Guilty Gear XrCise - Neutral
Difficulty Beginner
Focus Neutral
The intention of these exercises is to help a new player learn the very basics of neutral in Guilty Gear that are unique to it. Neutral in Guilty Gear can start and end a lot more quickly than in some other games, but can still go on for quite a long time depending on the skill of the players and characters involved. A lot of the nuance that happens in neutral in Guilty Gear, happens as a result of knowing your various options and being aware enough to know what situations your options leave you in while executing them quickly. Therefore, these exercises mainly aim at building a players knowledge of their less obvious options starting from a standard neutral situation.
These exercises are all under the Match Up section of the Guilty Gear Xrd Rev 2 Missions. These missions can be found by going to Battle > Dojo > Missions, from the Start Menu. Be sure you have selected Match Up missions and not Universal missions, in order to get the correct exercise.
These exercises are a supplement to the Missions content and are not intended to be replacements. If you find yourself confused by some of the terminology used throughout this exercise guide, or if you are new to Guilty Gear, we strongly encourage you take a look at the Universal missions first, before using ours.
While you can attempt these exercises with any character, not all of the advice is applicable to certain characters, due to the high variability of character abilities in Guilty Gear. The most important thing to note in these exercises is just as much when an option cannot work for you, as when it can.
We highly encourage trying the End Goals of the exercise even if they may not utilize the most optimal approaches for your character, as the End Goals are meant to teach a broader concept. Just be sure to note when said approaches are less optimal.
As these exercises are intended to supplement the game's existing tutorial content, not all of them actually require completing the goal given in the Match Up mission. Mastering these exercises is less about completing the mission given by the game, and more about how you approach the situation that the mission presents.
Match Up Exercise 18
Character Requirement
No specific character is required for this exercise.
Goals
- End Goal - Learn to jump forward out of Axl's pressure and your cross up options and combos out of that situation. Test as many buttons as possible.
Exercise Summary
This exercise generally ignores the goal of the match up tutorial it uses. Do a single jump forward out of Axls pressure and learn your cross up jump options (or your lack there of) and practice your combos that are possible as a result of that cross up hit or cross up situation. Be sure to test all the buttons you can as you may be surprised what can cross up and what can follow up a cross up.
Additional Notes
Notes to be added later.
Match Up Exercise 22
Character Requirement
No specific character is required for this exercise.
Goals
- Starting Goal - Backdash out of Mappa Hutch and punish Slayer.
- Optional Goal - When doing your blocking try to Just Frame block.
Exercise Summary
This exercise is fairly straightfoward, yet difficult to execute. Block the first two hits, then use the invincibility from the backdash to dodge the third hit and punish. Learning how to use the invincibility of the backdash allows you to escape certain pressure situations that would otherwise be difficult or impossible. Every character's backdash varies, but it should be possible for almost every character. Buffering your attack out of the back dash is an additional executional challenge. This is a powerful tool that you do not want to over use as it is punishable, but the fact that they have to look for it once you master it, adds an entire layer of contemplation for an opponent's offense. Extra practice is merely Instant Blocking (Just! Frame blocking) while still performing the invincible backdash.
Additional Notes
This is executionally difficult. Being mashy with the back dash tends to help less. For some characters it can require you to delay the backdash to nearly the last moment before the opponents attack hits. Experiment with timings and try to keep calm. For some characters their punish option can be difficult to buffer during the back dash. Try getting the hang of the timings for using your different punishes.
Match Up Exercise 23
Character Requirement
No specific character is required for this exercise.
Goals
- Starting Goal - Neutral Jump over Ino's attack and learn your cross up options. Test as many combinations as you can as some of the cross up options may be unexpected.
- End Goal - Back Jump away from Ino's attack and attempt to punish as best you can.
Exercise Summary
This exercise is yet another test of your various options at different ranges as a result of your jump and is largely exploratory. As Ino moves towards you, neutral jump once, and test all your buttons to see what cross up buttons you have, if any, and what they can combo into if at all. You start with no meter, so make a note to test later for what options you can cross up combo with if you have meter.
Once you have a hang of your cross up options if any, proceed to back jump and test your options from there. Combos from this situation can be executionally difficult. Part of what makes this difficult is the timing of the jump itself. Every character's timing for the back jump and air attack differ and some benefit from it more than others. Mastery of this concept is when you can do a combo from either back jump or cross up neutral jump OR have learned that your character cannot do so without meter.
Additional Notes
Learning your options here is important, since when a player is afraid they may end up back jumping or attempting to run away. This causes you to lose a lot of damage. Therefore, knowing your options here can increase your potential damage output, as well as build up some of the emotional muscle memory for executing a difficult punish while avoiding an opponents attack. As an optional practice you can test your dust options before Ino hits you, but it is not the intended goal of this exercise. This is mostly just a further exploration of your character's options. It may not work out for every character.