Guilty Gear Strive: Who should I play?

“If I played this character in this game, who would I play in Strive?”

Guide version: 1.1 (10/26/2021) Includes descriptions and at least one character comparison for every character in the base roster. Added Goldlewis and Jack-O’ in the 1.1 guide.

With Guilty Gear Strive finally out, many players who are new to the series- or even new to the fighting game genre- have picked up the game. While there are certainly players who are returning to the series having played XX or Xrd, many newbies are coming from other titles like Street Fighter or even other Arc System Works games like Dragon Ball Fighterz. Since I’ve seen several newbie players asking questions about which characters they should play or how certain archetypes function, I thought I would do something similar to my Pokédex for Pokkén Trainer’s School, and break down every character in the game in a few sentences. I’m also tacking on a segment that compares each character laterally to at least one other fighting game character- although I concede that Guilty Gear is a whole other beast and these comparisons aren’t going to be perfect. Still, I hope this guide succeeds in directing new players experiencing character crises towards their next main.

1: Sol Badguy

The series protagonist, Sol is a wild and aggressive rushdown character with a variety of powerful tools that consist of uppercuts, sword swings, and moves that allow him to travel across the screen quickly. Sol’s biggest strength is his ability to constantly be in your face with moves like his Bandit series and Night Raid Vortex. Once he’s conditioned you into blocking forever, he can then open you up with Wild Throw, and pressure you on knockdown or at further ranges with Gunflame. Sol is easy to pick up and play, and his versatile toolkit means his efficacy will remain high the more you play.

If you play characters like this, you might like Sol:

• Aggressive shotoclone characters like Ken. While the comparison isn’t totally perfect- Sol isn’t a true shotoclone- Ken is infamous for being easy to pick up and playing ignorant with highly aggressive special moves. Ken is also the more ‘flashy’ beginner-friendly option in comparison to Ryu.
• Most versions of Terry Bogard. Terry is likewise not a true shotoclone, and Sol’s moveset (specials like Gunflame and Power Wave, Bandit Bringer and Power Dunk, Fafnir and Burning Knuckle) is directly evocative of the Fatal Fury character.

2: Ky Kiske

The deuteragonist of Guilty Gear, Ky is a versatile but simple character who is also easy to pick up at the beginning. With a strong presence at mid-range with tools like Stun Edge and his long Slash and Heavy Slash buttons, Ky is also able to play aggressive and get in on his opponent with moves like Stun Dipper and Foudre Arc. The ‘Shock State’ that Ky applies to his opponent on certain moves also grants him advantages like more plus frames or damage.

If you play characters like this, you might like Ky:

• More traditional shotoclones like Ryu. Ky isn’t especially flashy (electric attacks excluded) but he’s good at pretty much everything and he gets the job done without being difficult to play. Similarly, Ryu is easy to pick up and has a good variety of tools, but rewards neutral and defense more than his rival, Ken.
• Other pseudo-shotoclones that tend to have swords, like Jago, Hyde, or Yu Narukami. The comparisons aren’t all direct, but they’re all simple to use characters who are good at mid-range with big buttons due to their weapon. Furthermore, they all have traditional shotoclone tools that function similarly to Ky’s or even resemble his moves.

3: May

The cute captain of the Jellyfish Pirates, May is a surprising powerhouse with her anchor and marine animal companions. Big hits from her 6P or Heavy Slash buttons will lead to big damage, and all four versions of her Mr. Dolphin charge moves allow her to travel quickly across the screen with huge hitboxes. Beyond that, she also has good command normals and an Overhead Kiss command throw for additional mixup potential, and Arisugawa is a useful projectile.

If you play characters like this, you might like May:

• Aggressive characters with charge inputs, like E. Honda and Charlotta. These characters are all about getting in the opponent’s face and making them desperate to mash on what seems like nigh-unbreakable pressure out of moves like Sumo Headbutt, Hundred Hand Slap, Shining Onslaught, and Sword of Lumiel. Similarly, May’s pressure out of Mr. Dolphin is both relatively easy to apply and incredibly hard to break out of without the knowledge.

