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5 Best Beginner Characters to Play in Guilty Gear -Strive-

It’s as good a year as any to get into that fighting game you’ve been eyeing. Guilty Gear -Strive- dedicates itself to accessibility, so take a look at these characters.

By Yassin Hussein

9 min readPublished on 03/03/2023 · 4:53 PM UTC

Sol Badguy

Sol is the series’ protagonist and has always been relatively simple to play. Sol is historically a strong character and, in -Strive-, he came out of the gates blazing. As a Sol player, your goal is to make your opponent scared. You will have to wade through some projectiles but, once you’re in, you’re rewarded with relentless pressure alongside some of the most fun AND damaging combos in the series.

This combo by CLG | Romolla showcases exactly why you don’t want to eat a counter hit by one of Sol’s buttons.

His neutral isn’t entirely lacking, either. He has a strong medium range projectile with Gunflame, his anti airs are great, and his air buttons are phenomenal. He has Night Raid Vortex to slip under many moves and projectiles the opponent’s might use to keep him away, and Fafnir is another tool to stick onto the opponent and continue pressure. You can’t blame people when you hear them talking about Sol’s pressure.

With buttons like close and far slash, Sol establishes his frame advantage, daring his opponent to press a button. They better not, since Sol is one of the poster boys for GGST’s high damage reputation.

You might be thinking you’ll never hit your opponent if all they have to do is block your mids. We’re happy to say, that is not the case at all. Aside from the damage of his combos, Sol is scary because of his command grab, Wild Throw, which deals a large chunk of damage (way more than the average throw and most other characters’ command grabs).

Once you get a hit by threatening the use of Wild Throw, or after catching the opponent with a counterhit Night Raid Vortex, be prepared to reap the rewards of the big damage you can dish out with Sol’s stylish combos

This is a great combo to start off with, since you can start it from both his close slash and far slash, and ending with Bandit Revolver is a starter cancel to get you used to what will be part of his greater combo theory in more niche situations. It gives you good corner carry and good knockdown to flow right into another pressure sequence and do it all over again.

Giovanna

One of four new faces in GGST so far, Giovanna is another strong presence in the meta. Her quick step-dash is a terrifying tool, making her whiff punish range deceptively large, and her throw game one of the best. Alongside her pressure tools, it makes her one of the scariest characters in the game.

Similarly to Sol, her neutral is nowhere near lacking for a character designed to rush down. Her lunging kick, Trovão nullifies most projectiles and gives her solid frame advantage on block. She also has solid air normals to try to go over the opponent’s grounded options. Giovanna also has strong buttons of her own, her kicks and her heavies are great tools when combined with her dash as it amplifies the threat range on these normals immensely.

Since she is rushdown focused, she is strongest up-close. Her close slash was plus on block before it was cool, which is what makes her throw game so scary. She also can deal devastating damage if the opponent is fed up with getting thrown and tries to mash their way out. Once you’ve gotten a hit, you can end most strings in Sepultura to knock the opponent down and set up your next offensive sequence.

She has strong defense with a fast jab, good backdash, and a quick anti air, Sol Nascente. She may not have a projectile, but she makes up for it with her movement and gap-closing tools. Giovanna serves as the quintessential all-offense character in GGST.

Though technically 2 combos, it’s the same idea but from 2 separate combo starters. A simple normal cancel from a quick 2K or close slash, into the next part of the gatling, 6P for the 2k and 5H for the c.s. Both end in her grounded knockdown tool, Sepultura. Both combos have decent corner carry and since you ended in Sepultura, you’re rewarded with a great knockdown to set up some oki.

In this clip, you can see a talented Canadian Giovanna player move effectively around a Ramlethal’s normals and end with a version of the above combo, proving it’s importance even at the highest level.

May

May Guilty Gear Strive
© Arc System Works

May is another character that’s been in the series from the beginning. She also falls into the category of strike vs throw mixups, but is on this list as an introduction to charge characters.

May’s signature move is her lunging attack, Mr Dolphin (Horizontal/Vertical). It requires a charge input in the direction you wish to move, 4>6 for horizontal, and 2>8. The S version of each move leaves her safe, but slightly minus. H dolphin is massively plus, giving May license to move in and continue her offense

Like the other strike/throw characters on the list, her close slash has always been plus, lending to her overwhelming offense.

