreen while causing a hard knockdown on hit. While it is easy to defend against it, you do need to make sure you don't get hit by that shockwave. If you do get hit by it, Potemkin will have a chance to get in on you using Hammer Fall and you'll be placed in a position where Potemkin can enact his deadly strike/throw game.
We want to keep Potemkin within the mid range; not far enough away to use Slide Head/Hammer Fall to approach, but not close enough that he can land 2D
GuardLowStartup13Recovery18Advantage-8 or a kara Pot Buster. Thanks to the size of his normals, Nago can easily do this. From the mid range, Potemkin can't really use Slide Head. We can use our ability cancel anything into our special moves to get past it's armor and counter hit him out of it. It's a bit trickier to hit Potemkin out of Hammer Fall, but still doable from farther away. In addition, we can RRC any normal or special that comes into contact with either of these special moves to prop him up for a combo. Mega Fist can be a bit tricky to deal with. It has a 25 frame start up, and if you get the read, you can really blow him up with a well-timed 2H. Otherwise, if you block it, forward Mega Fist is -6 on block, so you can punish him with a throw or 5P/2P upon blocking this. It’s also -2 on hit, so if you don’t get counterhit, you can challenge him. It’s not his turn even if it lands.
Be wary when Potemkin has Tension, as he can PRC Hammer Fall into a Potemkin Buster. You really need to keep an eye out for this if he has Tension. It’s very fast. Alternatively, he could also cancel into either Garuda ImpactGuardAll (Guard Crush)Startup28Recovery24Advantage+19 or Giganter Kai
GuardAllStartup10+1Recovery17Advantage+100 . Dealing with Garuda Impact is explained below in the Defense section. Giganter Kai essentially grants Potemkin full control of neutral. It does not disappear until either it's 481 frame duration is over or until it lands three hits on the opponent. The hits can be blocked, but up close, Potemkin can put you in a high/low situation with his 5D
GuardHighStartup20Recovery21Advantage-15 or set up a simultaneous high/low strike/throw situation after the end of the move. You can try and chicken block, but if Potemkin reads it, he can either lock you down in the air by spamming j.P
GuardHighStartup7Recovery6Advantage+6 (Min. height) or he can go for an air throw or Heavenly Potemkin Buster
GuardAir ThrowStartup12+0Recovery16AdvantageN/A if he has 100 Tension. It’s generally a pretty scary situation to be in all around. You could burst Pot away, but you don’t wanna burst until Giganter Kai ends since the energy field won’t go away even if you burst him. Until the end of Giganter Kai, block low, react high if he tries to hit you with 5D and then either burst or jump at the end of the Overdrive. Potemkin can’t grab you with either Pot Buster or a regular grab until the end of the move thanks to throw invulnerability.
If his specials are getting consistently stuffed, Potemkin might try to get in by jumping a lot and using his aerial attacks, in particular, j.H
GuardHighStartup12Recovery16Advantage+15 (Min. height). This normal hits on both sides of Potemkin. Counter this with a well-timed 5P. All of Pot's air buttons lose to 5P aside from j.D
GuardAllStartup13Recovery9 After landingAdvantage+1 (IAS) and a very deep later active frame j.S
GuardHighStartup13Recovery23Advantage+13 (Min. height). Otherwise be wary of Potemkin's pokes, namely 2S
GuardAllStartup14Recovery18Advantage-4, f.S
GuardAllStartup12Recovery18Advantage-8, and 5H
GuardAllStartup16Recovery25Advantage-11. These can ALL be beaten by 6P. FlickGuardAllStartup18~36Recovery19Advantage-6 usually loses to 6P too. The hurt box is much larger than it appears right as he Flicks.
Offense
Potemkin absolutely falls apart on defense. He can’t mash out of pressure with his fastest button, his 5 frame 5P
GuardAllStartup5Recovery6Advantage+1, because it loses to any low, or even just Fukyo into a crouching button because it will get low profiled. Fukyo forward 2P is a great option against him, and lets you do 2P > 6P > *special move* as a block or hit string.
He’ll likely try to rely on backwards Mega Fist to try and get out of pressure. Bait this out with a 214K > 2H, and reap the reward. 623H also beats BMF on both startup and as a callout and can lead to big damage, though 2H is the more Blood-efficent way to go.
It's best to avoid running f.S rekka pressure against Potemkin. His command grab is faster than yours by two frames, and it will also catch you if you delay a button.
Defense
If Pot gets in after a knockdown, you'll be placed in an RPS situation with a lot of possible options. You'll have to rotate your options between backdashing, jumping, or mashing 5P to escape. Don’t default to one singular option. Smart use of your Burst/YRC can get Nago out of this situation entirely.
- During Pot's blockstrings, you can try jumping during gaps to avoid a Pot Buster, but Pot could read this and hit you with Heat Knuckle
GuardAir Guard CrushStartup12Recovery18Advantage+10~+3 or a Heavenly Pot Buster instead.
- You could try to backdash, but Pot could hit you with 5H or 6H instead.
- You could mash 5P, but you could also get frametrapped by a meaty c.S.
As mentioned, it's all RPS. You're going to have to pick an option and hope you guessed right.
Dealing with Garuda Impact
Potemkin will most often use Garuda Impact as a meaty after a hard knockdown, either from Slide Head or 2D. If you’re in the corner, Pot will also often attempt to go for it after a 6K
GuardAllStartup22Recovery18Advantage-6. Garuda Impact has a slow start up of 28 frames, which is why it’s best used as a meaty. If a Potemkin is using this in a situation where it’s NOT a meaty, you can backdash. Blocking it leads to a lot of problems. It’s +19 on block. This leads to over a third of a second where he has advantage over you, and most times Potemkin will follow up Garuda with another Garuda. If there’s no doubt he’ll do Garuda into Garuda, you can jump out of it and hit him with a falling j.H. If he goes into it from a 6K, note that 6K is -6 on block. Combined with the 28 frame start up, you have plenty of time to jump out of this situation. On knockdown, however, don’t try to jump immediately. Since it’s usually used as a meaty, it’ll catch you if you try. Then you’ll get stunned, and hit with a Pot Buster. You’ll have to time your jump well.
In the corner, after either a Pot Buster or a regular throw into an OTG c.S
GuardAllStartup8Recovery11Advantage+4/6K, Garuda can hit meaty enough that Pot can do a second Garuda that can also catch attempted jump outs. After the second Garuda, he can cancel into 6K, which will catch all escape options. Make sure you use Faultless Defense when defending against him to keep him from looping this. You can’t hold up-back to jump out of it either, you’ll have to manually time your jump. If Pot kara cancels Garuda, that will give you time to hold up-back out of it. If you block two Garuda Impacts and he goes for a third, you can jump out here too. If Potemkin is very close, you can use 632146S to beat Garuda, but from farther away, the moves will clash, and you'll be left wide open.
Ramlethal Valentine
Ramlethal ValentineThere's room for only one Boss Character.A clash of titans. They both have great tools to control the midrange, they both do immense damage, and they both have really strong up close pressure. Once one of them starts running their pressure on the other, it's very difficult for either of them to deal with it.