4: Axl Low

Yes, he is in fact based on the guy from Guns ‘N Roses (and Billy Kane from King of Fighters.) The series’ most straightforward zoner, Axl uses his kusari-gama both on normal buttons and special moves like Sickle Flash to keep his opponent way the hell away from him. While Axl can sort of survive at close range with certain followups out of Sickle Flash and specific normals that function there, his offense mainly only works at a distance since his hitboxes leave gaps on the actual kusari-gama chain. Of course, Axl also has new flashy tools such as his One Vision time stop that might reward players who put in the time to learn gimmicky combos.

If you play characters like this, you might like Axl:

• Long-button zoners like Dhalsim, Phonon, and Ferry. Axl is the closest thing in Guilty Gear to a character that fits this kind of archetype, although his mobility is different than Dhalsim’s teleports and he doesn’t have okizeme tools like Yoga Fire. He’s still really good at hampering his opponent’s approach in similar ways and locking them down at further parts of the screen.
• Min-Min’s guest appearance from Super Smash Bros. It’s a very new example, but the way Min-Min controls her ARMS and is good at playing a zoning offense mirrors how Axl throws out Sickle Flash and his long-range normal buttons.

5: Chipp Zanuff

Chipp is the president of the Eastern Chipp Kingdom. (Don’t think too much about it.) Chipp is a pixie character and a ninja with extremely high amounts of mobility and extremely low amounts of health. With his Alpha Blade, wall-run, triple jump, Genrou Zan leaf throw, and his Resshou rekkas, Chipp can tack on the offensive pressure and be insanely hard to catch slipping. Just don’t get tagged or you’ll explode.

If you play characters like this, you might like Chipp:

• Other ninja characters that have lots of options and mobility, like Ibuki. Even setting aside aesthetics, Ibuki has a wide toolkit that emphasizes mixups and high mobility into close-range pressure. While it’s certainly different than the vertical mobility afforded in anime fighters, the principles are roughly the same.
• Rushdown pixies in other games, like Magneto. High mobility combined with overbearing offense allows Chipp to both fade in and out of his opponent’s effective range as needed, much like how Magneto’s flight lets him pressure his opponent with overhead mixups and then run away and wait for assist calls before he gets opened up himself.

6: Potemkin

Guilty Gear’s resident grappler and most iconic big body, Potemkin is a slow and lumbering tank who does big damage once he gets his hands on you. While he cannot airdash or forward dash, Potemkin can still approach with the armor on Hammerfall or poke at long range with Slide Head. He can likewise deal with zoning by flicking projectiles back with FDB, and once he finally gets in, his iconic Potemkin Buster will delete entire health bars in two confirms.

If you play characters like this, you might like Potemkin:

• Traditional Zangief-style grapplers. This one is pretty straightforward, although it should be pointed out that Zangief at least doesn’t have any inherent disadvantages with regards to movement in his home game in the way Potemkin does. Of course, if you don’t mind not having the same speed and verticality as your opponents, that won’t be an issue, and grapplers tend to be like that anyway.
• The superheavyweights in Smash, like Bowser. Being slow, heavy combo food, and living or dying by big damage earned from a handful of hits is how both of these characters roll.
• Also, if you play Big Band in Skullgirls, he’s basically just a version of Potemkin that traded Pot Buster for a Third Strike parry. He even has an alt color palette that matches.

7: Faust

Faust is a mystery wrapped in a riddle hidden in an enigma… unless you’re familiar with the lore. The good doctor makes use of big pokes with his scalpel, both on his normals and special moves like Thrust, and unpredictable movement using his Scarecrow and Mix Mix Mix. What Faust is perhaps most known for, however, is the RNG present in his What Could This Be?! special move and its Overdrive variant, which all throw random items out at the opponent. Depending on your luck, you could get something useful that lets you move in and continue your offense, or something that might let your opponent come back from behind.

