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Guilty Gear Xrd -Revelator- v1.03 Ramlethal Valentine Guide
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GGXrd -Revelator- v1.03 - Ramlethal Valentine Guide

General Information

Neutral Hitbox Data

Normals

Standing Normals

Crouching Normals

Jumping Normals

Command Normals

Combination Attacks

Universal Mechanics

Special Moves

Overdrives

Instant Kill

Combos

Midscreen

Corner

Roman Cancel

Instant Kill

Okizeme

Midscreen

Corner

Garosupe Unblockable Setups

General Notes & Miscellaneous Strategies

Matchups

Sin

Faust

Millia

Sol

Ky

May

Chipp

Elphet

Potemkin

Slayer

I-No

Axl

Ramlethal

Venom

Leo

Zato

Bedman

General Information


Defense Modifier: x1.06

Guts Rating: 1

Stun Resistance: 60

Jump Startup: 3F

Backdash Time: 16F

Backdash Invincibility: 1-9F

Movement Options: Double jump, 1 Airdash, Run type dash

Frame Data: Ramlethal Valentine Frame Data

Attack Data: Full Attack Data

Hitbox Data: Ramlethal Valentine Hitbox data (Thanks to Nyaa for the screenshots)

Neutral Hitbox Data

Neutral:

ddxddz6.jpg

Crouching:

gE4buuH.png

Dash: Ramletha’s dash actually moves her hurtbox slightly above the ground allowing her to high profile multiple low attacks, such as Potemkin’s Slide Head and various characters 2Ks, and 2Ds. Very useful when going for dash command grabs if you have a read on opponent tendencies.
672f4tX.png

Back Dash: 
nrExZor.png 
Crouch Block:

U5IQ1k2.png

Stand Block:Unfortunately, Ramlethal’s stand block expands her hurtbox so it makes her susceptible to certain mix ups and block strings, such as Sin’s j.S > j.6H.
PPXZF4V.png
Jump Up:

CpbMD10.png

Mid Jump:

y1fpGpz.png

Jumping Down:

tqOqxLf.png

Air Dash Back:

vETInuZ.png

Air Dash Forward:

GYj2njb.png

Normals

Standing Normals

Note: The current hitbox viewer is not able to display the hitbox of Ramlethal’s swords. The screenshots of her sword normals are to display her hurtbox.


5P:

GGq1Rvq.png

Damage

Tension

RISC

Prorate

Attack LV.

Guard

Cancel

Roman

Startup

Active

Recovery

Frame Adv.

10

0

-8/+3

90%

0

Mid

-

YRP

4

4

5

+1

5K:

NJpAi17.jpg

Version

Damage

Tension

RISC

Prorate

Attack LV.

Guard

Cancel

Roman

Startup

Active

Recovery

Frame Adv.

5K

22

0

-7/+10

-

2

Mid

-

YRP

8

3

15

-4

Equipped Far S:

6wmc1vZ.jpg

Close S:

Equipped 5H:
SqHr4Pu.jpg

5D:
vJZuOYv.jpg

Crouching Normals

2P:

2K:

2S:

2H:

2D:

Jumping Normals

j.P:

j.K:

j.S:

j.H:

j.D:

Command Normals

6P:

6K:

3K:

Combination Attacks

5PPP:

5PK4K:

5PPK:

5KKK:
NJpAi17.jpgZ3q6gFE.png

kCUcGT2.jpg

Version

Damage

Tension

RISC

Prorate

Attack LV.

Guard

Cancel

Roman

Startup

Active

Recovery

Frame Adv.

5K

22

0

-7/+10

-

2

Mid

-

YRP

8

3

15

-4

5KK

28

0

-7/+10

-

2

Mid

-

YRP

9

3

12

-1

5KKK

32

0

-6/+14

-

3

Mid

-

YRP

11

4

22

-9

Last hit causes sliding midscreen and a wall splat in the corner

5K4K:

5KK4K:

5KPP:

2PPK:

2PK:

2KK:

2KPP:

2KPK:

Universal Mechanics

Ground Throw:

Air Throw:

Dead Angle Attack:

Special Moves

Deploy Giant Sword:

Retrieve Giant Sword:

Daruo:

Furama Kaago:

Sildo Detruo:

Cassius:

Overdrives

Calvados:

Damage

Guard

Cancel

Roman

Startup

Active

Recover

Frame+/-

8x30

All

-

Y R P

7+7

62

31

-15

This overdrive requires both swords to be equipped in order to use it. Ramlethal uses lucifer to create a large railgun that shoots a large fullscreen beam.

Frames 8-21 are invincible. The startup was decreased, and the recovery was increased in version 1.10. The decreased startup has significantly improved the usability of this overdrive. The damage output of the overdrive is pretty good, and even the chip damage is really good. You can set the opponent up to block Calvados with j.8D or off of a blocked c.S or f.S. You can force the opponent to either take the chip damage or use all of their tension meter to faultless defense.

You can Yellow, Red, or Purple roman cancel this overdrive pending on the situation. Yellow roman cancel during the startup allows you to go for a mix up under the cover of the beam. It actually allows you to send out the swords for the mix up.

Trance:

Explode:

Instant Kill

Animo Estingi:

Combos

Reference Combo Videos:

Pain - Ramlethal v1.10 Combos 

Corner Combos leading into 5KK4K

Notes:

Midscreen

5P Starters:

6P Starters:

c.S Starters (S and H Swords Equipped):

Notes: 

vs All Characters

c.S Starters (S and H Swords Deployed):

vs All Characters

6K Starters:

vs All Characters

2S Starters (S and H Swords Equipped):

vs All Characters

5D Starters:

vs All Characters

Corner

Notes:

c.S Starters (S and H Swords Equipped):

vs All Characters

vs Normal Weight Characters

vs Lightweight Characters (May, Millia, Elphelt, I-No, Ramlethal)

vs Heavyweight Characters

vs Sin, Sol, Ky, Chipp, Potemkin, Slayer, Leo, Zato, and Bedman (S and H Swords Equipped)

c.S Starters (S Sword Equipped, H Sword Deployed):

vs All Characters

c.S Starters (S and H Swords Deployed in the Corner):

vs All Characters

c.S Starters (S Sword Deployed, H Sword Deployed in the Corner):

vs All Characters

c.S Starters (S Sword Deployed in the Corner, H Sword Deployed):

vs All Characters

c.S Starters (S and H Sword Deployed):

vs All Characters

c.S Starters (S Sword Deployed and H Sword Equipped):

vs All Characters

c.S Starters (S Sword Equipped and H Sword Deployed):

vs All Characters

6K Starters:

vs All Characters

KPP Starters (S and H Swords Equipped):

Notes:

vs All Characters

vs Medium and Lightweight Characters

2KPP Starters (S and H Swords Equipped):

Notes:

vs All Characters

vs Medium and Lightweight Characters

vs Heavyweight Characters:

2S Counter Hit Starters (S and H Swords Equipped):

vs All Characters

vs Medium Weight Characters

Cassius, j.S/H (equipped), or j.2S/2H (deployed) Air Counter Hit Starters:

vs All Characters

Sword Confirms:

vs All Characters

5D Starters (S and H Swords Equipped):

vs All Characters

5D Starters (S and HS Swords Deployed in the Corner):

Command Grab Starters (S and H Swords Equipped):

vs All Characters

Command Grab Starters (S and H Swords Deployed):
vs All Characters

Roman Cancel

Reference Combo Videos:

Pain - Practical RC Combos

Midscreen

F.S Starters (S and H Swords Equipped):

vs All Characters Except Lightweights

vs Lightweights

5PK4K Starters (S and H Swords Equipped):
vs All Characters

vs May, Potemkin, and Bedman

5KKK Starters (S and H Swords Equipped):

vs All Characters

3K Starters (S and H Swords Equipped):

vs All Characters

AA 6P Starters (S and H Swords Equipped):

vs All Characters

j.H Starter (S and H Swords Equipped):

vs All Characters

j.K Fuzzy Guard Starter (S and H Swords Equipped):

vs All Characters

Corner

5PK4K Starters (S and H Swords Equipped):

6K Starters (S and H Swords Equipped):
vs All Characters (except May, Potemkin, and Bedman)

Forward Throw Starters (S and H Swords Equipped):

vs May, I-no, Sin, Millia, and Elphet


vs Zato, Venom, Sol, Leo, Faust, Ramlethal, Chipp, Slayer, Potemkin, and Bedman

Instant Kill


Reference Combo Videos:

Pain - 1.10 Ramlethal Instant Kill Possibilities

All IK combos listed requires IK combo conditions to be met first. ie. 50 meter, opponent in hell fire mode, match winning point, etc...

Midscreen:

Throw RC Starter:

vs All Characters

Air Throw RC Starter (S and H Swords Equipped):

vs All Characters


Command Grab Starter (S and H Swords Equpped):

vs All Characters

c.S Starters:

vs Everyone except Ramlethal and Axl

c.S Starters:

vs Everyone but meant for Ramlethal and Axl

c.S Starters

vs Sol, Potemkin, and Bedman

Trance Starters:

Corner:

c.S Starter (S and H Swords Equipped):

vs All Characters

c.S Starter (S and H Swords Deployed):

vs All Characters

c.S Starters (S and H Swords Equipped):

vs Leo, Ramlethal, Elphet, and Potemkin


Command Grab Starters (S and H Swords Equipped):

vs All Characters

5D Starter:
vs All Characters

Okizeme

Midscreen

5PK4K > 5KK > 6H setups (S and H Swords Equipped):

Demonstration: Reference video

2KK/2KPK Setups (S/H Sword Equipped or H Sword Deployed Away from the Opponent):

Safe jump demonstration: Reference video

2KK/2KPK Setups (S Sword Deployed Near the Opponent):

2KPK Setups (S Sword Equipped)

Demonstration: Reference Video

Corner

Demonstration: Reference Video

2D Setups (S and H Swords Equipped):

2D Setups (S and H Swords Deployed in the Corner):

2D Setups (H Sword Equipped, S Sword Deployed in Corner):

5KK4K Setups

j.6H YRC Setups (S and H Swords Deployed in the Corner):

Demonstration: Reference videos 1, 2, 3

j.6S YRC Setups (S and H Swords Deployed in the Corner):

Demonstration: Reference video

sj.2S Setups (S and H Swords Deployed in the Corner):

Backdash YRC Setups(S and H Swords Deployed in the Corner):

Demonstration: Reference video

j.8D Ender > Meaty 6H Setup (H Sword Equipped, S Sword Deployed in the Corner):

j.8D Ender > Meaty 2H Setup (S and H Sword Deployed in the Corner):

vs Millia, May, Chipp, Elphet, Ramlethal

vs Faust, Sol, Axl, Venom, Leo, Zato

vs Sin, Ky, Potemkin, Slayer, I-No, Bedman

Roman Cancel Fuzzy Guard (S and H Swords Equipped)

vs All Characters

Throw Setups

Fuzzy Guard Setup (S and H Swords Equipped)

Demonstration: Reference Video

Super Jump j.2H Setup (S and H Swords Deployed in the Corner):

Demonstration: Reference Video

vs All Characters

Jump back > Early j.2S Setup (S and H Deployed in the Corner):

Garosupe Unblockable Setups

Reference Video:

Pain - 1.10 Ramlethal Garosupe (unblockable) Possibilities

Garosupe unblockables are a setup after a corner wall splat where you’re doing a strike/projectile and a command grab that hit on the same frame. The command grab takes priority over the strike so if the opponent doesn’t do anything they will get caught by the command grab. If they try to counter poke, jump. or back dash they will get caught by the strike instead. Ramlethal takes advantage of this off of her PPP wall splat and forces a 2H strike and her command grab. The setups listed are difficult and require 1 frame timing.

Corner

c.S Starters (S and H Swords Deployed):

vs All Characters

2D Starters (H Sword Deployed):

vs Everyone


2D Starters (S and H Swords Equipped):

vs Lightweights

2D Starters (S and H Swords Equipped):

vs Midweights

2D Starters (S and H Swords Equipped):

vs Heavyweights

2D Starters (S and H Swords Equipped):

vs Potemkin

2D Starters (S and H Swords Equipped):

vs Bedman

Strike Conversions:

j.6H Cross-Up/Fake Cross-Up Conversion:

Command Grab Conversions:

General Notes & Miscellaneous Strategies

Matchups

Please note the matchup numbers are place holders and are subject to change once more information is gathered.

Sin

Weight: Medium. Has a tendency to fall slower for this weight class.

Match-up: 6-4 Sin

Summary:
Gameplan

Neutral Game:

Offense:

Defense:

Faust

Weight: Medium. Has hitbox inconsistencies with this weight class.

Match-up: 6-4 Faust

Millia

Weight: Light. Has a tiny crouching hitbox.

Match-up: 6-4 Millia

Neutral Game:

When Millia is in the air and she has her pin available you really have to respect that option and limit what buttons you want to press because she can use the pin as a whiff punish tool to start offense. On counter hit the Pin leaves you a stagger state and can be converted into a full combo for corner carry into oki. Some situations you’ll see is a TK pin into an air dash for pressure, a fall from jump height into pin then a regular dash, or an IAD into pin. Based on when you block the pin and the position of the opponent you can disrespect follow dashes with 4P since there’s enough of a gap. Anything involving a low air dash pin places Millia at good frame advantage that you’ll have to respect the follow up pressure. You want to maneuver yourself in neutral, mostly in the air, to avoid being in a spot where the opponent would want to throw the pin. The riskier option is to try and Daruo underneath Millia then YRC, which will cause the pin to whiff and allow you to punish her recovery afterwards.

Defense:

Millia needs to be somewhat close to you in order to get a knockdown using f.S > 5H > 2D. If f.S is done at certain ranges the 2D will whiff so Millia can special cancel 5H into her Roll which can be cancelled into multiple follow up moves. One option for Millia is to cancel Roll, into another Roll and then go for a throw. Millia’s roll is in total 28 frames and she can only cancel into the second roll from frames 18-20. There’s about a 5 frame gap between the first roll into a second roll that allows you to mash 2P/4P to counter this. You can also throw her in-between the rolls during this gap. If you want to play it safe you can opt to do a fuzzy jump or a chicken block to get out of the situation.