Overview | Frame Data | Matchups | Counterstrategy | Reverse Matchup Return to Top
Round Start
| Ramlethal's Button | Loses To | Beats | Trades | Whiffs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
f.S GuardAllStartup11Recovery21Advantage-10 [-13] |
6P (CH), 214K > 214H | All Other Buttons | 623H (f.SSS combo) | 214K (f.S punish) |
2S GuardLowStartup10Recovery18Advantage-5 [-8] |
214K > 214H | All Other Buttons | 2K | 5K (+11, 623H punish), Walk Back (2S punish) |
| IAS Instant Air Special Conceptually includes Tiger KneePerforming a special as soon as possible after becoming airborne. Usually, but not always, involves an input trick. For Example: 2369S for a j.236S input. j.214S  GuardAllStartup12Recovery24Advantage-6 (IAS) |
6P (CH), 623H (CH) | All Other Buttons | Walk Back (214H punish) |
623H beats all of her buttons except 2SGuardLowStartup10Recovery18Advantage-5 [-8], but it loses to 5K (whiffs into 623H punish) and Walk Back. Even if you do get Counter-Hit by her 2S, she only get a combo into Rekka 2 > Rekka 3 for mediocre damage and a soft knockdown. This means that despite Ram having answers to Nago's buttons, the difference in reward for successful reads is much better on Nagoriyuki's side for her to be able to reliably RPS on roundstart.
Simply rotate between 623H and Walk Back to win this roundstart.
Neutral
It is extremely important that you avoid getting put into the corner at all costs. Putting you into the corner is Ramlethal's win condition. It's very difficult to escape from that positon, and since Nago can't air dash, he doesn't really have much of a way to escape if he's put in there. There are two main ways that Ramlethal gets you into the corner: strings that lead into the H version
GuardAllStartup20RecoveryTotal 43Advantage+3 of Bajoneto (Sword Toss) and strings that lead into her Rekka
GuardAllStartup16Recovery12Advantage-5. If you successfully counter poke or contest her approach, then get in and maintain up-close pressure as much as you possibly can.
Ramlethal thrives at controlling the mid range thanks to her large disjointed buttons. Her f.S and j.S
GuardHighStartup12Recovery24Advantage+5 (IAD) are both excellent normals. They are fairly fast, reach far, and are difficult to deal with. Learning the range of those normals is very important as they are at the core of Ramlethal's neutral game. f.S is her best poke, but is weak to 6P and is -10 on block. However, Ram can catch you mashing here by following up with a delayed 5H
GuardAllStartup12Recovery28Advantage-12 [-13]. If she ever delays 5H you can exploit that gap with 632146S. If you don't have Tension for 632146S, you can also press 6P if there's a delay, though if Ram is close enough, she can still counter hit you during the start up of 5H, so only attempt this from farther away. In addition, her f.S has 21 frames of recovery, so if she whiffs it, she’s left wide open for a punish. Try and play footsies just outside of the range of her f.S so that it’s easier to whiff punish her if she throws it out.
Contest her jump-ins as well as Flip Kick
GuardAllStartup22Recovery17Advantage-2 with 6P whenever possible. The worst thing you can do is block them, as that will let her start running her pressure and push you towards the corner. Her 214K has 30 frames of start up and is +2 on block, so you really need to learn to anti-air this. You can poke at Ram with 6P from afar as well, as it will beat her f.S. As long as you're at the max range of Ram's 5H, it's very difficult for Ram to whiff punish it. 6P only has 15 frames of recovery, and her f.S and 5H have 11 and 12 frames of start up respectively, leaving her with only a 3 or 4 frame window to punish.
Another poke Ram relies on in neutral is her 2K
GuardLowStartup6Recovery9Advantage-2. Do your best not to get hit by this, as Ramlethal can special cancel into her 214P rekka from 2K > 2D
GuardLowStartup10Recovery19Advantage-8. She can go directly into 2K on hit or block if 214K connects, which is all the more reason why you need to anti-air that or avoid it altogether.
Be wary of 214H
GuardAllStartup19Recovery42Advantage-27 [-27] {-32} when she has Tension. On block, it's -27. However, with Tension, she can use drift RC to get in close and immediately apply her Rekka pressure on you.
Offense
Ram is weakest with her back to the wall and fighting at close range. Her 5K
GuardAllStartup7Recovery11Advantage-2 and 2K are barely keep out tools. Nago's 5K actually beats her 2K since it moves his lower hurtbox. From farther away, Ramlethal's kicks also don’t reliably gatling into her 2D or 6P
GuardAllStartup9Recovery18Advantage-9 from farther away.
When you’ve boxed her into the corner, mind your spacing, and prioritize keeping her there over getting a hit. At some point, she will have to gamble to get out, effectively handing you her health bar. She may try to use 214K after an instant air dash, super jump > air dash, or double jump to escape the corner. From the corner, it's actually fairly easy to counter hit Ramlethal during 214K with either a delayed 2H or 623H. Try to react to it by anti-airing with these methods while on the ground.
You do need to be very cautious of Mortobato
GuardAllStartup7+2Recovery51Advantage-38 [-38] {-43} when applying your pressure. It hits very far in front and above her. This is her only invincible reversal. It’s -30 on block, so bait it out and punish it.
Defense
Defending Against Rekka Pressure
After the first and second hit of the rekka, she can cancel into a dash or other special move. She can also chain the dash cancel into a special cancel, meaning she can do the first hit of the rekka, dash, and start it up again, chaining the first hits of the rekka together if she so wishes.
The first hit of the rekka is -5 on block. She can be thrown out of it if she’s up close. If you manage to instant block any part of the rekka, it’ll make it a lot easier to throw her out of it. There IS a gap between all of the rekka hits. The second hit is -10/-12 on block depending on the delay. You can get a guaranteed 632146S on block here. The third hit of the rekka is -25, and as a result, Ram will rarely go for this unless she has Tension. But, if she doesn't and you happen to block it, you can punish it with pretty much anything.
Defending Against Corner Pressure
Since Nago lacks traditional mobility options, it’s very difficult for him to escape the corner if Ram manages to get him there. It's best to smartly use Burst to get out of the situation entirely. Otherwise, do NOT just jump or challenge with buttons. Instead, use Faultless Defense to push her out.
There are two key blockstrings Ramlethal utilizes to keep you locked in the corner. The first is c.S
GuardAllStartup7Recovery10Advantage+1 > f.S > 5H > H Sword Toss. Clone can actually be used to nullify the explosion from Sword Toss in the corner. If Ramlethal is using this string, you can input Clone after the blocking the Sword Toss and then Fukyo forwards to escape the corner. Ram may try to keep you jailed after H Sword Toss by tossing out her f.S, but if she does, Clone will punish it. You can follow it up by converting into the f.S rekka after Fukyo.
The other string she could do is c.S > H Sword Toss. Better Rams are more likely to use this string instead, as Ram has multiple options she can do off of H Sword Toss. For example, she could do c.S > H Sword Toss > 2K > Sword Explosion > Dash~c.S. This string frametraps all the way, and can be looped into itself. You can’t just jump or mash through, no matter which part of the string it is. Furthermore, Ram can throw at ANY point of the blockstring. Again, make sure you use Faultless Defense the entire time. If Ramlethal isn't doing this string with running momentum, you can cause the 2K to whiff. Ram’s strike/throw is pretty difficult to react to during this string, but if she’s dashing in after H Sword Toss, jumping beats whatever she’s trying to do.