If you play characters like this, you might like Faust:

• RNG or pseudo-RNG characters like Teddie. Teddie is another weird big body with a long range gameplan who relies on the opportunities created by his (not actually random) items. Also like Teddie, Faust requires a bit of time and patience to get used to playing creatively around what item or items are on the screen at any given time.
• Weird zoners with unpredictable mixups, like Peacock. Peacock also produces random items and has similar teleports to Faust’s Scarecrow, but focuses entirely on her zoning through her special moves instead of having big normals like the doctor’s scalpel.

8: Millia Rage

Millia is the queen of okizeme- when most people think about the tendency in Guilty Gear to get vortexed to death after a knockdown, Millia is usually one of the main offenders that come to mind. Millia is a rushdown character with a double airdash and other special movement options like Turbo Fall, Mirazh, and Kapel. Her more iconic setplay loops come about after making her opponent guess which option is coming after they block H Tandem Top.

If you play characters like this, you might like Millia:

• Characters that make their opponent hold a projectile and create setups, like some versions of Rose, Urien, and Nova. Barriers and orbs that create pressure on an opponent’s wakeup allow for opportunities very similar to that created by H Tandem Top, albeit with a highly aerial high-low bent.
• Highly agile aerial characters with command movement, like Zero Suit Samus and Sheik. What’s more, these characters are also good at creating setup opportunities with things like their Paralyzer projectile or Burst Grenade, and they’re also cute blondes.

9: Zato-1

One of the most iconic puppet fighters in the genre, Zato-1 is the twunky blonde and Eddie is the shadow he generates. (Old school Gear players might call them Eddie and Li’l Eddie, but that’s because things were… complicated for Zato back in the XX games.) Zato summons Eddie and controls him independently, with special move inputs or by releasing the button after performing a normal (a property known as Negative Edge.) Eddie can defend Zato from attacks, double his offense, create absurd left-right mixups, or even zone out opponents- provided that his unique meter still has some gas.

If you play characters like this, you might like Zato-1:

• Honestly, I’m at a blank here, because if you play other puppet characters like Relius or Chaos, there’s a chance you’re already familiar with Guilty Gear to begin with. Still, if the idea of playing as two characters at the same time is appealing to you, pick up Zato-1. It’ll be like you’re a bona fide Stand user.

10: Ramlethal Valentine

The boss character from Guilty Gear Xrd Sign, and one of a handful of Valentines in the game’s lore. Ram’s Slash and Heavy Slash buttons, as well as some of her specials and Mortobato reversal super, change properties depending on whether she’s already thrown her swords away as projectiles using Bajoneto. Her mid-range offense and corner carry off Dauro and Erarlumo loops is intense, but if you throw your swords at the wrong time, you might essentially be helpless until you get them back.

If you play characters like this, you might like Ramlethal:

• Characters like the Nu clones and Hilda might superficially feel like Ram, since they also spend a lot of time playing a mid-to-long range zoning game while throwing swords at people.
• While Menat focuses on manually recalling her orbs, the fact that her normals change properties depending on whether or not orbs are out, as well as unique combos that occur on orb set/sword toss (i.e. when Bajoneto explodes against the corner) make her gameplay analogous to this version of Ram especially.

11: Leo Whitefang

One of the original term-catchers for the phrase “gorilla” or “unga bunga.” Leo is a purebred rushdown character who thrives on ignorant left-right crossups, along with several different parries in- and out- of his Brynhildr Stance. While the Kahn Schild parry is his only defensive option with his back turned, the insane amount of aggressive offensive options he has in that stance make up for it. Of course, he’s also blessed with moves like his held S and H and his Eisen Sturm flash kick which make his defense strong anyway.

If you play characters like this, you might like Leo:

• Versions of Guile that are good at playing both offensively and defensively. Leo has the traditional Sonic Boom and Flash Kick moves that make Guile’s defense so infamous, but versions of Guile that are also good at getting in may remind players of Leo’s oppressive rushdown.
• Characters like Sabrewulf that can dash through their opponents to create left-right mixups. Leo does at least have better defensive tools, but the offense and resets out of Brynhildr Stance hits into knockdown might feel familiar.