The rest Millia’s options from roll can be cancelled during frames 14-20 of her roll. The first is Digitalis, which is the follow up where she turns her hair into a spear. On hit and counter hit this causes a knockdown but not one where she can get a good oki setup from. On counter hit in the corner this causes a wall splat allowing her to get a good combo into oki. It’s primarily used as a frame trap tool to counter mash attempts against the double roll. It can also catch back dashes against the first roll. If timed properly it can be used as a counter tactic versus equipped far Slash in neutral. However, this move is -11 on regular block and -14 on instant block and the entire recovery puts Millia in a counter hit state. This allows you to punish with equipped far Slash > Dauro; however, if this is spaced at max range in a block string than equipped far Slash will whiff. This is kind of not ideal for Millia because she would want to do Digitalis in a range where the threat of a Roll throw is possible. Normally, you’ll only see this is they have 50 meter so they can RC it for safety.

Another option for Millia out of her Roll is her Dust, which is her standard 5D overhead. It’s a 25 frame start up so it’s reactable but still a tricky option for her and used as a throw bait or a whiff punish. The last option Millia has out of her Roll is Lust Shaker, which is where she does multiple stabs with her hair. This is rarely used but leaves Millia at +6 for additional pressure. Some Millia’s may try to do Roll > TK Bad Moon for an overhead but the combination of the two moves would make for about a 24-30 frame overhead, which is really reactable. Also, there’s no major threat of a low in this situation so there’s no reason to be blocking low in this situation. If you block TK Bad Moon in general you can always punish with equipped far Slash > Daruo. In all of these scenarios if you see the block string of far S > 5H > Roll and you IB the 5H you can fuzzy jump out of all of these scenarios if you want to keep yourself safe rather than trying to read, react, and punish in specific scenarios.

If Millia does a corner knockdown into Secret Garden the usual pattern is forward first, then some variation of directions after wards. If you block Secret Garden the opponent gets multiple mix up opportunities during the duration you block Secret Garden. You can escape this situation by doing a jump/super jump Blitz Shield against Secret Garden and then air dash out of the corner.

Sol

Weight: Medium

Match-up: 6-4 Sol

Summary

The neutral game is difficult to play against Sol because his normals and specials have interesting interactions against Ramlethal's that you have to be aware of. His movement speed allows him to close the distance on Ramlethal fairly quickly so understanding spacing is important especially when playing neutral with swords deployed. That being said, it’s not wise to play the neutral game against Sol with swords deployed. You want to keep the swords on for the most part because it allows you to whiff punish some of his go-to normals at specific ranges and make it harder for him to approach Ramlethal without expending meter.

His reversal options will beat several of Ramlethal's oki set ups forcing you to use specific reversal safe oki, which limits variance in oki and pressure. His pressure and mix up game is straightforward but effective since it leaves him at high frame advantage making it tough to find spots to reset to neutral. It's very easy for Sol to crank up your RISC gauge and then land a command grab or frame trap into a huge counter hit combo. Sol's damage output is also fairly high so you need to match his damage out as well if you want to win this match up at a high level. Sol's the definition of middle weight so all of Ramlethal's max damage combo options will work on Sol ie. double Daruo combos, IAD loops, etc...

Gameplan

Neutral Game:

The round starter is in Sol's favor because his far S is faster than yours but he can also use 2D to low profile it or Grand Viper to low profile and beat it. Your best bet at round start is to play defensive and crouch block, instant air dash back, jump back, or jump forward P. It's risky to try and challenge Sol at round start especially if you haven't gotten a feel for your opponents play style.

The neutral game is tricky against Sol because his normals and specials have interesting interactions with Ramlethal's normals. Your far S out ranges his and can be used to whiff punish his far S. Sol's 2D low profiles far S but this has to be done as a read on their part and not in reaction to far S. If you're over using far S then you can expect the Sol player to use 2D liberally to low profile it. 2D will also low profile Cassius and if done close enough will counter hit you. The best counter action to this is to just wait and let them whiff 2D and then whiff punish with far S after wards but the timing on the whiff punish is tight. 2D leaves Sol in a crouching state so you'll get a far S xx Daruo starter as your whiff punish. 2S and 2H are also good at whiff punishing if they’re over using 2D to duck your far S but the slow start up is mostly a read on your part rather than in reaction.

Sol's 6P has upper body invincibility during start up and then above knee invulnerability shortly after wards which can be used to counter poke your far S. It's harder to time on their part but it's something additional they can use during the neutral game.

Sol's special moves plays a role in his neutral game though some have more risk than reward. The majority of Sol's special movies can be countered in some way.

Ramlethal's j.P is still really good in this matchup since it will contest all of Sol's jumping options; however, Sol's j.P is just as fast as her j.P so you may see it clash on multiple occasions. If you end up in a j.P clash war you'll clash all the way down but the Sol player can go for a reversal Volcanic Viper after a clash. Ramlethal's j.H is also good in this matchup and a CH can lead into IAD loops if you're close enough to the corner. Sol's j.H has a really good hitbox on it and hits twice. If he IADs and does an early j.H it'll actually beat your 6P anti-air so you'll have to use sword equipped 2S/H or 5H to anti-air it. You can also IB both hits of the early IAD j.H and throw him on his landing. Depending on the range there's enough time to anti-air IAD j.H on reaction but the timing is tighter in comparison to 6P. Sol can fish for these anti-air attempts with double jumps into Kudakero (divekick) to either counter it or force offense since it's +2 on block.

Kudakero is another interesting tool for Sol as it lets him stall in the air and on block leaves him at frame advantage. Kudakero has 2 parts to it, the first part is the dive kick itself and the second part is a projectile that moves forward from where he landed. The ideal spot to block Kudakero is at point blank range because it will cause the 2nd part to whiff. You want to IB the dive kick itself in order to cause this whiff situation to happen so you can get a huge punish on Sol. Be aware that Sol can YRC as he’s descending which will keep the descending momentum but give Sol free range to do whatever. You’ll see a combination of a falling normal, land 2D (empty low), or land Wild Throw. Keep an eye on the opponent’s meter and play style habits before attempting to IB it for the punish.

If you have the swords equipped, Sol can use Gun Flame a bit more freely to control space. Once the H sword is deployed they have to stop running Gun Flame at a distance because 6H is a fast way to land a counter hit. If you're close enough you can Daruo after the counter hit and convert from it.

Playing neutral against Sol with both swords deployed is generally not recommended now that the swords can be hit and it allows him to rush down since you no longer have any solid pokes to contest his. If you're playing neutral with the swords deployed, Sol can chase you down with super jump j.P, j.H, air throw, Volcanic Viper or 5K as your falling. 5K in general is really good for Sol since it's good at tech trapping, frame trapping, catching back dashes, or jumps out of command grabs. If you’re using deployed swords to control your descent keep an eye on Sol’s position. Directly above Sol is the ideal spot to use falling j.K but this leaves you open to air throws and maybe 2H. Farther away from Sol and you have to worry about 5K or Volcanic Viper. It’s better off to just FD on the way down to avoid getting counter hit by both options as they both lead into good damage for Sol.

Offense:

In this matchup you want to play solid neutral and try to convert off of stray hits and push towards the corner like usual. However, when running oki from any point on screen you really have to be aware of reversal Volcanic Viper or Grand Viper, as it'll beat the majority of your oki set ups and can be used in between sword pressure strings. It really limits the type of oki set ups you can run on Sol but there are several reversal safe oki options you can run.