6P can be used in-between c.S > H Sword Toss to beat it cleanly, but she can beat that by doing c.S > 6H
GuardAllStartup18Recovery33Advantage-16 [-18] or c.S > delayed 2S. These strings are weak to Faultless Defense, and if she goes into H Sword Toss afterwards, you can use Clone to beat the explosion and get out like before.
If you manage to instant block c.S, Ram will be in throw range. The gap between c.S > H Sword Toss is long enough for you to get a throw in, though she can instead do c.S > 2S to catch you throwing. IBFD-ing c.S puts Ram too far away to trap with 2K. Instant blocking can be difficult, but if you know that she will be hitting you with a meaty c.S, the timing will be consistent.
If Ram dashes up to do a c.S after the Sword Explosion, she can be thrown here as long as you’ve been using Faultless Defense to guarantee a gap in her pressure. She can try to do a c.S outside of throw range, but this doesn’t let her loop her pressure.
You’ll rarely see this string, but Ram can kara dash cancel after the c.S to beat Faultless Defense. If you don't use Faultless Defense, you can throw between dash momentum c.S > kara dash H Sword Toss, or just throw the post explosion dash up > c.S. With or without Faultless Defense, c.S > kara dash H Sword Toss is weak to 6P.
Now, naturally Burst/YRC are also strong tools to get out of this situation. There are ways to use them more effectively against Ram’s corner pressure. Wait and use them after H Sword Toss, when she doesn’t have both swords. She can bait you if you use them immediately after Sword Toss, but she can’t bait for very long if she wants to continue her pressure. Otherwise, she'll leave mashable gaps.
Sin Kiske
Sin will mainly be keeping his distance and trying to whiff punish Nago. He'll also be looking to try to connect Elk Hunt from a distance, as that will let him start running his pressure. Nago needs to play patiently, counter poke him, and stuff his approach.
Overview | Frame Data | Matchups | Counterstrategy | Reverse Matchup Return to Top
Round Start
| Sin's Button | Loses To | Beats | Trades | Whiffs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
2D GuardLowStartup10Recovery15Advantage-7 |
623H (CH) | All Other Buttons | 5K (+10, 2K punish), Walk Back (2S punish) | |
6P GuardAllStartup11Recovery20Advantage-12 |
2S (CH), 623H (CH), | 5K, 214H (CH), | 6P (Clash) | 2K (+17, 2S punish), Walk Back (2S punish) |
Walk Back 2S GuardAllStartup12Recovery13Advantage-5 |
2S, (623H)~H | 5K, 2K, 6P, 623H | ||
Dash 623S GuardAllStartup9Recovery36Advantage-26 |
Block | All Buttons |
Sin's round start options aren't great. All of his options lose to 623H except for Dash > Hawk BakerGuardAllStartup9Recovery36Advantage-26. However, Sin's 2DGuardLowStartup10Recovery15Advantage-7 beats all of Nago's other buttons. Most Sin players will be hesitant to press buttons on round start and will instead try to create distance and bait Nago into wasting Blood with 623H.
Neutral
Almost all of Sin's special moves have optional Follow-Ups that require his unique resource Stamina to use. He also has access to a command dash Follow-Up with Gazelle Step, which opens up mix-up opportunities, pressure resets, and combo routes. Gazelle Step is an important tool of Sin’s in order to maintain his pressure, especially after midscreen special Follow-Ups since just about all of the Follow-Ups to Sin’s special moves sends his opponents far away. However, Gazelle Step is throw punishable on reaction.
Sin's primary goal in neutral is to whiff punish. You have to play neutral with him similarly to how you would play neutral with Giovanna. Keep him out, try to outpoke him, and don't use moves with long recovery. Elk Hunt
GuardLowStartup21Recovery15Advantage-8 is Sin’s best neutral tool. It's a fast dash attack that hits low and can low profile a lot of midrange pokes. Elk Hunt by itself is -8 on block, but its Follow-Up
GuardAll (Guard Crush)Startup13Recovery20Advantage+8 is +8 on block and Guard Crushes. Sin can cancel this into Gazelle Step at the cost of two Stamina bars to approach while maintaining large frame advantage. Sin wants to fish for a hit with Elk Hunt since it lets him start running his RPS pressure, especially when he’s at full Stamina. This is the primary way Sin sets up his offense.
Otherwise, Sin will mainly be standing a solid distance away from you, watching what you do, and poking with 2SGuardAllStartup12Recovery13Advantage-5 to deter approaches. He wants to get you to block his specials, because with them, he can initiate very potent RPS pressure from a far distance. Play neutral outside of the range of Elk Hunt and Beak Driver
GuardAllStartup16Recovery22Advantage-14. Elk Hunt travels a set distance. It has 24 frames of start up in addition to the travel time it would take for Sin to reach you at longer distances. From up close, it is possible to throw Sin out of Elk Hunt but it’s harder to do so from farther away. At longer distances, check for it with 2K. You need to be on the look out for this move and avoid it or throw him out of it whenever you can.
Beak Driver has 22 frames of recovery, so take that opportunity to advance. You can whiff punish it with Beyblade. Beak Driver is not at all disjointed and greatly extends his hurt box, making it fairly easy to whiff punish. Try to make it whiff. Avoid blocking it, if you do, Sin can use either its Follow-Up
GuardAllStartup13Recovery9Advantage-3 or Gazelle Step in order to get in on you and start running his offense. He could delay either of those options. Or he could just do nothing and bait you into throwing out something unsafe. Sin can really make you explode if he guesses right.
Sin’s specials by themselves are generally punishable. He needs to do the Follow-Ups to make himself safe depending on the distance between you and him. He should never be throwing out specials if he has no Stamina. If he’s out of Stamina in neutral, he’ll likely start to back off, make some distance, and play passively. He might IAD back > j.H
GuardHighStartup11Recovery26Advantage+3 (IAD) or use 2S to control space and buy himself time for the Stamina Gauge to replenish. This is your opportunity to get in on him.
Offense
Sin's fastest button that he can mash is his 5 frame 2P
GuardAllStartup5Recovery9Advantage-2. He has a meterless invincible reversal, Hawk Baker. Like Sin's other special moves, Hawk Baker also has a Follow-Up
GuardAllStartup12Recovery33Advantage-19. Hawk Baker consists of two hits. There's a 16 frame gap between the first and second hit. When trying to bait and punish Hawk Baker, make sure you punish it during this gap. Otherwise, he can just use the Follow-Up to keep himself safe.
Sin has a very poor backdash. It’s really slow to recover, and leaves him very vulnerable, meaning he can’t use it as an option in the corner.
