Guilty Gear is easily recognizable for its flashy attacks, long combos, and carefully animated super attacks. However, a lot of players fail to truly understand its defense. In any Guilty Gear, especially Strive, it's important for players to work on their defensive decision making, the same way they practice their offense.
Guilty Gear Strive gives players a multitude of defensive options that many modern fighting games don't. The trick to improving on defense is to understand the options available to the player at any given moment, which makes Guilty Gear Strive so rewarding in the first place. These moves are among the best for defensive play.
Faultless Defense
Players can execute Faultless Defense by holding any 2 buttons (except Dust) while blocking. This pushes the opponent back from the defender, making it easier to whiff punish strings or get out of the corner. This technique is fairly easy to use, and should be utilized whenever a player has a read on what their opponent's offense looks like.
Using Faultless Defense prevents a player's risk gauge from increasing while they block at the cost of tension gauge. Still, it's extremely useful for blocking high chip and risk attacks like Ramlethal's super.
Just Defense
Just Defense is an advanced mechanic that beginners shouldn't try to use at first. With that said, it does have great implications that even beginners can grasp early on. Players perform instant blocking by blocking an attack within 2 frames of the attack landing on a character. The window can be tight, but the maneuver leaves the opponent close to the defender, making punishes easier and more effective.
The best time to go for Just Defense is when the opponent is predictable. Pay attention to what opponent's likely to do on block, so they don't get comfortable attacking with something they shouldn't be using too often.
Yellow Roman Cancel
Roman cancels are fantastic tools in Guilty Gear Strive that do a little bit of everything. Yellow Roman Cancels, specifically, are essential for disrupting an opponents offense when they're guaranteed to have an advantage. Pressing 3 buttons (excluding Dust) when the opponent does something on block initiates a Yellow Roman Cancel.
During the Roman Cancel, the opponent will be placed in a guard crush state, giving the player on defense a massive advantage and turning the tides in their favor. This cancel is super punishable on block if done incorrectly though. Be careful using it, and practice the best uses in training mode.
Blue Roman Cancel
Blue Roman Cancels are possibly the most versatile tool in all of Guilty Gear Strive. Players can use the Roman Cancel command when they are not attacking or being attacked, and a Blue Roman Cancel will activate. This cancel slows down time for a fixed period, making it clear what the opponent was doing before it was activated.
Players can use Blue Roman Cancels to block tricky mixups, punish things from far away, or bait a reversal from the opponent, opening them up for bigger damage. This move will be used differently from player to player, so be sure to experiment.
Instant Faultless Defense
Instant Faultless Defense, IFD for short, is probably the most advanced guarding technique in Guilty Gear Strive, and is also the most rewarding. It's exactly what it sounds like: using Faultless Defense the instant an attack is about to land.
Doing so gives more push back than Faultless Defense, while also conserving the tension gauge since players don't have to hold the buttons down which constantly drains the gauge. Players should only use this technique when they have a solid read on their opponent. Messing it up can result in a big counter hit combo.
Defensive Throws
Throws have always been an interesting mechanic in Guilty Gear, but in Strive, they're easier to understand and similar to throws in other major fighting game franchises. The biggest thing to note about throws in Guilty Gear Strive, is that they have only 2 frames of startup and can even throw invincible reversals.
This means on defense, if an opponent is throwing out fake setups at close range, a throw will likely snap them out of it. This tactic is especially useful against mixup characters like Leo, who use slow startup moves to mix their opponents guard up.
Super Jump
Players can perform Super Jumps by pressing down, and then up. The result is a higher jump than normal. It can also travel further horizontally, and make the player's character switch sides sooner in the air. On defense, this resource is extremely valuable. It offers a way out of the corner if the opponent isn't ready to stop it, and can even stop certain mixups from being as scary as if the player normal jumped
A great example of that is Millia's Tandem Top. Players can jump out of the heavy slash versions if it's misplaced, and Super Jump negates it all together.
Chicken Guard
Chicken guarding is an anime fighting game staple that's been around since the genre's inception. Since anime fighters like Guilty Gear are full of fast over heads and low attacks, it can be hard to keep track of the opponent and how they'll approach when they have an advantage.
A way to minimize risk is to chicken guard, which consists of jumping and immediately blocking when the opponent approaches. Doing so prevents the high/low mixup. Players can't get hit by overhead attacks while in the air, which can help to mitigate the mixup if done well. Be careful though, because the startup of a jump is pretty easy to catch in Guilty Gear Strive. It's best used when the opponent is approaching from the mid range instead of close range.
Blue Burst
Blue bursts in Guilty Gear are, simply put, a tool for getting the opponent to stop their combos or offense. Players can perform a blue burst while getting hit, which makes them the ultimate "get off me" tool, since they knock opponents away.
A great rule of thumb for using blue bursts is players shouldn't do them while higher than the opponent. The animation raises the character in the air a bit, which can actually make them whiff very easily, opening players up for damage. Try to use blue bursts while level with the opponent, if not below them.
Gold Burst
Gold bursts are a more aggressive mechanic that serve to force the opponent away, but at a greater risk. To perform a gold burst, players must not be in hit or block stun from an opponent's attacks.
Bursting when the opponent isn't blocking, or to whiff punish one of their moves, will send them flying and reward the player who bursted. The rewards are a full tension gauge and positive meter gain. This can turn the tides of a battle instantly. The player who was just playing defense will gain a massive offensive advantage.