Fighting game fans now have a clear picture of what Guilty Gear Strive Season 3 is going to look like after its next big update.
Guilty Gear Strive is getting long in the teeth. There’s no word on when the next game might come out or what it might be, but Arc System Works is instead opting to just basically Guilty Gear Strive a completely different game. Alongside the standard roundup of new characters, the next big update brings new universal mechanics, changes to existing ones, new moves for established characters, and more.
These changes aren’t just going to force players to approach the game in a new way, many of them actually break long-established Guilty Gear gameplay conventions. Here’s what Guilty Gear Strive Season 3 changes and what it means for players.
The biggest changes in Guilty Gear Strive Season 3
There are a long list of changes in Guilty Gear Strive both big and small, and it’s too early to tell what the net effect will be. Characters like Baiken and Happy Chaos received sweeping nerfs, but the changes could ultimately make the patch a net gain for them. With that in mind, it’s worth giving a more general picture of what’s different.
Burst is completely different now, and not just because of Wild Assault and Deflect Shield
Burst has traditionally been a close-range combo breaker, but that is set to change in Guilty Gear Strive Season 3. Blue Burst now has a much greater range and is extended over more frames. Yellow Burst now only requires half of the burst meter, and now gives a Positive Bonus on hit rather than a full meter.
Alongside this are the Wild Assault and Deflect Shield abilities that are available to all characters. They offer new offensive and defensive options, respectively, and cost half the Burst meter. The Burst meter will also passively fill faster, allowing players to use these new tools more frequently.
Damaged reduced for low-risk and versatile moves
A recurring theme throughout the patch notes are nerfs to what is described as “powerful neutral tools” and “low-risk frame traps.” How these were nerfed varies from move to move, but the changes include changes to damage scaling and removing the counter effect. A long list of moves were impacted by this including Sol’s Bandit Revolver, Millia’s Iron Savior, and many more.
Every character is now the same weight in Guilty Gear Strive Season 3
A staple of Guilty Gear games is that different characters have different weights, making heavy characters more susceptible to longer combos. That’s not the case any longer. The next Guilty Gear Strive update will make all characters the same weight. This will make almost all combos equally applicable to all characters. It could also prove to be a buff or nerf to some fighters.
New moves for Faust, May, and more
May, Faust, Anji Mito, and Ramlethal Valentine all received new moves or new options in existing moves. May is now able to cancel out of Totsugeki to set up new mixups while Anji Mito has a new follow-up after being hit during Suigetsu No Hakobi.
When it comes to completely new moves, Ramlethal Valentine now has a different projectile move that erupts out of the ground across the stage, pushing the enemy toward her. Faust can now pocket a random item when using What Could This Be, with the item then being displayed. This offers a whole new range of offensive and defensive options for Faust players. Also receiving new moves are I-No and Giovanna.
Command throws and supers are universally worse in Guilty Gear Strive Season 3
There are loads of changes to individual moves and mechanics that impact different characters in different ways. One thing that was changed across the board for everyone is that command throws and supers are now just worse.
Johnny is back
Normally a character being added to the game would be higher on the list, but this is just such a large update that he had to be snuck in at the bottom. Johnny is back as the first Guilty Gear Strive Season 3 DLC character, and he’s basically the same as ever. He swaps out his coin for playing cards, but is still defined by his quickdraw sword.
The full patch notes can be found on the official Guilty Gear website.