From mid-screen, after a 2KK or throw knock down a 6H, 6K/2K/2D setup is not reversal safe against Sol. You can deploy the H sword and then wait to bait out the reversal. If they know you're baiting the reversal they can back dash and avoid the sword altogether. The alternative mid-screen oki set up off of 2KK or throw knockdown that's reversal safe is with the S sword equipped you perform an immediate IAD past your opponent then do j.6S just as you pass over their knock down body. The sword deploy kills your air dash momentum and then you fall immediately at the spot you deployed the sword. While you're falling you do a j.K. This is a cross up set up so if you time this correctly the opponent has to manually correct their VV motion and even if they get the reversal timing it's still a safe jump and you'll block the VV. The other option is to do a normal jump forward j.6S/H to cut your momentum towards the peak of the jump. Then do a falling j.K, if you’ve timed the j.6S/H correctly this gives you the right timing to get a deep j.K that’s reversal safe.

There’s multiple reversal safe corner oki but the general concept is to use a meaty sword deploy, deploy the second sword, wait to see if they did a reversal, then run a mix up during the cover of the second sword if they didn't reversal. If they reversal Volcanic Viper it should whiff preventing them from RCing and then allowing you to punish. If they do Grand Viper you should be able to block it and then punish after wards provided they don’t have tension meter to RC. The other method to run sword oki is to deploy both swords, jump towards Sol, and faultless defense as you're falling. You'll chicken block reversal Volcanic Viper/Grand Viper and then you can punish the recovery. If they don't reversal Volcanic Viper you can attempt a mix up by either doing j.K or empty jump 2D. The 5KK4K/5K4K setups are generally better to use against Sol as it puts you out of his effective VV range and the cross up/fake cross up forces the Sol player to commit to the input. The proper way for Sol to defeat the 5K4K mix up is to Blitz the sword and then reversal Volcanic Viper.

Defense:

Against Ramlethal, Sol usually end his combo's in either 2D, Bandit Revolver, Volcanic Viper, Grand Viper (one of the few chars where this combo ender works), and  6H as these moves cause knockdowns and allow Sol to set up the following mix up options:

Sol's up close pressure will always contain the threat of a command grab and you have limited options against this pressure. The typical command grab escapes is to interrupt with 5P, 2P, 2K or back dash/jump out to make the command grab whiff. It's obviously not that easy because the Sol player can start frame trapping instead with dash 5K, c.S, 6P, etc... to catch the interrupt attempts while dash 5K will catch back dashes or jumps. Faultless Defense can be used against the tick command grab set ups to try and push Sol out of range to hopefully give you enough room to reset to neutral. Sol can combat this by going for frame traps, or continuous dash 2P to close the distance and then eventually go for the command grab.

Typical block strings you might see are 5K (1), c.S, 2S, (f.S), 6H/2D/Bandit Revolver/Gun Flame. If you IB the 2S you can back dash out of his 6H, 2D, or Gun Flame but Bandit Bringer will catch the back dash. If you back dash and avoid a 6H you can Daruo to whiff punish it. If the opponent ops for f.S/2D xx Bandit Revolver you can IB f.S/2D and then either Blitz Shield the Bandit Revolver or beat it with j.P. Whenever you Blitz Shield Bandit Revolver or Bandit Bringer you have enough time to dash behind them for the punish since they’re stuck in the stun state until they land. This gives you an opportunity to avoid an immediate counter Blitz Shield if they have 25%+ meter but the best option is to dash under and Command Grab to avoid a counter Blitz option altogether. Other block strings can also involve YRC Gun Flame but unless done at point blank you can Blitz Shield the Gun Flame and have 11f of invincibility after wards. If the Sol player pushes offense with dash pressure or jump pressure it should whiff with your 11f of invincibility post Blitz Shield and then you can whiff punish or throw afterwards.

The matchup changes when Sol activates Dragon Install as it increases his damage output, makes his movement faster, the start up of his normals/specials faster, and leaves him + on block on all of his normals and the majority of his specials. You will only see this as a desperation tactic from the opponent if they’re on really low health. You really don't want to challenge Sol during Dragon Install nor do you want to block any of his attacks on the ground due to the huge frame advantage he gets. It's really easy for him to go for frame traps or tick command grabs and make a come back from there. The chip damage off of his specials and over drives are pretty significant as well so he can go for chip damage kills if you're low on health and have no meter to FD. Be careful about Grand Viper as it leaves a trail of flame pillars that reach at normal jump height and if you get caught it will drag you towards Sol for a combo. Try to stick to the air as much as possible to outlast the Dragon Install and then punish the huge recovery when Dragon Install runs out. If you do land a hit on Sol and are not near the corner, do the longest possible combo you have to wear out as much of the Dragon Install time as possible. If the Dragon Install timer runs out midway through your combo it will not interrupt your combo at all. After Sol recovers from the knockdown from the combo he is forced into the recovery animation so you’re guaranteed an additional combo punish afterwards.

When looking to dead angle out of Sol's pressure keep an eye on his gatling string and his meter. Sol can use 2D to low profile the dead angle and then punish heavily afterwards. Alternatively, if he has 50%+ meter he can cancel into his Tyrant Rave Overdrive to use the invincibility frames to go through and punish the dead angle.

Character Specifics

Wake-up Timing:

Reversal Safe Oki:

Midscreen:

Setup: 2KK > Instant Air Dash > j.6S > j.K

Sword(s): S Sword Equipped

Info: Safe cross-up setup. Opponent has to manually correct their DP motion as well.

Setup: 2KK > j.6S > j.K

Sword(s): S Sword Equipped

Info: Normal jump and j.6S at the peak of the jump then time a deep j.K.

Corner:

Setup: Combo ending in j.8D knockdown > 6H > j.2S

Sword(s): H sword deployed outside of the corner

Info: Meaty 6H set up against Sol.

Setup: Combo ending in j.8D knockdown > immediate neutral j.2H > j.2S

Sword(s): H sword deployed in the corner

Info: Meaty 2H set up against Sol. Reversal safe against VV and Grand Viper; however, Grand Viper gets him out of the corner and lets him RC to start offense.

Setup: 2D > jc7 > delay j.2H, airdash, delay j.K

Sword(s): H sword deployed in the corner

Info: Corner safe jump.

Setup: Throw > j.2H > j.K

Sword(s): H sword deployed in the corner

Info: Neutral jump and j.2H at the peak of the jump then time a deep j.K

Setup: 2D > 6H > IAD j.2S

Swords: H sword equipped, S sword deployed in corner

Info: If you time the IAD j.2S right the reversal is blockable on the ground. If you’re slightly off in your timing you do j.2S FD and you’ll be able to FD the reversal in the air.

Lows:

Overheads:

Ky

Weight: Medium

Match-up: N/A

Offense:

You can low profile Ky’s reversal vapor thrust with 2K or 2D since the hitbox of Vapor Thrust starts slightly above his feet. This works great if you aim for a meaty 2K or 2D after a 2KK or 2KPK knockdown into 6H oki. If you space the meaty 2K or 2D properly it’ll cause the reversal Vapor Thurst to whiff and then you can punish Ky during his recovery.

Defense:

Stun Dipper is a two hit attack that low profiles a lot of attacks and is often used to get around Ramlethal’s equipped far S, j.6S/H, and Cassius. The second hit is -15 on normal block and -18 on instant block. If Stun Dipper is misspaced and Ky ended up close, you can punish on normal block with a c.S > Daruo starter. If spaced at max range you need to get reversal timing Daruo to punish Stun Dipper on normal block, so it’s ideal to always instant block the second hit of Stun Dipper. If you instant block the first hit you can actually interrupt the gap between the first and second hit with c.S > Daruo. Otherwise, instant block the second hit and punish with Daruo. If you end up normal blocking Stun Dipper you can still punish with equip far S > RC > Daruo.