The flipside of her offense is in her command grab, Overhead Kiss (trust, it’s a grab, not an overhead). In the corner, May gets to combo off this into big damage. And if the opponent was just blocking a ton of attacks, the ensuing combo will use up the built up RISC, further increasing the damage she can deal.

This combo features Overhead Kiss, a cancel from close slash into 2H, as well as a special cancel into heavy dolphin. Since getting Overhead Kiss is one of the goals of your pressure, learning a strong combo route and getting used to her charge moves makes this a perfect combo to start with. With good damage and a good knockdown, it’s worth it, especially considering you can even go further and break the wall if you want more damage.

She even has a quick overhead normal, forward kick. As if blocking May wasn’t scary enough.

May swings her gigantic normals like crouching slash and far slash to command space in neutral while also using her quick dolphin specials to traverse space, often roman canceling afterwards to push her advantage. She has insanely strong air normals and her anti air 2h can be devastating to get hit by.

Though she has the reputation of a “gorilla” character, the best May’s are calculated, understanding the habits of the opponent and how best to scare them into doing what they shouldn’t be doing.

Does this May player not look clean???

Testament

The only DLC character on this list, Testament returns to the series after an absence from Xrd.

Completely redesigned from their trap-laying, unblockable-dispensing archetype in XX, Testament returns as a zoning character focused on keeping the opponent out with their numerous special moves and large normals.

The crux of their gameplan is giving out Stain State. Applied by their crow projectile Unholy Diver, and their super Nostravia, Stain State basically straps a bomb to the opponent, and goes off when hit by any of Testament’s normal attacks. The state lasts for 5 seconds, but if Testament is hit, it goes away.

This amplifies their combos, allowing for confirms off of weaker hits like standing kick, but more importantly, Stain’s detonation amplifies their zoning. It gives Testament the leeway to set up the next barrage of obstacles, or reposition appropriately.

When Testament scores a hit, they’ll often choose to go into their S projectile, Grave Reaper, so they can try to follow up with Unholy Diver and set up Stain, looping their win condition.

This combo is exactly the game plan starter Testament is looking for. Starting with their quick and far reaching 2K, Testament accomplishes so much, pushing out the opponent, getting good damage, and sets up the target right on top of the opponent’s wakeup position to go for Unholy DIver and set up Stain State. This combo is a must for all Testament players, and it’s as simple as one normal cancel and one special cancel into S Grave Reaper.

Testament’s weaknesses are on defense. They have an okay crouching jab, but their buttons are slow, and without a DP to make up for it, they have a hard time escaping pressure.

Testament is for players who enjoy slowing the game down, maintaining their space in neutral, and punishing their opponent for careless approach attempts.

Watch this Testament respond to Giovanna's aggression and flip the situation, setting up into Stain State, creating a favorable gamestate.

Ramlethal

Quite literally saving the best for last, Ramlethal is a perfect starter character for someone looking to play GGST. She’s been simplified from Xrd, and has stayed at or near the top of this game’s tier list for as long as it’s been out.

There’s almost nothing Ram can’t do. Immense damage, huge and fast normals, great neutral, many ways to re-assert her pressure, and strong mixups are all part of why she is so efficient.

Her far slash and heavy slash are arguably the best buttons in the game. They’re quick, massive sword swings that take up space and often hit the opponent out of their slower long range tools. This also extends to her air slash and heavy slash. Once she gets a hit, even around midscreen, Ram can use her sword toss to effortlessly take the opponent to the corner, and convert into huge damage and a wallbreak meterlessly.

You could call this a loop, with two reps of the c.s, 2H, sword toss. Dealing half of May’s health with this relatively simple combo, it shows how whether in blockstrings or in combos, sword toss is the core of her offense. It also will carry to and break the wall from close to midscreen, making it indispensable for any Ram player.

Here you can see a nasty mix up into a wallbreak using the sword toss from a great Montreal Ramlethal player.

That sword toss isn’t just a combo tool. You could theoretically use it as a neutral tool, but you then lose access to the sword for a while unless you retrieve it from the opposite corner. The real benefit of the move is its utility in a corner blockstring. The sword stabs the wall, and detonates after a few seconds. This is instantly a tough situation for the opponent, and they have to be ready to recognize the situation and act accordingly.

She has a rekka that results in almost fatal damage if it counterhits, as well as Slido Detruo, which gives her frame advantage on block. Keeping the opponent out with her large normals, or choosing to go in and pressure with sword toss, Ramlethal is the definition of “pick your poison.”