Now, calling the game very technical and nuanced would be quite the understatement. The game features a great tutorial to help you understand the basics. But newer fans may still find themselves struggling to get a grasp on the overall game without a helpful character.
So we’ve created this beginners character guide for you. Here, we’ll cover the game’s easiest fighters – Sol, Ky, Faust and Sin – and the basic strategies.
Sol BadGuy
The series’ posterboy is a well-rounded, yet very offense-intensive character. His skill set allows him to be able to deal with any situation possible. The main objective is to get up close and shred your guitar in their face – err I mean leave them black, blue, and barbecued. Sol allows players to cover their approaches with his fiery projectiles. Getting in close, above all else, is your primary goal.
Strengths
Has many strong normals and specials for nearly any situation. Excels at close range with strong normals coupled with his command grab, Wild Throw. Excellent ability to convert nearly any hit into knockdown. Good starters lead to high damage combos at no tension cost. Has undoubtedly the strongest invulnerable reversal in the game, Volcanic Viper, for use in multiple situations. Makes very good use of both Yellow and Red Roman Cancels. High stun damage. Can easily guarantee dizzy out of simple counter hit combos with a proceeding mixup.
Weaknesses
Has difficulty dealing with strong zoning. Must sometimes take risks to break into his ideal, up-close attack range. Mix-up abilities are very basic. Landing good hits on offense requires strong reading and guessing of opponents.
It’s said that offense is the best defense, so if you aren’t attacking you’re at a disadvantage. It may seem a tall order, but you should find yourself backing your opponent into a corner.
Ky Kiske
The eternal rival of Sol and second poster boy of the series, is another well rounded swordsman. Ky’s midrange offense is very effective due to the useful and various options available to him. He can quickly switch between keeping a foe at bay and charging in for the attack. His style of play is shockingly familiar of other fighting game characters that possess the ability to attack from a far. Overall, Ky is able to create advantageous situations with his control of space.
Strengths
Strong neutral game consisting of fast and long reaching normals and good projectiles. Has a tool for every situation, including two of the best anti-airs in the game. Grinders make his projectiles even stronger and give him great oki. Good character for beginners due to being easy to learn and use.
Weaknesses
Low average damage. Jack of All Trades, while he has a tool for every situation, he doesn’t excel at any area.
Despite his positives, winning with Ky will take more effort than any other character. Speed and controlling space makes Ky a good choice.
Faust
The whacky doctor is in with his signature brown paper bag mask. Appearances aside, he’s a surprisingly fundamental spacing character that uses abusive normals and random items to keep his opponent at bay. Faust also has a command grab and a variety of overheads which, combined with various items, creates great knockdown situations. With straight-forward combos and a game plan, he’s quite beginner friendly.
Strengths
Great range on many normals Random items keeps opponent guessing Strong mix up with an instant overhead, proximity unblockable, multi-hit jump cancellable low Strong pressure with most moves being jump cancellable, huge blockstun on drill kick and corner control using anti-airs and items Very strong anti-air and air-to-air attacks Invincible 5D combined with YRC Weird hitbox Has a crawl to low profile
Weaknesses
Low defense and large hitbox in hitstun means he dies relatively quickly Random items lead to inconsistent reward Has limited options on defense such as: His fastest normal has 6 frames of start up, which is 1 frame more than the average character Slow airdash makes it hard to escape the corner and zoning Long wake up time Longer range attacks suffer lengthy recoveries and many can be low profiled easily
Now it’s clear that Faust has as many positives as he does negatives. He’s still a good choice, but you need to spend more time focusing on his fundamentals.
Sin Kiske
Son of Ky, and protege of Sol, Sin can deal impressive damage. He also has an assortment of specials which can be used by spending his unique Calorie gauge. The gauge will require meter management in the middle of fights. Compared to others with unique meters in the series, Sin possesses basic combos, good damage, and long range skills that are simple and easy to use.
Strengths
Very high damage with calorie meter. Has the unique ability to cancel any special into any other special. Good pressure and decent frame traps. Good neutral with long ranged normals and specials. Somewhat safe DP, as it can be canceled on block into his other specials. Great backdash. Has one of the best anti-air hits of the game with great range and reward.
Weaknesses
Meter hungry, in terms of both Tension and his own gauge. Limited gatling paths Has poor mixup without calories. While DP is safe on block, it has a very poor hitbox and slow speed (easily missed).
Sin’s calorie meter is a weakpoint to his gameplay. You need it to mount the best offense and defensive responses. If you can manage it well then you’ve found yourself someone to head into battle with.
Hopefully this guide will help you find a character to dive further with into Guilty Gear Xrd- Revelator. This guide would not be possible without the exhaustive efforts and information from the Dustloop community. If you found this guide helpful and or have any input on the characters please feel free to comment in the section below.
Image credit: Dustloop