Greed Sever is Ky’s overhead special that can be blocked on reaction and has a couple of points that telegraph it. There’s a few cross-up setups involving Greed Sever but they’re very situational. It’s a level 3 attack and is -13 on normal block and -17 on instant block. Greed Sever places Ky in a crouching state during the recovery so this allows you to get an equipped far S > Daruo punish starter. At slightly closer than max range of Greed Sever, Ky is less punishable on block and you can’t get an equipped far S punish starter. You would need to instant block Greed Sever in order to get that starter. If you don’t have S Sword equipped you need to instant block Greed Sever and then punish with Daruo.

May

Weight: Light. Has hitbox inconsistencies for this weight class.

Match-up: N/A

Defense:

May’s j.2H has a strong hitbox on the anchor making it difficult to anti-air her through conventional means. May players will usually try to maneuver above you with jump/double jump into j.2H making it difficult to anti-air. The most consistent to deal with this jumping normal is to neutral jump and instant block it in the air and then throw punish. The other methods to deal with this is to visually watch and wait for the double jump and then try to anti-air using a combination of equipped 2S, 2H, or 5H. If the May player did not double jump then either block the incoming air attack or try to maneuver away from May.

Chipp

Weight: Light

Match-up: 7-3 Chipp

Defensive Options:

If Chipp does Resshou (236S) xx Rokusai (236S), which is his rekka chain, you can IB Rokusai (hits low) and punish with 5KKK. If you have the meter RC 5KKK and confirm into corner with IAD loops. You should be able to get a wall splat and lead into your oki game from there. If you have additional 25% meter you can opt for the more ambiguous oki setups with 5KK4K or 5K4K. If not, you should aim for reversal safe oki even if it means the actual mix up is less ambiguous or layered.

Elphet

Weight: Light. Try to aim your wall splat lower to the ground, as she has a tendency to splat higher up than usual causing post wall splat combos to not work as easily than other match ups.

Match-up: 7-3 Elphet

Defense:

Elphet’s Shotgun stance pressure is extremely oppressive, especially in the corner. The basics of Shotgun stance pressure is utilizing SG-H reload SG-H/S into an eventual SG-D. SG-H does an incredible amount of chip damage and can also eat through your tension meter if you decide to FD it. The main issue is that you want to avoid FDing SG-H because it makes her more + on block and leaves you with little room to escape. Even though you can push her out of range with FD she can use SG-S to get back in and resume the pressure. While there are gaps to allow you escape using FD the timing is tricky.

SG-H is 3 frame startup and is +1 on block while the powered version has a 1 frame start up and is +5 on block! Furthermore, SG-S is +3 on block but has an 11 frame startup. The combination of these moves make it very difficult to escape Elphet in the corner, however, if you regular or instant block SG-H you can perform an immediate YRC which will cause any immediate attacks to whiff. You’ll be able to do a 2D whiff punish starter after wards depending on the spacing. Be warned that there are counter strats to this and it’ll be up to both players to react accordingly.

SG pressure goes one step further and utilizes SG-P which has a 3 frame startup and is +1 on block. Furthermore, it can be staggered, chained into itself, or can lead into SG-S/H. Once the opponent starts utilizing SG-P more in their pressure it becomes even more difficult on when to escape. The biggest issue at this point is the threat of SG-D (command grab) which will lead into massive damage into a potential unblockable setup. Your best best to try an IB the SG-P for the meter and look for an opportunity to either SJ FD air dash out or dead angle against something with more recovery. You can try FDing as well to push Elphet out but you’ll have to deal with SG-S or SG-H once that happens.  

Potemkin

Weight: Heavy

Match-up: N/A

Defense:

Against Hammerfall YRC mind games you can do an early counter YRC to try and safely escape the mind games. The counter YRC slows Potemkin down and gives your more options to avoiding his mix up game.

Ramlethal’s forward dash puts her airborne and allows you to dash through Slide Head. If Potemkin attempts to do Slide Head from full screen you can just forward dash and punish him severely.

Slayer

Weight: Medium

Match-up: N/A

Summary

Slayer's dash invincibility and dandy steps can make playing neutral and defense really annoying as you're not really sure of the timing and spacing to launch attacks on him. You have to capitalize on your damage output against Slayer since his damage and stun output off of counter hits and RC combos are high, especially against Ramlethal's low health.

Much like the rest of Ramlethal's match-ups you want to work Slayer into the corner so you can run your sword deployed pressure and oki game. While he doesn't have meterless reversal options against your sword oki, his back dash has invincibility frames on it then can help avoid sword oki mid-screen or flat out punish some oki set ups with backdash cancels. In the corner, he's not able to utilize backdash cancels as freely so you'll be able to pin him down to a certain extent. On the flip side, you don't want to get cornered against Slayer because his whiff punish & frame trap game is good against Ramlethal due to her far ranged normals being slow and her fast normals being short ranged. Her defensive options against Slayer's pressure is limited without meter as well so you'll need to IB to punish some strings or make good reads to reset to neutral or interrupt him.

Gameplan

Neutral game:

The round starter is a bit of a coin toss here because both characters have ways to counter each other's typical round starters. Far S will counter Slayer's round starting pokes or a Mappa Punch starter; however, Slayer's Dandy Step, back dash, forward dash, or a Back Dash Cancelled Mappa Punch will cause Ramlethal's far S to whiff and leave you punishable. Slayer’s 6P as a round starter will also beat your far S round starter. A delayed far S will counter Dandy Steps but won't work vs his dash options but a 2S/H will counter both of those but are riskier as a round starter. Round start instant air backdash, up back, or up forward are usually good neutral options that leave neither player at an advantage or disadvantage but can be countered accordingly. If Slayer reads this as your go to round starter he can use 6H to counter it into good damage and corner carry. Obviously, this is countered with your far S and we end up in full circle of round starter options.

This is a matchup where you want to keep the swords equipped for the majority of the neutral game until you can find a good spot to deploy them for pressure. The equipped S sword helps you counter poke his normals or Dandy Steps. The H sword is good as your air-to-ground approach with j.H and help score counter hits vs Dandy Steps or attempts to anti-air you with 6H. When you’re jumping at Slayer with j.K/equip j.H be careful with the spacing because his 5P has a good hitbox to hurtbox ratio. The hitbox on Slayer’s 5P doesn’t have a hurtbox on the arm at all so it’s the ideal AA vs a falling j.K after deploying swords above Slayer. If the Slayer gets a CH 5P AA he can do CH 5P > 6H > Dandy Step~Pile Bunker for good damage. Depending on their meter and screen positioning they could RC and do some really nasty damage after wards. If you have H sword equipped you’ll want to fall with j.H with an earlier timing to counter hit the 5P instead but this would get countered by Slayer’s 6P instead.

Dandy Step is a large part of Slayers neutral game and the initial start up is quick at moving him outside of your poke range and causing your pokes to whiff making you susceptible to whiff punishes. Both 2S and 2H are useable to stopping Dandy Step, dashes, and air approaches but these are going to be reads on your part due to their slow start up. If you have meter be sure to YRC or PRC these on whiff. If you’re further away from Slayer you can wait for the second half of Dandy Step where Slayer is approaching you and hit him with equipped far S. If you catch him in the middle of an attack you’ll get a CH and can confirm into Daruo. If not then you’ll need 50 meter to RC the far S to convert. Timing Cassius YRC during the second half of Dandy Step is another way to react or punish.