12. Nagoriyuki

The first new character revealed for Guilty Gear Strive, and the Arcade Mode’s boss character. Nagoriyuki is a massive, slow-moving samurai, and like Potemkin he doesn’t have access to the same movement as the rest of the cast, like a forward dash and an airdash. However, with his naturally long range on his Slash and Heavy Slash buttons as well as his Fukyo command dash, getting in on the opponent isn’t the issue. Instead, Nago’s unique gameplay comes from playing around his Blood Rage meter- before it fills, Nago can cancel his special moves into each other freely, but once it pops, he can’t use special moves at all and his health begins to drain with the tradeoff being massively damaging S and H normals. Playing around the meter is important- reduce it by landing hits with S, H, and Bloodsucking Universe, and then let it pop at the end of a combo to cash out on huge damage.

If you play characters like this, you might like Nagoriyuki:

• High-risk, high-reward aggro characters like Blaziken that spend their health as a resource in order to chain special cancels and pressure the hell out of their opponent. Of course, Blaziken has more air mobility than Nago does, but unlike Blaziken, Nago can heal himself with Bloodsucking Universe.
• Other big-body slow-start characters like Hakumen or Susano’o. While managing Divine Warrior or Hakumen’s meter are both different than managing Blood Rage, the general big body nature of the characters, high damage long range normals, and their uniquely awkward mobility draw parallels to Nagoriyuki.

13: Giovanna

The second new character in Strive’s roster. Giovanna has a small profile and is aided in combat by her spirit companion Rei, a wolf who mainly provides passive buffs. A rushdown character with a unique step-dash and relatively safe normal buttons like c.S, Gio overwhelms her opponent with a flurry of kicks once she’s suddenly in their face. Rei’s passive provides steadily increasing damage and defense buffs once her Tension Gauge crosses the 50% and 100% thresholds, denoted by Gio ‘hulking out.’ Her meter gain buff and her lack of complicated special moves makes Giovanna easy to pick up.

If you play characters like this, you might like Giovanna:

• Cammy tends to always be relatively straightforward, unchanged, and most importantly strong in every Street Fighter she’s in. Giovanna also has special moves that function very similarly to Cammy’s Spiral Arrow and Cannon Spike, although Gio’s Sepultura and Sol Nascente don’t make her leave the ground.
• King of Fighters characters like King, although King duffs people with her fists a bit more and has an actual fireball. Still, Giovanna has more in common with King’s playstyle and special moveset than she does with Vanessa, who is almost purely a boxer, even though their outfits are similar.

14: Anji Mito

A character who skipped an entire generation of Guilty Gear. Anji has a decent moveset all around, but his gameplan begins to shine once he effectively utilizes his Suigetsu no Hakobi autoguard special move (which is also baked into other moves like Fuujin and Kou.) Once he gets past his opponent’s reckless mashing, he can use Fuujin and its followups to open them up and get big damage. On knockdown, simple setplay with Shitsu lets him do it all over again.

If you play characters like this, you might like Anji:

• There aren’t really a lot of playstyles that exactly match Anji, but if you like autoguard special moves on characters like Tusk, you might like Anji a lot. Tusk is at least similar in his big damage off Deflect at midrange.
• If you like parry mechanics in general, like parrying and FADCs in Street Fighter and CADCs in Pokkén, Anji might be a good fit for you.

15: I-No

The final character in the base roster and the boss character of the XX series. Instead of a normal grounded dash, I-No has a hoverdash that takes her up into the air at an angle. This hoverdash, along with her generally strong air normals and followups after Sultry Performance, allows I-No to create an unparalleled high-low mixup game on her rushdown. Tools like Antidepressant Scale and Chemical Love also create pressure on knockdown and at far ranges. I-No trades the neutral game and defense other characters have on the ground for ultra-offense.