Defense
Sin’s close range pressure is very dangerous because it heavily revolves around RPS. Remember, all of Sin’s special Follow-Ups can be delayed. He can vary his timing with the Follow-Ups to condition you to keep blocking his pressure. He can get very strong conversions from counter hits this way, and fishing for counter hits is primarily what Sin is trying to do. It’s when Sin gets in that you’re going to want to look for an opportunity to Burst and reset back to neutral, just be smart about when you use it so it doesn’t get baited. Otherwise, there are things that you can do to make his pressure harder for him. When blocking, make sure to use Faultless Defense. It’ll push him out far and force him to overextend his pressure, usually at the cost of Stamina. Remember to keep an eye out for either Elk Hunt or Gazelle Step during his pressure and throw him out of those moves.
Sin’s c.S
GuardAllStartup7Recovery10Advantage+1 is +1. He has numerous frametrap options from this button, including:
- His 5 frame 2P, which he can use to check your jump/mash.
- His 2H
GuardLow, AllStartup14Recovery27Advantage-16 and his 5H
GuardAllStartup16Recovery18Advantage-2 which he can convert into for big damage. - Hoof Stomp
GuardHighStartup21Recovery22Advantage-11 an overhead that crushes lows. - 6K
GuardLowStartup21Recovery10Advantage+3, which launches upwards on hit and leads to massive reward. - 2S to bait out your 632146S.
- Dashing in for a throw.
- Reset the threat of his frametrap options by dashing in and doing c.S over and over.
This is what makes Sin’s close range pressure so strong. It’s built entirely around keeping you guessing what he’ll do and when he’ll do it.
- Sin’s 5H and 2H are both two-hitting normals. Sin can cancel the second hit into any of his special moves, but if he doesn't, the timing of the second hit can't be delayed and will always be the same. This leaves these buttons very vulnerable to instant blocking.
- Since his 2H is a low, when combined with Hoof Stomp, he can threaten a high/low mix. Hoof Stomp does have 21 frames of startup, so it can be interrupted with a quick button such as 5P, 5K, or 632146S if you react in time. Hoof Stomp is -11 on block, but it also has a Follow-Up
GuardAllStartup13Recovery22Advantage-8 that he can use to frame trap. It’s -8 but it has enormous pushback so it's difficult to punish unless it’s Instant Blocked. - His 6K has a slow, 21 frames start up, but it’s +3 on block, so try to interrupt it during its start up.
- Aside from Hawk Baker, all of Sin’s special moves lose to 632146S on start up. However, he can also use 2S to keep himself safe and bait it out. Never input it after blocking 2S.
- As long as you're using Faultless Defense, you can increase the distance Sin would have to travel in order to get you with a tick throw or additional c.S.
Understanding How Sin Uses His Resources on Offense
Make sure you're watching the Stamina Gauge. Since Sin has no way to restore the Stamina Gauge outside of just waiting, you can come to an understanding of what options Sin will be likely to go for and when. Sin can use Tension as a substitute for Stamina in situations where he lacks it. For example, Sin will be a lot less likely to go for Hoof Stomp mid screen, because in order to get anything meaningful off of it, he’d have to use two bars of Stamina. In fact, it’s generally not worth it for him to go for Hoof Stomp unless he has the Tension to RC since the ONLY thing he can convert into off of Hoof Stomp is either the Follow-Up or Gazelle Step.
As mentioned before, Sin’s specials are generally punishable and he needs to do the follow-ups to make himself safe depending on the distance between you and him. If he runs out of Stamina when he’s running his pressure, he'll try to make distance and keep himself safe using the methods mentioned before in the neutral section.
Midscreen, Sin can do strings into his invincible Overdrive R.T.L
GuardAllStartup11+5Recovery25+32 After LandingAdvantage-55. It's similar to Ky's Ride the Lightning, but unlike that Overdrive, Sin can change the trajectory of the attack up to two times. It can be a strong whiff punish tool thanks to its corner carry. Like his special moves, R.T.L. also has a Follow-Up
GuardAllStartup12Recovery39+15 After LandingAdvantage-43 which is a large explosion. Sin needs more than 50% Tension in order to do the Follow-Up. He doesn’t need full Tension, but the size of the Follow-Up’s hitbox is dependent on how much Tension he has, and doing the follow-up will completely drain the Tension gauge.
In the corner, Sin will generally use his other Overdrive Tyrant Barrel
GuardAll (Guard Crush)Startup3Recovery39Advantage-12 to break the wall. It’s similar to Sol’s Tyrant Rave, but unlike that Overdrive, Tyrant Barrel isn’t invincible. Furthermore, Sin performs a powerful secondary strike when P is released. If the attack is timed well to strike the opponent accurately, Sin will Clean Hit for additional damage. It launches into a Rolling Tumble and Hard Knockdown on hit. If Sin takes too long to input the second hit, the opponent will land with a soft knockdown and the wall won’t break. Tyrant Barrel has 39 frames of recovery, but even without a Clean Hit, Sin will be pushed back far enough that it can’t truly be punished, but you can still take your turn.
Sol Badguy
A pretty easy match up for Nago. As long as there's an understanding of how to stuff and RPS with Sol's methods of approach, Nago generally has the advantage since he outclasses Sol in the midrange.
Overview | Frame Data | Matchups | Counterstrategy | Reverse Matchup Return to Top
Round Start
| Sol's Button | Loses To | Beats | Trades | Whiffs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
f.S GuardAllStartup10Recovery13Advantage+2 |
5K (CH), 2K (CH) | 2S (CH), 623H (CH) | ||
2S GuardAllStartup10Recovery15Advantage-7 |
623H (CH) | 2K (CH) | 2S (+0) | 5K (+10, no punish), Walk Back (2S punish) |
6P GuardAllStartup9Recovery20Advantage-11 |
2S (CH), 623H (CH) | 5K (CH), 214H (CH) | 6P (Clash) | 2K (+14, 2S punish), Walk Back (2S punish) |
6H GuardAllStartup9Recovery43Advantage-27 |
5K (CH), 2K (CH), 214H, Block (-22, 5K punish) |
2S (CH), 623H (CH) | ||
Dash S DP GuardAllStartup9Recovery18+10 LandingAdvantage-28 |
Block | All Buttons |
5K beats most of Sol's rewarding options, such as f.SGuardAllStartup10Recovery13Advantage+2 and 6HGuardAllStartup9Recovery43Advantage-27. While it does lose to 6PGuardAllStartup9Recovery20Advantage-11, he can't get a combo out of it and only gets a little corner carry and bad oki from it. Sol's 2SGuardAllStartup10Recovery15Advantage-7 doesn't beat 5K, but is at least safe from being punished on a mutual whiff, but gets easily countered with 623H or a simple Walk Back. The last option Sol has is Dash S DPGuardAllStartup9Recovery18+10 LandingAdvantage-28, which beats all buttons but loses to blocking.
Alternating between 5K, Walk Back, and an occassional spicy 623H will keep Sol players in check at the start of the round.
Neutral
Sol’s best range is up close. As such, he’ll mainly be trying to get in on you with his midrange tools and special moves that allow him to approach from a variety of angles. These tools and special moves all have some kind of weakness that Nago can exploit, so in neutral, your goal should be to keep Sol at your max range, make him come to you, intercept his approaches, and whiff punish the tools he uses to control space.