Once swords are deployed you have to stick to the air and pick your spots on approaching Slayer, as you'll have no normals to check his Dandy Steps, Mappa Punches, 5K, 2K, or 6H. This is not an ideal situation and you’ll want to get some breathing room to re-equip at least S sword to maintain a ranged ground normal. Some of his ways to avoid the sword is to super jump and utilize his j.2K command normal to prolong his air time to wait out the swords and then come down with a j.D. If you stagger your 2S/H you may be able to counter this but other wise you can try to go air-to-air with j.P, air grab, or 6P anti-air. 6P is pretty tough to time because he can continue to use j.2K to throw off your timing and the j.P can be awkward because Slayer’s j.2K changes his jump arc significantly. It's usually not a bad idea to leave one sword equipped so you can use the 2S/H variant as a more reliable way to anti-air him on the way down.

Offense:

You essentially play the neutral game with the swords equipped and try to find an opportunity to either whiff punish or counter an unsafe string from Slayer into a knock down. Once you've got the knock down you can deploy the swords and try to run Ramlethal's deployed sword pressure from there. You have to adjust the type of mid-screen oki you run though due to his escape options. Be aware that when Slayer has 50% meter you have to watch out for reversal BDC D.O.T or Eternal Wings. Slayer can use back dashes to make meaty sword oki whiff but they'll take this one step further and use backdash cancels to either punish or force momentum back in their favor.

From mid-screen, after a throw or 2KK knockdown avoid doing the typical 6H, 2K/2D/6K mix up. Slayer can straight up back dash to avoid it or back dash cancel into D.O.T (50% meter) to punish. I'm not sure if it's possible but a back dash cancel dandy step into whatever might be able to whiff punish 6K in that set up. If not they'll reset to neutral or gain offensive momentum if they force you to block something. There’s an option select fuzzy guard j.K and air throw to catch back dash cancel jump but seems unreliable as it’s dependant on the Slayer to do back dash cancel jump. If you want to make a hard read you can try to follow the back dash and punish the recovery with Daruo or a delayed 2S/2H. It's more difficult to do this when they start back dash canceling into something since backdash cancels give about 6f of invincibility to the special they cancel into. Off of a throw, you can do 6H, IAD j.K if they backdash you'll land and be able to punish with 2D into a combo starter.

In the corner, they can back dash cancel into a chicken block to try and avoid the first sword during your sword oki game. The type of knockdown, timing of your sword deploy, and whether it's the 6 or 2 variant will dictate whether the back dash cancel will work. If you stagger the sword deploys appropriately he'll be forced to block the other sword. If they manage to block the initial oki setup and the follow up pressure and you try to to reestablish pressure with j.2/6 S/H they can just forward dash during the start up and apply pressure during your landing.

When pressuring Slayer up close, Ramlethal's forward dash will high profile Slayer's 2K and 2H causing them to whiff on her completely. If the Slayer player likes to poke with these normals or use it to interrupt a pressure string you can use a forward dash to go over it and punish him. It can be useful to sneak in a command grab but keep in mind the Slayer player can just use 2P instead to interrupt this.

Defense:

This is where it gets really tricky for Ramlethal because Slayer's pressure game isn't as reliant on high/lows but rather a series of frame traps with his normals or built-in whiff punishes with his Dandy Step. What Slayer will try to do is crank up your RISC gauge and then try to land a hit through a bad read on your part so that he gets a huge counter hit combo. He does have a high/low game but it's not the center of his pressure game. He can also use his forward dashes to do left/right mix ups as well.

Mappa Punch is only -1 (P version) or -2 (K version) on block so you can't punish it unless you IB it. If they space it at max range you tend to lose when trying to counter poke with 2K as their 2K has more range. If done up close then any poke will counter hit theirs. Instant Blocking the Mappa Punches will guarantee a punish for you with 4P, 3K2K knockdown allowing you to start setting up midscreen or corner oki.

Typical block strings from Slayer involve c.S, f.S, 5K/2K, 6H which is a frame trap string because the far S leaves him at +6 on block and his 5K is 7f start up but leaves him at +3 on block. The 2K is 6f start up and leaves him at +4 on block but both options leaves him at a far enough range where it's hard to poke him out of the 17f start up of 6H. The 6H is also really good at catching up backs without a faultless defense. c.S is -4 on block and leaves a gap in between the f.S string so if you IB it he'll be -7 allowing you to squeeze in a tight c.S punish, or an easier 5P, 3K2K punish; you can also back dash after wards to make the f.S to whiff. If the c.S is done from farther distances (not far enough to get f.S) then you can interrupt the f.S gatling with 5P. If you're in the corner in that back dash scenario you can whiff punish afterwards. They can start whiff punishing your interrupt attempts by special canceling c.S into Dandy Step. If you IB the 5K and they go for the 6H you can use 5P or 2P to interrupt the 6H. Alternatively, you can use Blitz Shield on the 5K/2K, or 6H to punish these strings.

Slayer has a few options he can do after the f.S because it leaves him at +6 on block. He can either go for Dandy Step pressure, forward dash command grab, forward dash throw, forward dash cross over, or jump cancel into an IAD j.S for a cross up. It gets difficult to counter all of the possible scenarios on reaction. You can interrupt him on all of these options with throw, 2P, 5P or an air grab on the IAD but doing these on reaction can be difficult. You can also use up back FD to try and reset to neutral or Blitz Shield to counter some of their options. Slayer can go for these options on hit to create a reset situation so be aware of this.

At any point in his block strings he can cancel into Dandy Step to try and whiff punish a counter attack. I find that 2KK will always punish all Dandy Steps before they can do a follow up so you can mash this if you spot the Dandy Step but they can start YRCing it in response to your 2K and try to whiff punish afterwards. The safest option for the Slayer player in a post Dandy Step scenario is to use Under Pressure (S follow up) to keep himself neutral on block. After a blocked Dandy Step~Under Pressure Slayer can do the following mix ups:

There's enough of a gap after Under Pressure that lets you interrupt his 2K, 6K, 5D, and forward dash options with 5P, 2P, or 2K. If he delays the It's Too Late you can interrupt with 5P as well but if he does it immediately there's no gap to interrupt. The best option available though is to IB Under Pressure to make it -4 on block and then punish with 5P, 3K2K combo or back dash to make the follow ups whiff and then whiff punish if you're in the corner. You can Blitz Shield all of these options except for the It's Too Late option if you didn't IB Under Pressure. If he counter hits you with Under Pressure it leaves you in a stagger state where you have to mash to recover. During this time he can go for resets by forward dashing through you and then do a c.S cross over. If you mashed out of the stagger you'll have to deal with the potential crossover reset. If you failed to mash out of the stagger he'll just combo off of the c.S.

If Slayer knocks you down from mid screen with 2D or j.D his mix up game involves the following options:

Character Specifics

Wake-up Timing:

Reversal Safe Oki:

Midscreen:

Setup: 2KK/Throw > Instant Air Dash > j.6S > j.K

Sword(s): S Sword Equipped

Info: A cross up set up. Good for screwing up their back dash inputs.

Reversal Safe: Yes.

