When picking up a new fighting game, like the upcoming Guilty Gear Strive, one of the first choices beginners make is who they want to play in the game. For a notoriously difficult series like Guilty Gear, this question may be more daunting than in other titles, especially for players who are new to the genre. Since the game entered into a 3 day early access period today and is now available to Playstation players who preordered the deluxe or ultimate edition after months of delays, it’s as good a time as any to recommend some characters for players who are new to Guilty Gear or fighting games altogether. So, who is the best beginner character in Guilty Gear Strive?
Which Character Should Beginners Choose in Guilty Gear Strive?
When asking who the best character for beginners is in Guilty Gear Strive, four options come to mind. Those are Sol, Ky, Giovanna, and May. Each of these characters is fairly intuitive to start out and provides players with fundamental skills once they learn the ropes for that character. Below is a breakdown of the pros and cons of each character for beginner players.
Sol
Sol Badguy is the protagonist of Guilty Gear. If you play the game’s tutorial, you do so as Sol. One of the most apparent pros of playing Sol to start is that he is the character you use most during the Mission Mode, which is actually one of the finest tutorials in the genre. Sol’s playstyle is fairly rush-down oriented but he can still control space and zone out opponents effectively with his fireball, which travels along the ground. The other major strength of picking Sol is that he has many options, and as you learn him, you will be able to expand your arsenal with ease. Sol was perceived as strong during the game’s beta phases, and he still is here. The only con is that Ky might be easier for causal fans of fighting games to grasp.
Ky
Ky Kiske is the so-called Rye of Guilty Gear Strive. He has strong fireball options, a special uppercut, moves that allow him to approach, and he can effectively control space. More than any other character in the game, Ky is an all-rounder. This means that Ky is a strong choice for players who do not yet know how to play around character weaknesses. He is not particularly strong or weak with any skill set and has fairly easy combo routes, though he may quickly become boring because of his lack of overt strengths.
Giovanna
Giovanna is one of the new characters in Guilty Gear Strive. She fights alongside her spirit wolf, not unlike a shaman. Developers have described Giovanna as a strong choice for beginners in the past, and this is likely because she has a good range on most of her attacks and has a game plan centered around staying in the opponent’s face. Giovanna players have to worry about getting in on their opponents but don’t have projectiles or non-melee options to worry about. Giovanna is perfect for people who want to get up close and personal, which is very intuitive for beginner players to grasp. She also gets more powerful when her meter is charged, meaning that players who forget to use their resources or have not incorporated roman cancels into their game-plan will benefit from buffs to damage. Resource management is difficult to learn, and Giovanna provides beginners a game plan where they can viably ignore this element of Guilty Gear Strive while they are still new and learning the ropes. For these reasons, Giovanna is a strong choice for new players.
May
Guilty Gear’s very own Jellyfish Pirate, May, is the final recommendation for new players on our list. May is a strong beginner character because she does not require complex motions for most of her moves and her game plan is simple. She is a strong beginner character because she, like Giovanna, wants to stay in the opponent’s face and uses charge motions for her dolphin attacks which can be easier for new players than quarter circles and other motion inputs, and her anchor offers her strong close to mid-range options. While she is by no means a long-range zoner, she has a projectile to control the opponent’s movement and challenge them from a distance. May also has simple combo strings that do serious damage but offer a lot of room for growth for beginners as roman cancels give her many options of longer combos that take upwards of 60-70 percent of the opponent’s health. Like Sol, she is not exactly an all-rounder but has options for many situations; this more than anything makes May a strong beginner character in Guilty Gear Strive.
In conclusion, Sol, Ky, Giovanna, and May are four of the most approachable beginner characters in Guilty Gear Strive. Whether you are new to the franchise or new to fighting games, these characters offer you a good chance to pick up the game and learn it. It can also not be understated how much beginners should play through at least the first two difficulty levels of the mission mode; it is one of the finest learning tools fighting games have to offer. If you do not like any of these characters at the end of the day, you should play a character you do like; these four are simply the easiest to pick up, not the only ones you can choose at first. You can check out a trailer for the game here.