In the mid range, Sol will use his farther reaching attacks, such as 6S and f.S, as well as his low-hitting and disjointed 2SGuardAllStartup10Recovery15Advantage-7 to control space and give him an opportunity to approach. 6S and f.S can be counter poked by 6P. These buttons also have 20 and 13 frames of recovery respectively, leaving Sol vulnerable on whiff. You could whiff punish 6S with f.S or Beyblade. It might be a bit harder to whiff punish f.S, but since it advances him slightly, he could potentially put himself in the range of your 5K. 2S has 15 frames of recovery, and can be whiff punished with your 2S or your f.S.
Sol can also try to control mid range space with Gun Flame
GuardAllStartup18RecoveryTotal 54Advantage-10. This is Sol's only projectile. Its long start-up, short horizontal reach and advancing hurt box allows it to be stuffed by pokes. When blocked from tip range, it leaves Sol at an advantage and allows him to get in. From farther away, you can consistently counter hit Sol out of this with 5H or 2H. You can also use Clone to get through it, and then follow it up with Fukyo into the f.S rekka. Sol will most commonly cancel into Gun Flame from a blocked 6S. 5H and 2H won't work here because it will trade unfavorably with Sol, however, you can still use Clone as long as you're at the max range of 6S.
Otherwise, Sol will try to approach from the air with IAD j.S/j.H or Air Bandit Bringer. 6P his attempts to air dash in. Air Bandit Bringer can be a bit tricky to anti-air since Sol can delay the timing of it. Depending on the spacing, you can punish it on block consistently with 5K or 2K. The farther away you are, the less consistent it is, but you do have to block it from a rather far distance for it not to be considered a true punish. Don't ever try to whiff punish this. Chances are you're not close enough to, and Sol can mash his invincible reversal Volcanic ViperGuardAllStartup9Recovery18+10 LandingAdvantage-28 to counter hit you if you try.
Sol has three other advancing special moves: Fafnir
GuardAll (Guard Crush)Startup24Recovery16Advantage+11, Night Raid Vortex
GuardAllStartup15~31 [32]Recovery32Advantage-17, and Bandit Revolver
GuardAllStartup12Recovery9+6 LandingAdvantage-7. Fafnir has a 24 frame start up, during which Sol can be counter hit. He'll typically only use this as a meaty during knockdowns. Night Raid Vortex is -17 on block. He shouldn't ever be using this in neutral if he doesn't have Tension to keep himself safe. If he does and he tries to use this, it's really easy to counter hit him out of it with 2S. The farther away he is, the easier it is to react to it. Bandit Revolver consists of two hits. The first hit is -7 and the second hit is -11. Both hits are punishable with either 5K or even c.S. However, with Tension, Sol can initiate an RPS situation that is discussed in the Defense section.
Offense
Sol has some of the fastest normals in the game he can mash during pressure. He has a 3 frame 5K
GuardAllStartup3Recovery25Advantage-16, though if he whiffs this, it has 25 frames of recovery, so be sure to punish it if you bait this out. He also has a 4 frame 2P
GuardAllStartup5Recovery8Advantage-2 with only 8 frames of recovery. These buttons can make it difficult to run f.S rekka pressure on him. He has his previously mentioned meterless invincible reversal Volcanic Viper. He also has an invincible reversal Overdrive with Tyrant Rave
GuardAllStartup7+2Recovery41Advantage-44, however, it’s rarely used as a reversal and is instead mainly used to break the wall. If he does use this as one, the first hit has poor range and the entire attack is unsafe on block or whiff. Only the first hit is invincible and there is a gap between the two punches where you can input 632146S to beat the second hit.
Defense
If Sol manages to get in on you, be prepared to deal with a lot of RPS situations. At close range, his f.S is a powerful pressure tool thanks to its speed, range and +2 frame advantage. Sol also takes a step forward when using f.S, which means that if it's blocked, Sol is always in range for another one. Sol has highly damaging frame trap options from f.S, and it can be intimidating to challenge it with a button. He can condition you to keep blocking and then force a strike/throw mix up with grounded throws or his command grab Wild Throw
GuardGround ThrowStartup6Recovery41Advantage-. You have to try to escape from f.S pressure at some point. If you never try to escape, he can continue to loop f.S into f.S, which means he gets away with more strike/throw mix-ups than he should. When blocking, use Faultless Defense to push Sol out. f.S into f.S leaves an 8 frame gap where you can mash 5K.
By challenging Sol's f.S, you will force him to occasionally continue the blockstring with 5H
GuardAllStartup11Recovery20Advantage-5 or 5K in order to frame trap you. If he succeeds in scoring a Counter Hit, you're going to be taking a lot of damage. On the plus side, these moves don't allow him to loop pressure as easily, giving you more opportunities to escape if you block. For example, if you think Sol might frame trap you with 5H and you’re mid-screen, you can use Faultless Defense to push him away, then either continue blocking to react to his next move, or backdash/Fukyo backwards to create space and punish whiffed attacks. You can also evade f.S into f.S by backdashing, however, the recovery of f.S is too short to punish Sol. Backdashing will, at best, reset to neutral, giving you an opportunity to punish his next move. It can also be punished by Sol’s 6S, should he go for it.
Bandit Revolver becomes a much stronger option when Sol has Tension. Sol can Roman Cancel either hit of this and put you into a potential high-low mix. He can mash j.P
GuardHighStartup5Recovery8Advantage- while he's still in the air, or just land immediately and hit you with 2K
GuardLowStartup5Recovery11Advantage-2. You're just going to have to either guess here, or use Burst or Yellow Roman Cancel after the Red Roman Cancel.
Your options for defending against 6S > Gun Flame change if 6S is blocked up close. In this situation, you should simply block Gun Flame as it becomes -8 on block at close range. Since so many of Sol's options are minus on block, Sol may walk back during his pressure to try and whiff punish or frame trap you. You can try mashing 2K to catch him if he does this, but don't mash this frequently.
Testament
Testament's projectiles allow them to control the midrange and really prevent Nago's approach. When Nago is cornered, they can enforce very strong pressure on him from a safe distance, especially if he's at high Blood levels. Careful Blood management is very key in this match up, as Clone > Fukyo is going to be Nago's primary tool in breaking through Testament's onslaught.
Overview | Frame Data | Matchups | Counterstrategy | Reverse Matchup Return to Top
Round Start
| Testament's Button | Loses To | Beats | Trades | Whiffs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
f.S GuardAllStartup12Recovery18Advantage-7 |
6P (CH), 623H (CH) | All Other Buttons | 2S (+0) | |
2S GuardLowStartup10Recovery18Advantage-7 |
6K, 214K > 214H | 6P, 2S, 623H (All CH) | 2K (-2) | 5K (+10, 2K punish), Walk Back (2S punish) |
2H GuardAllStartup23Recovery12Advantage-2 |
All Other Buttons | 6P | 5K and 2K (blocks in time) |
623H beats almost all of Testament's round start options, with the exception of their 2SGuardLowStartup10Recovery18Advantage-7, which has can be countered with a simple Walk Back. f.SGuardAllStartup12Recovery18Advantage-7, their farthest reaching button, can be beat with 6P or 623H. At round start distance, neither f.S nor 2S convert into anything even if they counter hit you. With this in mind, Testament wants to put distance between you and them as fast as possible. As opposed to immediately pressing anything, they may simply walk back and look to whiff punish you with f.S or 2S. If either of these buttons make contact, Testament will likely special cancel into S Grave Reaper
GuardAllStartup16~22Recovery27Advantage-4 afterwards and start pushing you back towards the opposite side of the screen while setting up a Succubus, and then try and apply the Stain State with Unholy Diver
GuardAllStartup21RecoveryTotal 39Advantage+1. Alternatively, they could cancel into either the S
GuardLowStartup24Recovery26Advantage-12 or H
GuardHighStartup28Recovery26Advantage-12 version of Arbiter Sign. You can input Beyblade after either S Grave Reaper or during the start up of either Arbiter Sign and either counter hit or punish them, depending on how quickly you react. They could also take to the skies and try to apply pressure with H Grave ReaperGuardAllStartup13~19Recovery21Advantage+2. This will not hit you immediately round start. It will whiff all of your round start options and mainly serves to lock you down so Testament can start their zoning pressure.
