Guilty Gear XX: The Utter importance of Air-Throws

Classic Fighting Games Other Games
1

Yeah, air-throws utterly own this game. And the odd thing is, they are so easy to apply to your style. Some characters can even air-throw into a wall bounce(Johnny, I-no), which in itself is very useful.

Since people LOVE to tech so much in this game, you should abuse the utter hell out of air grabs.

Good air grab set-ups are abundant, but the easiest I find, are for in the corner. You do a small air combo,a nd leave a end bit out, allowing them time to tech at a height you are easily able to reach. When you land, simply superjump towards your opponent, and as they tech BOOM, free air grab.

I play hardcore testament, so I have a enormous amount of air throw set-ups. which have increased my wins ten fold.

Just mess around with some setups, and see how far they can take your game.

2

Alot of characters rely heavily on that. Namely Chip, Anji, etc. However, I think Jonny has the most dangerous one (near the corner). Slayer’s is free if you jump anywhere near him, and he has the opion of backdashXXbite. Gotta love it.

3

Anji has STUPID resets off of air-throws. And their hard to see coming.

Yeah, Johnny’s is NASTY in the corner.

POst up some air throw strats if you have any, i’ll put some up in a minute.

4

if i recall correctly, Dizzy’s also wall bounces and leads to some nifty combos, right?

5

Yeah I think your right also. But with her I think it depends on positioning, because you might be too far away to pursue after the throw.

6

Dizzy’s airthrow is super-important to her since it’s the closest thing she has to reliable anti-air. Major damage off of it as well, especially if you have meter. Easiest followup at most ranges is just a 236HS, which you can FRC for more followups and damage.

Most characters have some easy canned airthrow setup off of an OTG. Just end your OTG string with a JCable move and jump up or forward. Most people who even tech off the ground like to tech forward in an attempt to get out of the corner, so they’ll fly right into your reach.

For the most part, I just abuse the airthrow whenever someone comes into my personal airspace or just moves predictably in general while airborne. All that free damage discourages people from going to the air as often, which helps to strengthen ground-based characters.

Also, remember that you can option-select your aithrows using Faultless Cancel. Whenever you want to do an airthrow attempt or just wanna fish for one w/little to no risk, jump and press back+HS, then immediately hit another attack button (besides Dust, of course) while holding back and HS. If your opponent was in range, great! Free throw. If not, you FD and are at minimal risk.

Some character-specific stuff:

Sol: Just generally apply it in any of his pressure situations where your opponent has to guess between an attack or a command grab. If they try to jump out of a command grab threat, free airthrow. Since his doesn’t knock down, you get an immediate setup for another airthrow or air-recover punishment. (sidenote: in #Reload, his airthrow launches on a counterhit, so there are some interesting setups w/guard bar and the like).

Axl: Extremely deadly after any Axl Bomber loop or aircombo that ends with Axl Bomber, since it sends them right back down on the ground and you get to go for more wakes. Very easy to set up after either of these combos.

Slayer: Invincible jump into airthrow = too good as an air defense. Lots of weird situations you can apply this in.

7

Hey Beast Of Fire, what do you think about Testament’s throw?

8

First, let me stress that these are not always guaranteed, if they mash on thier way down, or tech correctly you will not be able to do this (with teh exception on Slayer). That Said, lets get on with it. All combos assume you are facing right.

Anji:
(In the corner) [c.k>c.s>c.d>236+s~k] otg them here [c.k] wait for them to tech [4+j.throw>(land)~k>s>dp+hs] from here you have 3 choices:

#1. [214+hs~k] will catch just before they hit the ground. If they tech and block try to throw again, if you think they will try to hit you do [4+hs~214+p] if they tried to hit you it will guard impact and you will go into your rising counter move. If they blocked you will throw a butterfly, alot of options after this.

#2. [412364+hs] looks nice, but doesnt do good damage. Only use this if you have to, to end the match or something.

#3. If you feel they will tech up or forward when you otg, let them fall. dash up a bit [4+hs~dp+hs] the hs will hit 2 or 3 times before you cut it off, when they tech forward/up they will be grabbed.

  • #1 - (options)

#1a. If they block and you throw the butterfly, immediately do [c.d>236+k] you will cross over them as the 2nd part of the butterfly hits. If they manage to block the butterfly when you stomp from the 236+k, RC and throw them.

#1b. If they tried to hit you and you auto guard countered, RC it after the 4th hit (you will land first) [k>s>dp+hs]- go back to #1 through #4.

#1c. If they blocked and you throw the butterfly, immediately super jump forward and press j.d just as you cross to the other side. You will land just behind them and the butterfly will cover your fall. You may either throw here or start more mixup.

#1d. Basics. If they block the butterfly and jump, do [dp+hs]-go back to #1 through #4, if they block high [c.k>c.s>c.d>214+s~] if the string hits press k and go back to #3, #4 or just throw butterfly. If it was blocked, press p.

#1e. If they eat the butterfly (hey, some people do), do [k>s>dp+hs] and go back to #1 through #4. This works because if the butterfly hits, they arent grounded yet.

  • #2 - (options)

They do not dead fall and you are not close enough to follow up without reasonable risk. Dont use this here unless you absolutely have to. It puts them far away from you and then you have to start all over again trying to get inside or bating them to come to you.

  • #3 - (options)

#3a. Go back to #2. It is ok to use it here because you reset them and THEN throw. Because of this, it doesnt scale rediculously. However it does still put them far away from you, and they dont dead fall.

#3b. Go back to #1, #3, or just throw a butterfly.

Okay folx, thats it for anji throw traps. Am I a pro with him? no, he isnt even one of my mains. But I can attest that these work from having them done to me. As I said, they are escapable, but one has to know spicifically the right time and direction to tech.

9

His airthrow can lead to additional damage depending on where you grabbed them and how good your timing is, which can be really nasty. Properly timed, you can get something like say, s.Kick-s.HSlash -> Grave Digger, into Grave Digger loops. It’s also untechable, which is always good, especially with a character like Testament who is almost totally reliant on okizeme to start any sort of offense.

10

Grave Digger loops?

also, can any of you recommend a good site for GGXX stuff, particularly forums and vids? shoryuken doesn’t seem to have the most comprehensive of GG stuff.

11

go to gamecombos.com for all the ggxx you can eat!

12

Grave Digger wall bounds. At certain distances from the wall, you can combo off of this wall bound, typically into another Grave Digger, which wall bounds them again and puts you in position to do it again (though usually they are pointing in the opposite direction by then and you’ll be sending them out of the corner).

Example: From correct distance, any string ending w/HS -> Grave Digger, juggle off the wall with c.P-s.HS -> Grave Digger, juggle with s.HS (or s.S-s.HS, sometimes) -> Grave Digger.

13

slayer can also air juggle off his air throw if the frame rate he catches u is right.
what bof said, as an example i can do this, with ino:
c.d,c.hs,dash+grab, if they are air recovering the c.hp they can be grabed i belive.

14

Baiken’s airthrow is nice too if you get them near the corner because there’s a variety of ways to get them in the dust loop from there. Your goal generally is to get the airthrow at a level you can hit them with the air HS on the way down, then have enough time to go up and hit them with a K or S before they can tech.