Corner:

Setup: Combo ending in j.8D > 6H > j.2S

Sword(s): H sword deployed outside of the corner

Info: Meaty 6H set up against Slayer.

Reversal Safe: Yes

Setup: Combo ending in j.8D > slight delay j.2H > j.2S

Sword(s): S & H sword deployed in the corner

Info: Meaty 2H set up against Slayer.

Reversal Safe: Yes

Comments: Slayer can back dash cancel to avoid the meaty H sword but still has to deal with the S sword afterwards.

Lows:

Overheads:

I-No

Weight: Light

Match-up: N/A

Defense:

I-No’s oki options are extremely multi-layered and difficult to block on reaction. Understanding her options will help you make better educated guesses on how to block or when to interrupt.

I-No’s mix up is basically utilizing her dash (which makes her airborne) into a series of overheads or lows. The higher in the air she’s in during her dash will help you recognize how many overhead attacks she can go for. Usually the sequence is j.K > j.S > j.D but at any point she can stop the sequence land and go 2K low. There’s a gap between j.S and j.D and you can interrupt this gap if you IB j.S and then mash 4P.

Midscreen knockdowns into raw dashes for a mix up are not meaty enough. You can actually wake up and counter with 4P and then convert into a corner carry combo. Be careful about just mashing 4P on wake up though because they can stop short and do 2K low instead. If they do a Note or TK note first without a YRC then the note is not meaty and you can chicken block on wake up. They will follow the note with a dash to apply pressure but at least you won’t have to deal with the initial mix up. Midscreen knockdowns into TK note YRC means you need to block the incoming mix up as the Note will hit meaty. The other meaty option that I-No has is Note YRC, dash land, HCL which will hit meaty and allow her Note to reach level 5. Level 5 note hits 5 times and gives her the best oki options. She will get 2 mix up chances while you’re blocking the level 5 note and is the toughest oki to deal with. You’ll have to chance a dead angle but there are multiple ways for this to be baited and punished. Another tricky option that I-No has at her disposal requires her to do j.D FD cancels which stalls her in the air and she can go for more ambiguous setups, such as cross ups. The degree of difficulty to do this FD cancel is high and will often result in a Burst if done incorrectly. This means that you usually don’t see this option until after they’ve bursted.

If I-No is next to you after a knockdown and starts walking forward and has 25% meter the most likely thing that’s going to happen is a meaty VCL YRC. There are some cases where reversal Blitz Shield can counter this but not sure if this is a mistiming on their part or if it’s a legit counter strat. If you do find yourself blocking the VCL YRC then you have to deal with either 2K low, falling j.K/S overhead, air dash into a multi-overhead sequence, or a throw.

In the corner, if they opt to go for Note oki keep an eye on I-No’s feet. If she’s off the ground then the I-No player is doing a TK Note which at that distance will only do 1 hit. TK Note comes out faster than grounded Note but does not build up levels as quickly as grounded Note does. This means you can IB the Note and if they’re dashing in you can 4P to counter them. If they do a grounded Note then the Note will do 2 hits and you’ll have to deal with the incoming mix up.


Similar to her oki game, I-No’s pressure involves a lot of normals into dashes for high/low mix ups. 2K > dash > jumping normal is not a legit block string and can be handled in a couple of ways. The first is to disrespect it with mash 4P. The second is to fuzzy jump out which at worst forces you to block the jumping normal(s) but at least you no longer have to worry about a high/low game. The reason why you want to fuzzy jump out of the mixup is that I-No can’t combo 2 low attacks at all and the gap between 2K to a dashing air normal is large enough for you to jump out of. There are ways for I-No to counter both strategies. To deal with mash 4P, I-No can do 2K, 2H instead which is a frame trap but lets you fuzzy jump. To deal with fuzzy jumps, I-No can do 2K, 5P which will catch your pre-jump frames and allow her to convert into a knockdown.

Axl

Weight: Medium

Match-up: N/A

Offense:

Axl’s reversal, Artemis Hunter, starts up in 9f, is strike & throw invincible from frames 1-11, is -22f on block and has a very large hitbox in front and above of him. It’s a slower reversal but still viable at stopping offense and oki. All of Ram’s typical reversal safe oki can be run against Axl and work. On block, you have enough time to dash in and punish with c.S > Daruo but in a pinch you can punish with an immediate Daruo. Be careful if they have 50 tension to RC as you want to avoid giving any momentum to Axl. When running Oki against Axl you want to maneuver around his Artemis Hunter to cause it to whiff rather than block it. If they whiff Artemis Hunter you can raw Daruo punish if you’re close enough.

Axl’s 2K can low profile Ramlethal’s equipped far Slash so you’ll have to be weary of when you can push far Slash against Axl. If Axl does Thunder Shadow Chain (cross up special) and you block it he can do an immediate 2K, which will low profile an immediate retaliatory equipped far Slash. If you delay your far Slash slightly it will whiff punish 2K allowing you to confirm into Daruo afterwards.  


Defense:

Sparrowhawk stance is a strong tool for Axl from full screen away and you’ll mostly see this move after certain knockdowns from Axl. Sparrowhawk stance has three attack angles high, mid, and low. The high is meant to catch people in the air and the low catches people on the ground while the mid covers both but not to the extremes of either. He can attack for a maximum of 6 times in Sparrowhawk Stance before he goes out of stance. He cannot do the same attack immediately after each other (ie. Mid > Mid) and if they attempt to do that there will be some delay before the next attack. He can do two different attacks consecutively though.

If Axl is hit or if a chain clashes with an attack he will automatically be put out of Sparrowhawk Stance. The entire sequence does a lot of chip damage and requires you to faultless defense to prevent losing a lot of life from it. This means you end up losing a lot of your tension meter just to avoid the chip damage, which is really bad for Ramlethal as she doesn’t gain tension normally.

The safest option for Ramlethal is to block the first attack and then react to what attack you blocked. If the first attack was the mid chain you can opt to do a micro dash 2P. You’re aiming to be in a range that is just slightly outside of the corner and then mash 2P until Axl leaves Sparrowhawk stance. What will happen is that if Axl does the high attack it will whiff on Ramlethal completely. If they do the mid attack it will whiff on Ramlethal, as 2P shrinks her hitbox slightly but if you misspaced yourself slightly then 2P can clash with the mid attack and cancel the stance altogether. If he staggers into the low attack, 2P will always beat it. The counter to this tactic is to cancel mid chain into low chain immediately. It will catch your microdash and they’ll be able to convert off of that into another Sparrowhawk stance setup. To counter this you can block mid chain and mash 2P to hit the low chain. This will then force both players to read into each other's options.

One other option you have is to risk using Sword 5H to let the large active frames counter hit the chain but if you mistime it slightly you could end up eating the rest of the stance attacks. If you land the counter hit then you can transition into IAD loops depending on your spacing to Axl. It’s incredibly risky but the reward for landing the CH is huge.

Another option is to time a Blitz Shield against it but this also carries some risk, as the opponent can always stagger the attack to throw off your timing. If you’re in the air you can try j.6H YRC and then an air dash to try and maneuver around it but there’s counter strategies to this as well.

6H - You can instant block this and punish afterwards. You can also do a reactionary Blitz Shield to punish. If the opponent opts to do 2H > 6H you can block 2H and then immediately throw a 5/4P to counter the 6H. You will also have enough time to block another 2H if they opt to do that.

Ramlethal

Weight: Light. Has inconsistent hitboxes for this weight class.