If you play characters like this, you might like I-No:

• Morrigan’s movement in the Vampire series, and later in Marvel vs. Capcom, is a direct influence on how I-No would later move in Guilty Gear. It only got even more versatile in Marvel when she got to combine airdashing with it as well. While Morrigan has a stronger potential for turtling in Marvel than I-No does (especially due to assists,) her capacity for highly mobile mixups is remarkably similar.
• Valentine in Skullgirls doesn’t have a hoverdash, but she can combine her backdash and forward airdash into a similar movement option that gives her a parallel overhead mixup game. Valentine also has a highly versatile rushdown game in general along with setplay created by her Vial Hazard.

16: Goldlewis Dickinson

The Secretary of Absolute Defense is the first character to be added to Strive’s Season One of DLC. While this juggernaut of a man has limited mobility, he makes up for it with his projectiles and his Behemoth Typhoon series, a variety of half-circle special moves that deal tons of chip and Guard Crushes. Goldlewis also has a Security Meter that passively fills up and buffs his projectiles and Burn It Down super move depending on the level. While it’s easy to start swinging around his coffin, mastering pressure with Goldlewis requires learning how to effectively use- and perform- his Behemoth Typhoons.

If you play characters like this, you might like Goldlewis:

• Big, burly characters like Hulk or Birdie that fit the big-body archetype but rely purely on slugging it out rather than grappling the opponent. Keep in mind, however, that Goldlewis doesn’t have armored moves and still has some elements of setplay, such as the Thunderbird drone and Burn It Down.
• Believe it or not, King Dedede from Smash Bros. fits Goldlewis’s mold fairly well. While the King of Dreamland is more mobile than the Secretary of Absolute Defense, he’s still fairly slow, but also has big swinging disjoints and projectiles like Gordo that help him hold down neutral while dealing big single hit damage.

17: Jack-O’

Already a prominent character in Strive’s story mode, Jack-O’ returns from Xrd as this game’s second DLC character with a wholly reworked kit. No longer playing a set-and-forget playstyle with MOBA-style minion houses supplemented by one-button special moves, Jack-O’ now only summons up to three Servants at a time. These Servants are tied to a Servant Gauge and can be issued commands with special moves, in a similar way to Eddie. The main difference between Jack-O’ and Zato-1, however, is that all of Jack-O’s power is dumped into the Servants- Servant Shoot and Forever Elysion Driver are her only special/super moves that don’t interact with the Servants in any way.

If you play characters like this, you might like Jack-O’:

• The statement from the Zato-1 section stands here. However, I would like to point out that the interactions Ms. Fortune from Skullgirls has with her head, both when commanding the head and when kicking it around, feel very similar to how Jack-O’ kicks, tosses, and commands her Servants.
• There’s also characters from Dragon Ball FighterZ like Android 18 and Videl that aren’t necessarily puppet characters, but can call assist characters (Android 17 and Goha-- Great Saiyaman, respectively) as part of their toolkit.

Having said all that…

You should dig around the roster and try everyone out to see if you like them anyway. Guilty Gear is a pretty tough game to get into, even if Strive made some of it easier to digest for newbies. Every character, even the ‘easy’ ones, will have something that makes them tough to understand, or some secret sauce that makes them explode once you finally understand it. Trying every character at least once, maybe in Arcade Mode or against your friends, will give you a feel for how the game plays as a whole, and you might even be surprised by what you find compelling in other characters. For instance, even though I’m pretty settled on I-No right now, I had a lot of fun learning how to play Faust, who belongs to a quirky character archetype I rarely try out. Getting out of your comfort zone and experimenting with something hard or new might surprise you!

I plan on updating this guide regularly as DLC comes out for the game. As of this writing, the base roster has the fifteen characters listed above, and Season 1 plans to add five more. Characters in Guilty Gear hardly ever play like ‘other’ fighting game characters, and these descriptions are essentially me trying to cram certain archetypes into a box that’s threatening to spill over. Still, if I can get to some easy or close analogues, and that helps newbies make points of comparison to what they like, then the guide remains useful overall.