Neutral
Testament is another zoner that Nago wants to get in and stay in on. Right from the start they will be playing passively, avoiding you as much as possible while constantly throwing projectiles and making it difficult to approach. They want to drive up your Blood Gauge this way. Be conservative and smart with your Blood usage. If you accumulate more than two bars of Blood in this match up, it is highly unlikely that you can win. They can bully you with their projectiles from a safe distance, and there isn't really anything you can do about this. You won't be able to approach with Fukyo at all, and you can't super jump against them. Testament has some of the best anti-airs in the game to stuff your jump-ins. They have one of the game's strongest 6P
GuardAllStartup11Recovery15Advantage-7s as well as a very far reaching 6H
GuardAllStartup23Recovery32Advantage-19. Both of these options lead to strong reward, especially on counter hit. They can also send Unholy Diver flying from it's neutral position to cover the air. Testament gets strong return from their anti-airs, they essentially want you to super jump at them. When approaching Testament, regular jumping is a decent method of approach. As long as you're blocking after you jump towards them, it's difficult for them to punish it.
Try and get their Burst as soon as possible. Clone > Fukyo > f.S rekka is going to be Nago's main method of breaking through Testament’s zoning onslaught, and Nago can't afford to have them Burst before landing the entire rekka. You can't really play around Burst without spending Blood that you don't need to spend, so aside from Burst safe combos, don't try to bait Burst frequently in Neutral.
Once the Succubus from either version Grave Reaper is on screen, Testament has control over the space between them and where the Succubus is. They have numerous options they can do post Grave Reaper. Typically, they’ll try to apply the Stain State with Unholy Diver. They can also move their position by teleporting to where the Succubus currently is with Posession
GuardStartup16RecoveryTotal 35Advantage-. When teleporting, Testament is invulnerable after disappearing, but not immediately on start up. Posession has has 16 frames of startup and 9 frames of recovery and Testament is in counter hit state for the duration of them both. Depending on the position of the Succubus, it’s unlikely you’ll be able to punish this move, but if a Succubus is behind you, they may try to teleport to it and catch you with a throw. You will always be able to throw them before they can throw you if they try this, so keep an eye out, and don't them get away with this.
Patient Testaments will be watching how you play around both versions of Grave Reaper and Unholy Diver. They will also mix in their other options such as either Possession or either version of Arbiter Sign. If the Stain State has been applied to you, they may try and trigger the explosion with f.S. Match the pace at which they play. Don't try to force your way in, look for opportunities to use the tools you have to get in instead. Uncharged Grave Reaper has 16-22 frames of start up. Unholy Diver has 21 frames of start up. S Arbiter Sign has 24 frames of start up, while H Arbiter Sign has 28. These are all opportunities to challenge Testament in neutral. You can use Beyblade or Clone to counter hit them or just get in and restore some Blood. Once you've accumulated a bit of Blood, you can also use 5H to counter hit them out of the start up of their special moves as well. Use 6P to beat their f.S. Watch how the Testament is structuring their pressure. If it's pretty straightforward and repetitive, it's very possible for Nago to break through their onslaught and punish accordingly.
If you manage to close the distance, they’ll likely try to fish for a hit with 2K
GuardLowStartup6Recovery13Advantage-3 > 2D
GuardLowStartup14Recovery22Advantage-8. From there, they can special cancel into an OTG S Grave Reaper and send you tumbling back away from them. 2K can also low-profile your f.S, so be careful about poking with it. If you block 2K, there’s a gap in between it and 2D that loses to throws and you can backdash and whiff punish the 2D, which has 22 frames of recovery. This gap is covered if you’ve been Stained, however.
Testament’s zoning options are not effective from fullscreen. Uncharged Grave Reapers and Arbiter Sign won’t reach from that distance, they need to be at least within the midrange in order to properly zone. If they push you to full screen or they land a throw on you, they have two different options. They could do an IAD forward > delayed j.H
GuardHighStartup13Recovery16Advantage+5 (IAD) for a safe jump. They can mix this up with whiffing a j.H into 2K. These both hit on the exact same frame and you won’t be able to react. It’s a true 50/50 and their best option midscreen after a throw. Both options will beat wakeup throw as well.
What To Do After Being Stained
After you’ve been Stained, be patient, and observe what the Testament tries to do. They may attempt to fish for a hit in order to trigger the Stain State, but before they do, they’ll likely attempt to condition you not to move by throwing out another S Grave Reaper. Testament wants you to be in a situation where you’re Stained and they have a Succubus out. Then, they can do a number of dirty setups. They could also use Arbiter Sign to trigger the Stain explosion or Possession to teleport, mix you up, and trigger the Stain State explosion that way as well. In particular, they could use Possession after an H Grave Reaper and hit you with a cross up j.K
GuardHighStartup8Recovery12Advantage-3 (IAD) to trigger the Stain State explosion. Be on the lookout this. Also be on the lookout for a dash into either 2K or 5K
GuardAllStartup7Recovery11Advantage-3. These are their fastest far hitting buttons, and the easiest buttons they can confirm into the Stain State explosion from at closer ranges. Between the two of them, they’ll be more likely to use 2K. Don’t be too hasty to take your turn back once the Stain State has been applied to you. You’ll have to be patient and wait for the right moment/read to challenge them.
Offense
Testament's fastest button is their 5 frame 2P
GuardAllStartup5Recovery10Advantage-3. They could also mash out their 6 frame 2K from longer distances as well. If they've managed to get a Succubus out before you start running your pressure on them, they may attempt to jump and use Posession to teleport away from you and get out of it, especially if they're in the corner. They don't have a meterless invincible reversal. Their invincible reversal Overdrive is Calamity One
GuardAllStartup11+4Recovery67Advantage-38. The start up to this reversal is 11 frames, plus an additional 4 for the attack to actually come out. Because of the slow start up, it’s easy to bait out, react, and block. However, like Faust’s Bone-crushing Excitement, Testament can cancel its startup with PRC and avoid/punish attacks this way at the cost of a single bar of Tension.
Defense
Testament has several options to start their pressure if they manage to get in your face. Generally, they’ll be playing a standard strike/throw game. From c.S
GuardAllStartup8Recovery10Advantage+1 they can either do a tick throw, or do stagger pressure with c.S > f.S > 2S. All three of these buttons can be frame trapped with 2HGuardAllStartup23Recovery12Advantage-2. 2H has a vacuum effect that pulls opponents in on block and gives Testament another opportunity for a strike/throw mix up. It is -2 on block, making it throw punishable, but it can be frame trapped with either version of Grave Reaper. Aside from this, they could do c.S and then immediately IAD > H Grave Reaper, or tick throw from 2K as well.
As mentioned previously, if you've accumulated 2 bars of Blood, there's almost nothing you can really do to escape their pressure, especially if you're in the corner. However, Testament doesn’t have that great of mix. The most you really have to watch out for is Arbiter Sign. Both versions of Arbiter Sign have long start up, but the H version's start up is four frames longer than the S version so blocking low then blocking high will safely defend against both versions. If you’re just blocking everything, once they have 50% Tension, they can set up a high-low mix with their Overdrive Nostrovia
GuardAllStartup11+19RecoveryTotal 53Advantage+63. Nostrovia applies the Stain State on contact, and during the Overdrive, they can try to hit you with either 2K or 5D
GuardHighStartup20Recovery26Advantage-15 to trigger the explosion and convert into a combo. If the mix doesn’t land, they can still send Unholy Diver after one of these buttons has been blocked, wait for it to return after the Overdrive is over and use it again as soon as they can. It’ll give them another chance to run their offense. If Testament tries to confirm into Nostrovia during a blockstring, while this is fake for other characters, unfortunately it's real for Nago, as the only way for other characters to get around it is to jump and IAD forward. You can input 632146S during the start up animation for Nostrovia if Testament tries to use it in your face, but if they've spaced themselves further out during their blockstring, this won't work. You won't get the full version of the Overdrive, and Nostrovia will continue to hit you and break the wall if you're in the corner.
Zato-1
Zato-1The Guide Dog got hands.The majority of Zato’s tools naturally act as a hard counter to Nago. Zato is capable of easily harassing Nago constantly from afar, and even if Nago successfully manages to take out Eddie, Zato still has options that allows him to easily run away or prevent Nago from approaching even with Eddie gone. Nago is capable of vaporizing Zato in only one or two solid combos, but actually being able to land a hit on Zato is a major uphill battle.
Overview | Frame Data | Matchups | Counterstrategy | Reverse Matchup Return to Top
Round Start
| Zato's Button | Loses To | Beats | Trades | Whiffs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
2P GuardAllStartup6Recovery9Advantage-3 [-1] |
6K, 623H | All Other Buttons | 5K, 2K | |
f.S GuardAllStartup10Recovery23Advantage-12 |
6P (CH), 5K (CH) | All Other Buttons | 2K | 214K (f.S punish) |
2S GuardAllStartup11Recovery20Advantage-10 |
2K (CH) | All Other Buttons | 623H (f.SSS combo) | 214K (f.S punish) |
IAD j.H GuardHighStartup12Recovery13Advantage+12 (IAD) |
6P, 2H, 623H | 2S, 214K > f.S | 5K and 2K (reaction 6P), 6K (blocks in time) | |
Backdash Pierce GuardAllStartup21 [25]Recovery24Advantage- |
f.S, 2H, 214H | All Other Buttons (can't interrupt Pierce) |
5K and 2K (reaction CH 214H), 623H (Follow-Up whiffs or Eddie absorbs it) |
Losing the roundstart against Zato is very costly, as it allows him to summon Eddie and start his devastating pressure. Also, remember that Zato has a major advantage over high Blood Nago in neutral, meaning you have to be conservative in your routes when he has Burst available.
All of Zato's moves except for f.SGuardAllStartup10Recovery23Advantage-12 lose to 623H. It doesn't give him a full combo on Counter-Hit, but does guarantee the second hit of PierceGuardAllStartup21 [25]Recovery24Advantage- and the start of his pressure. A notable thing about his S pokes is their high recovery, which allows you to punish them with 214K > f.SSS, but Zato can counter it by going into the air with IAD j.HGuardHighStartup12Recovery13Advantage+12 (IAD) and landing an HKD. His 2PGuardAllStartup6Recovery9Advantage-3 [-1] is surprisingly strong, only outright losing 6K and 623H while trading with the other K buttons, which gives him valuable distance to summon Eddie out. Backdash Pierce is another strong option that can only be safely countered by pressing 5K or 2K and inputting 214H on reaction to the backdash.
Overall, 2K is your safest bet against Zato, as it either beats or trades with all of his moves while giving you time to anti-air IAD j.H and interrupt Backdash Pierce. After that, expand your option set with moves like 5K and 623H to capitalise on their tendencies. Don't waste a lot of Blood on your best routes, as a well-timed Burst from the Zato player's side will put you at a significant disadvantage in neutral.
Neutral
This is one of our most difficult match ups. The best way to play against Zato is to play patiently, make him overextend with Eddie, take Eddie out as fast as possible, and then move in on Zato when he doesn’t have much of a way to stop you. You need to be especially careful with Blood Management. If we Blood Rage, all he has to do is dash up and use his command grab Damned Fang
GuardGround ThrowStartup6Recovery38Advantage-, and we’re basically dead. Zato will mainly be trying to zone us out, and it can be extremely difficult to approach him. Even if we manage to kill Eddie, he can use Invite Hell
GuardAllStartup18Recovery2Advantage-7 to keep us from pressing buttons, or he could use Flight to get away from us and stall in the air until he gets Eddie back. In order to win neutral, Zato must complete a three step process:
1. Get you within Eddie’s effective range.
2. Create enough blockstun to safely summon Eddie
3. Set up his high/low or strike/throw mix
He has two ways to accomplish this process: he either has to create the blockstun using one of his own normals, or empty summon Eddie and use his attacks to set up the mix. It’s safer for him to use Eddie’s attacks to do so, so you’ll need to learn how they work and the proper counterplay for Eddie’s attacks. The number one thing we can’t do is let him position Eddie behind us, as that will lead to his win condition. Drunkard Shade
GuardAllStartup9Recovery12Advantage-8 is what Zato will mainly be using to send Eddie at us. Keep your eyes peeled for it, stuff Eddie while he’s on the ground with 2K, and then advance once Eddie’s dead. Never let Zato unsummon in your face. This has 32 frames of recovery. Punish or advance if he does this.
Dealing With Special Cancel Options
PierceGuardAllStartup13Recovery24Advantage- will be his go to for setting up his mix. There’s a 7 frame gap between the two hits that can be contested with either 5P that kills Eddie but connects only from a very short range, or with 2P that trades with Eddie but connects from much farther away. Learn these ranges well. If Zato is not at close range and/or Eddie is not already summoned when Zato does Pierce, this gap can and should be contested every single time. Countering this will force Zato to either plug the gap with a normal or special cancel into other moves which could leave him vulnerable. Pierce can be canceled into Oppose
GuardAllStartup66Recovery(Summon Vanishes)Advantage-, Leap
GuardAllStartup13Recovery34Advantage-, That's a Lot!
GuardAllStartup19→34→49→64RecoveryTotal 66Advantage-, or Drunkard Shade. He can do these options to protect Eddie, but they all come at a cost to the Eddie Gauge, limiting his combo ability. If he closes the gap, he can’t use his high/low mix. All he can do is strike/throw. Being proactive once Pierce comes out is key. Zato has answers to all these options but for the most part they have to be done as a read and not on reaction.
If Zato is using Leap in neutral, it takes half of the Eddie gauge no matter what, meaning if he locks you down properly, he won’t be able to both mix and convert. Leap is vulnerable to 6P. If you block it, depending on the distance, Zato’s gotta get the hit quick or he has to retreat and get some of the Eddie gauge back. Look to advance during this situation.
That’s a Lot is rough for us to deal with. It loses to Clone and we can Fukyo into the f.S rekka afterwards to get in, but we have to be careful, since that’ll drive our Blood up a lot. Since this move travels slowly with a fixed distance, outside of the corner, you can just get out of the way and be prepared to take out Eddie if Zato sends him after this move. Since Zato loses half of his gauge if the move completes, he will most likely cancel the move on whiff or on block as soon as he feels comfortable to start locking you down. You can use this to your advantage. If you’re not locked down quite yet and you see the approach of Drunkard Shade, you can Fukyo forward or Beyblade.
Dealing with Oppose
Oppose is another move that can be difficult for us to deal with. If you have Tension, you can actually hit Oppose with an attack and then use Red Roman Cancel to kill Eddie and initiate a combo. Though bear in mind Zato can block this. You can also get through it with 632146S or Burst. If you don't have Tension or Burst, you'll have to play around Oppose instead, specifically it's second phase (the snake heads). If Oppose fully completes, it will fully drain the Eddie gauge. If you’re not in position to threaten Zato immediately after |Oppose comes out, you’re in the “Oppose Stance”. Think of it as a mini game where the underlying premise is that Zato must get some value before Oppose completes and he loses Eddie. Once this stance is in play, there are three primary ways Zato can get value out of Oppose:
1. Run up and grab you as fast as possible if you’re close by
2. Use Oppose as a meat shield to safely land a normal and then put Eddie behind you with Drunkard Shade
3. Go directly into Drunkard Shade and mix you from there
Which option he’ll choose will depend on the range he’s at when Oppose Stance begins. In essence, the further away you are the more guesswork Zato has to do to get a reward.
1. For run up grab, it’s easy to spot. Jump, back dash, or use Fukyo to get out of the range of Oppose entirely. This is Zato’s low commitment option. Remember, even if the grab whiffs, Zato is protected by Oppose. If you think the grab is coming while in close quarters, focus on repositioning. Then look for an unsummon or Drunkard Shade. That’s when he’s vulnerable.
2. In the mid-range, he’ll opt to land a normal, then special cancel into Drunkard Shade. Whether the normal lands on hit or on block, he can send Eddie behind you and run his mix. Nago can’t really avoid the normal, so in this situation, the best thing you can do is keep your eyes peeled for Drunkard Shade.
3. At further ranges where he can’t lock you down with normals, he wants to save Eddie. He’ll almost be forced to either unsummon or send out a raw Drunkard Shade. If he sends out Drunkard Shade, this is extremely risky because Zato himself is completely unprotected. He’s simply betting on you respecting the space where Oppose just was. If you notice you’re at a distance, look for the Drunkard Shade to punish.
This might be a lot to remember. Just bear in mind, after Oppose, Zato must act by either giving Eddie a command before Oppose completes or attacking you directly. The worst thing that you can do is nothing.
When Moves Hit Oppose
When hitting a character, both the attacker and defender are put into an equal number of 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. frames. However, hitting Eddie's Oppose does not put Zato himself into Hitstop, which effectively extends the total duration of any move that hits Oppose, specifically, its Active Frames. These Active Frames cannot be Gatling'ed or Special canceled out of, because you cannot cancel out of hitstop:
The Yellow line shows the cancel window.
Nagoriyuki's H normals have above average Hitstop of 25 Frames (compared to regular 15f), which massively extends Active Frames of any H normals that hit Oppose, but also effectively freezes you in place for almost 1/2 of a second without an ability to cancel. This is especially detrimental when 5H hits Oppose at any range and you don't have the Blood to cancel it. Without a cancel, you are in recovery for almost a full second. Zato is able to send Eddie to Nago with Drunkard Shade then use Frog to launch him for a full combo. You have to be careful pressing BL2 5H even from a full-screen distance against Zato.
What to Do When Eddie’s Gone
When Zato doesn’t have Eddie, he’ll likely retreat with Flight. You can try and snipe him out of the air with j.D. Otherwise, Zato might try and maintain his pressure with 5H
GuardAllStartup13Recovery19Advantage-9. It's -9 on block, but it can be canceled into Invite Hell to keep him safe. If he whiffs this, it has 19 frames of recovery, so punish it with f.S or 214H. Clone will beat Invite Hell. Always make sure you follow it up with Fukyo into the f.S rekka. This is pretty much the only way you’ll get in on him if he’s using this, and this will drive your Blood up about half way if you don’t reduce it with the f.S rekka.
Offense
Zato has no reversals, a lackluster backdash, and low reward abare options. Do not be afraid to meaty Zato if you can time them well. He has the worst options in the game to contest this. One caveat is that in the corner wakeup throw can be very rewarding for Zato so keep your meaties tight.
Defense
Defending Against Zato and Eddie's Mix
If Zato’s managed to get Eddie behind you and has begun to run his offense, there is one thing that dictates your survival: The Eddie Gauge. If it’s near full at the beginning of his offensive sequence, in all honesty, you’re likely getting hit, so if you have the ability to YRC or Burst, use it here. If it’s around 30%, it’s okay to just block or recklessly contest because the punishment won’t be too hard. There’s not enough Eddie Gauge left for him to do much damage. When the gauge is around 50%, Zato only has one or two spots to open you up. You’re gonna have to be a lot more proactive and look for an opening. Remember these three rules for his offense:
1. Eddie can’t mix you. He can only do mids. You have to block either high or low in relation to Zato’s attacks.
2. You have 5 frames of grab invulnerability after leaving blockstun. If Zato chooses to grab, there will be a gap in his pressure. Backdash and punish if he tries to go for it.
3. Zato has two overheads that he can hit you with: 5D
GuardHighStartup20Recovery26Advantage-15 or 6K
GuardHighStartup28Recovery7Advantage+2. If he goes for either, there will always be a mashable gap, so just block low and watch out for these. Uncharged 5D has 20 frames of start up, while charged 5[D]GuardHighStartup28Recovery26Advantage-10 and 6K both have 28 frames of start up.
Zato’s safest way to open you up is with frametraps to catch mashing. Simply blocking low and waiting will protect you from the first layer of offense. If you don’t take the frametrap bait, he’ll have to start taking risk for overheads/grabs. It’s practical for Zato to go for a riskier overhead/low/grab mix after the second hit of Pierce. If you’re going to contest, do it here. Each time you contest correctly on defense, he needs more Gauge to engage with so he can alter his pressure, which requires even more use of the Eddie Gauge. Your goal by the time you get locked down is to force Zato to use at least half of his Eddie Gauge.