Match-up: 5-5

Venom

Weight: Medium

Match-up: N/A

Summary:

A lot of this match-up hinges on who wins the neutral game and momentum can swing either way based on this, though most match-ups in Guilty Gear end up playing out like this.

Venom’s normals are quite good at contending with Ramlethal in the air and on the ground but they are situational and require good spacing and reads from the Venom player. In combination with his zoning game the ideal strategy for Venom is to create an obstacle course for Ramlethal with his projectiles and then under the cover of the projectiles contend with her evasion with his normals either air-to-air or anti-air. If you let Venom setup this game plan you will most likely lose the round since his lockdown game is pretty strong against Ramlethal. IBing will really help in this match up to find gaps in his strings to reset to neutral or to build meter to either dead angle or FD to push him out.

Venom can run away with a round with his pressure game into his multi-layered oki game. The major balancing factor in this matchup is his low damage output and Ramlethal’s high damage output. You can definitely make comebacks against Venom if you optimize your damage output in the corner, which can lead into a one combo, one mix up situation to win the round.

Neutral Game:

This is a matchup where deploying swords is strongly not recommended. Venom’s normals and projectiles cover all of the angles to de-activate sword deploys and you’ll find yourself losing the war of attrition if you try to play the neutral game this way. If you do find yourself in a situation where you need to play neutral with sword deploys, then you’ll want to stagger your sword deploys based on the Venom players movements. This should hopefully throw off their timings to counter the swords. You may be able to find yourself in a situation to counter hit a ball set with 6S or 6H into a combo conversion. You can also YRC sword deploys and then follow the sword to assist in the neutral game.

Venom’s 2D is above knees invincible from frames 7-18 and low profiles from frame 19-29 so this allows him to go under Ram’s far S but this is a read on the Venom players part. They will sometimes mash this in block stun as well since it’s 6f start up and can counter some of your pressure or low profile some of your air approaches. 2S is also used within your far S range because it’s 6f start up and has comparable range. Ram’s equipped far S out ranges both attacks so you want to play footsies and stay outside of these ranges and then whiff punish with your equipped far S. Doing a simple string like 4PPP, 2K will put you at this max range allowing you to wait and react to their buttons with far S. Since both of these attacks put them in a crouching state you’ll get the ideal combo starter with a far S xx Daruo.

Defense:

If you find yourself on the defensive against Venom’s pressure than you’ll really have to utilize all of the system mechanics to reset back to neutral. Instant blocking at the right moments can give you counter poking opportunities or build meter for FD/Dead Angles. You’ll want to be careful with your dead angle timing and avoid doing them on his projectiles, jump cancelable normals, or gatlings into 2D. The gatlings into 2D will avoid the dead angle altogether while the other two options allows him to bait and block the dead angle if they’re actively looking for it. The same thing goes for your burst timings.

There’s certain block strings that will help push them out so you can reset back to neutral. If they’re doing a block strings ending in 2S/2D xx Carcass Raid or Stinger you can aim to trade with far S. This is a perfectly acceptable trade, as it prevents them from starting up their pressure game and resets the situation back to neutral. The Venom player can alternatively start using QV instead of those two specials to counter hit your far S poke, which is really bad for you because counter hit QV is a wall bounce and a free combo into oki for them.

After a 2D knockdown midscreen, Venom has a multi-layered oki game involving K ball set into a plethora of options. I’ll go over some of his options but this thread covers a lot of Venom’s oki options and gives you an idea of what to look out for (http://tinyurl.com/venommixups)

Another thing to look out for is when Venom sets up multiple balls during the combo. It‘ll lead into a teleport cross up set (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FN5MbNxLu4Q).

Leo

Weight: Medium

Match-up: N/A

Defense:

If Leo does a H fireball from mid-to-full screen you can do jump YRC to try and safely navigate around this offensive approach.

Universal counter to Leo’s 236H is to throw. Normally, Leo’s rekka string of 236S > 236H is a true block string on regular block or FD. If you IB 236S the 236H no longer becomes a true block string and can now cross you up; however, it allows you to throw Leo out of the 236H. Do not mash throw though and try to react to the start up with throw. The Leo player can easily stop at 236S and try to apply pressure with 5P which will counter hit your throw attempt. You can do an option select of IB 236S then do 3P+K. What will happen is if the Leo attempts to do 236H after an IB 236S you will FD the cross up. If the Leo player decides to stop at an IB 236S you will do a 2P and if timed properly will beat whatever button the Leo player pushes next.


Leo is at his best in two situations, after a knockdown from 236S > 236H > 214S or when he’s next to you in Brynhildr stance. When dealing with Brynhildr stance Leo has the option to go low (K), throw invulnerable mid (P), overhead (H), counter (D), an unblockable overhead special (214H), or his dash that phases through you. It’s this wheel of options that makes his Brynhildr mix ups effective and dangerous. The low is strong because it’s +2 on block and gatlings into P, S, H or can be cancelled into his dash. Common strings you’ll see are K > P > K, K > H, or K > dash. The K > P > K string is meant to beat reversal throw since K and P are throw invulnerable during the start up. It also prevents people from auto-piloting blocking low and transitioning to high block because of the second K. You want to FD this string to push Leo back and force him to do things like 5H, 214H, or dashes as these are more reactable.

Leo’s overhead in Brynhildr stance iis H and is somewhat slow on start up and definitely reactable. Do not push buttons after blocking Bryhnhildr 5H, as Leo is +6. Leo’s Blitzschalg (214H) works like this - it is an overhead but if you block it high it causes an automatic stagger state where you need to mash buttons to escape the stagger. Without RC he cannot properly combo from this stagger state but if you’re slow on the mashing you’ll get hit by a subsequent combo.The overhead and unblockable have slow start up so you can Blitz Shield both of these.

After Brynhildr K and S attacks, Leo can cancel into his dash which will phase through you and create cross over mix ups. The dash loses to buttons and throws but obviously the Leo player can choose to frame trap instead of dash. This requires conditioning on the Leo’s player part but is probably the least telegraphed arsenal in his mix up and makes it really hard to react to when you are concentrating on his most common options.

Zato

Weight: Medium

Match-up: N/A

Bedman

Weight: Medium

Match-up: N/A

Summary

To summarize how Bedman works, he is a zoning & set up based character. Whenever he performs a special move he leaves an icon on screen. The icon left behind allows him to ‘replay’ that special move; the replayed special move operates independently from Bedman, allowing him to control space or run offense. After a set amount of time the icons will disappear on their own, however, you can remove the icons by striking them. Bedman’s normals, zoning tools, and movement allow him to play a strong zoning game in order to setup icons to start his offense.


Bedman probably has the most movement options out of the entire cast of GGXrd -Sign-. His forward dash has a guard point on it giving him different neutral and defensive options. He also has an 8 way air dash allowing him to play a strong keep away game or shift to his rush down game.

Character knowledge is really important in order to understand how to fight against Bedman. Much like Ramlethal, Bedman has a lot of oddities about him that makes playing neutral and defense against him very awkward. Once you understand how Bedman operates you’ll be able to better position yourself during neutral and make better educated guesses when defending against his offense.

Bedman is a heavyweight class character so you have to adjust your combos accordingly to maximize corner carry and damage output. This also affects the timing of your oki if you want to set up meaty swords post knockdown.

Gameplan

Neutral game:

Offense:

Defense:

Character Specifics: