Introduction
In order to stay alive, you need to take as little damage as possible while maximizing your damage output. To do this, you need to know how to guard incoming attacks. There are 3 types of guarding options. Knowing how to use them, as well as in what situations, can greatly improve your game. Not only will you be able to defend better, but in some cases you will be able to resume your offence faster.The most important part of attacking and defending is understanding how attacks connect. There are four basic hit ranges: High (h); Mid (m); Low (l); and Overhead (o). High attacks strike standing opponents, but can be crouched under. Mid attacks strike both standing and crouching opponents. Low attacks strike at the opponents feet.
(note: because of size, most high attacks will strike Potemkin in his crouch.)
An additional attack range / property is Unblockable. (!) This basically means the attack cannot be blocked using standard guarding techniques.
Basic Guard
Basic Guard is the most common defensive option. To guard against high attacks, simply hold back. Crouching is another alternative as high attacks will pass overhead. To guard against mid attacks, hold back or down+back. To guard against low attacks, hold down+back. Basic Guard in the air is even easier. Hold any backwards direction (u/b, b, or d/b). All air attacks can be blocked by holding back unless it’s and air throw or a special command grab which are unblockable. One important note to remember is that you cannot use Basic Guard to stop ground-based attacks. What this means is, if your opponent is still on the ground and attacks with basic or special move that strikes while the opponent is still grounded, the move will be unblockable to airborne opponents (example #1: May jumps at Sol, Sol uses 2H, May gets hit because Sol is on the ground – example #2: Potemkin jumps at Johnny, Johnny uses his 632146H super, Potemkin gets hit because Johnny is on the ground).Any time your opponent attempts to use a grounded anti-air attack, you will need to Faultless Defence instead of Basic Guard. Remember this… it’s important!
Instant Block
Instant Block (also known as “Just Defend”) is a precise version of Basic Guard. Instead of just holding back to guard incoming attacks, you actually wait until the last moment and press back or down+back right as the move connects. An Instant Block will be signified by your character flashing white. Instant Block shares the exact same properties and abilities of the Basic Guard except your character recovers much faster (they are in less block stun for every move that is Instant Blocked). Just as with Basic Guard, you can perform Instant Block in the air, however, ground-based attacks are still unblockable and you must use Faultless Defence.As a special feature of Instant Block, you can perform it “during” attack patterns. What this means is, if your opponent has you in a guard pattern and you are simply using Basic Guard, you can switch to Instant Block at any point in the pattern if you can time the back or down+back presses. This is highly useful for escaping many common attack sequences. By Instant Blocking certain hits, you can escape and/or retaliate where you normally couldn’t.
Faultless Defence (Basic Explanation)Faultless Defence (explained more thoroughly in the Tension Gauge section) is basically a form of guarding that negates guard damage and pushes your opponent away every time they hit you during the FD animation. It’s also the only way to guard against ground-based attacks while your character is in the air. In addition, FD stops your guard gauge from increasing for each hit you guard. The main drawback is that the character using FD will be in guard stun longer than if they had used Basic Guard or Instant Block.
