Why Everyone HATES Slayer...

[@bobmulligan9031]

Another note with slayer is you never feel like you are winning, you can have a 90% health lead and still feel like you are losing

[@unidino8963]

right?! evverytime i play against my friends slayer its like i have a 2H gun to my head. i pressure him in the corner then *COUNTER* suddenly all health is gona and im on the other side of the screen

[@icepl831]

you cant have 90% health against slayer because the moment he hits you you go AT LEAST to 70% xdd

[@SPM833]

Slayer is the only character that makes me save full bar of meter in order to get more defense as Gio in order to "survive"

[@GGSTFraudGameplay]

Playing against slayer always feels like just surviving, I should have mentioned that too. It's a really stressful matchup for almost everyone.

[@ooAAAAAoo]

Getting combo'd for 70% damage while thinking "it could have been worse" is such a hilarious situation

[@SPM833]

@@ooAAAAAoo thats literally what I keep thinking everytime I get countered hit😂

[@UnfortunateWatcher]

Playing Potemkin against Slayer has just been me deciding that I don’t want them to have any fun. Because if I let them have fun, I lose.

[@coomcharger6105]

Jokes on you, I was a Pot main till A.B.A came out. I picked up Slayer cause Pilebunker go weeeeeee.

[@neog8029]

To be fair, that's like 75% of how Strive is at most levels anyways, but it's doubly so when I fight Slayer.

[@drasticgray]

you block fast mappa, you bust. you block pilebunker, you bust. you fd super, you kara bust.

[@scatmansextendeduniverse2378]

Playing against Slayer feels like I'm playing my opponent's character for them. I have to know more about Slayer than my opponent does in order to win

[@Jimbzy]

Slayer players are the ultimate gamblers, from the moment they pick the character they are letting God take the wheel and hope that whatever random things they do work on you.

[@ghostphantom8453]

​@@Jimbzy It works like 50% of the time then I have to lockin and be that asshole that keeps you in a corner

[@arachnofiend2859]

The Potemkin comparison on the combo is interesting because you will NEVER see that combo outside of Celestial, getting KBMF to come out *at all* is too hard for most players, let alone consistent enough to loop it. Low rank Potemkins will rarely do a combo that does more than Potemkin Buster does.

[@GGSTFraudGameplay]

It's even funnier because the hardest part about that conversion is getting a fully charged flick in without wallbreaking due to giganter, the timing is incredibly tight but it makes it one of my favorite combos!

[@endiegaming3322]

@@GGSTFraudGameplayyeah lmao it’s a 2 frame window on ky

[@GGSTFraudGameplay]

@@endiegaming3322 Oh I thought the Ky one was a bit bigger, I practiced it the most on him!

[@endiegaming3322]

@@GGSTFraudGameplayyeah most characters are 2-3 framers

[@raz54rus]

Strive has absolutely bs execution at high level. Kara cancels, FRC shenanigans, IBFD timings are strict as hell and most normal players will never be able to do that stuff consistently pretty much robbing them out of their characters' options. Kinda ironic consireding Strive was supposed to be a simpler more accessable game yet execution for those things just insane for no good reason.

[@МирославКръстев-с7и]

I've been saying the same thing ever since his release but everyone replied with "Oh hE's DaNdy So DaNdy just guess right lmao DaNdYyYyY". I've grown to despise that word. The downplay on Slayer was insane up until a month ago when people realised that there's nothing "dandy" in cycling between 2 options, both of which hit half screen and if that doesn't work, panic super.

[@ournameis_legion6426]

I mean, he's not really a game breaking option, though? His defense and backwards walk speed is really bad. If he's in the driver seat, he's gonna feel like a menace, but once you've got your foot on the gas, you can take control of the game and keep it.

[@joshuahcrosswhite]

@@ournameis_legion6426This is every single character in the game

[@newgroundtv]

Lmao 😂

[@kekcola]

@@ournameis_legion6426 and asuka also has shit defense.

[@autostradapazza2885]

Dandy issue

[@CatChat240p]

My toxic belief is that Slayer is the closest thing the game has to an accessibility mode

[@Kasaaz]

For new players, the reason they lose a lot of time is because they don't get good damage on punishes. He does make that super easy.

[@Jimbzy]

Slayer is baby mode, sin and elphelt are accessibility mode. But i cannot deny that out of all of them i only despise elphelt, Sin is my beloved and Slayer gets a pass for being so dandy.

[@Dhampire1976]

Don't worry you won't find many slayers down in floor 2 where you belong

[@CatChat240p]

@@Dhampire1976 damn that was a really good one!

[@drungaodys5610]

​@@Jimbzyi still cant get around her 50/50 combo but i know theres a moment where i can backdash punish

[@mcgoldenblade4765]

I think Slayer is living proof that balancing only for the highest level of play doesn't work. Just because a chatacter isn't OP or unbeatable doesn't mean they're fun or well designed. I think this speaks to a big issue in the FGC where you need some sort of credentials in order to have an opinion on something. The truth is, balance shouldn't be the goal of designing a fighting game, the goal should be making it FUN. If you ignore the complaints of lower level players just because they don't know every matchup inside and out, then you're actively making the experience worse for them. There's a very common saying among game devs along the lines of: "Players are amazing at knowing WHEN they don't like something, they are horrible at expressing WHY". If enough people are complaining about it, it's a problem that needs to be addressed. Just make sure not to take those complaints at face value and try to actually tackle the underlying issue causing it, instead of just the symptoms.

[@leasek]

the funniest thing about this is that he is still broken at high level too. in the top 100 he has only one matchup with a winrate below 50% (against aba, 48%). against the others his winrate varies from 50%+ to 70%+

[@tyrelljefferson771]

Slayer is a problem even for high level players. His risk vs reward is too good. As for balancing the game, taking input from low level players vs a higher level player is questionable. If you start to talk about balance of a game then you already are not a casual gamer. A casual gamer only cares about the game being pretty and fun. They don't even think about balance, they just say something is cheap and that's that. A casual gamer will play the game here and there or just for the first month and be done with it. The moment you complain about balance you are entering into the next level. These players are not high level players and therefore their opinions shouldn't carry the same weight as someone who is extremely knowledgeable. A lot of the things people complain about at an intermediate level are just straight up skill issues. That's not to say that intermediate level players shouldn't have a say because they should. Sometimes they can see things that go over a high level players head. But balancing for the most part will always be catered to high level because the casuals don't care enough. Most don't even notice the changes.

[@xana3961]

@@tyrelljefferson771 There is something to be said for trying to make characters feel enjoyable both to play and play against for all skill levels (or at least as many as possible). If a character is just cheaply good, then many players will use that character. Because of this, casuals who play the game online will get absolutely thrashed by characters like slayer then just... stop playing the game. They just won't come back because the game itself wasn't fun enough to keep playing. You have to enjoy a game to reach the next level because, otherwise, you'll just stop playing.

[@M-Trigger]

In the case that Slayer is actually your main, your are the most based Slayer main I have ever met. Recognizing that your character has desing flaws that can make fighting against it unfun or unfair for the opponent and agreeing with the complaints of the people that are upset (using valid arguments)with the character you play is something that tells a lot about the type of person you are. During my time here, I have met a number that I'm not proud of of Slayer mains that would rathet choose to be dead instead of recognizing that their character is "unfair" to say the least, and stubborn enough to tell thousand of people "my character is fine, you just have skill issue lol git gud 😂" instead of trying to be reasonable. I once talked about how I find K Mappa Hunch and Super Mappa Huch unfair online and there was an Slayer main that replied to me so triggered that they only needed to say "You should *K funny word* yourself now" to make a perfect LTG impresion. I also find interesting how you even think that Slayer has flaws that can even make the game boring for Slayer himself, It really shows how much you care about the character and his problems. With this Bible being told, I have nothing against people who play Slayer at all or any other broken character, everyone should feel free to play whoever they want, as long as they are respectfull to the rest of the players. We as a community should work togheter and agree with eachother to find each and every character flaw and a way that said flaw can be fixed for the sake of the game remaining fun for everyone instead of go over there saying "I'm right and you are not". I hope that with videos like this, Arc Sys can get enough material from the players to know perfectly what things should be adjusted for the next update. Great video over all man!

[@GGSTFraudGameplay]

Thank you! I wouldn't say he is my main but I put most of my Strive time into him since release, kind of started checking out other chars like Bedman again since Slayer got really boring after a while tho!

[@SlunchSlide]

as a Pot main i agree with basically every point in the vid. Neutral gets held hostage at 50 meter because god forbid you try slidehead and get gut checked by a freight train, 2k-2d is invalidated because 2H. The matchup overall is just horrific but i wont lie there's nothing quite like the impending doom of baiting SPH and knowing that the PB is coming.

[@GGSTFraudGameplay]

Characters that depend on good lows feels so horrible to play into slayer, especially when you're forced to use mediocre buttons once he reaches 50 meter.

[@Echricter]

Easily the best type of these videos, great breakdown that doesn’t feel like it take points out of context, good shit

[@GGSTFraudGameplay]

Thank you! It was definitely my favorite project so far!

[@Jaxitron04]

Another thing to mention is his absolute domination over low floors, id be interested in seeing the statistics of that.

[@GGSTFraudGameplay]

Really really good point! I might take a look at that in a future video.

[@johncrq3594]

actually, slayers winrate on RU is highest in top 1000 and 100

[@fnndhshsbxnf]

You mean all floors lol. he’s the most popular char in top 100 iirc

[@M0HAK0]

100% true. If they cant handle a regular char then slayer would be 3 times worse.

[@Kitikirii]

Low risk and high reward, kills you in 2 interactions (5 hits per interaction), infinite crossups and mixups with dandy step and his dash/vanish. He also has a command grab that puts you in a "counter" scenario if slayer hits you (which allow Slayer to doing a pilebunker loop), he also has a counter super mappa punch, no matter how far you are, he will hit you, one single pilebunker stamps you on the wall, his 5S is an antiair and a combo starter, mappa punch skips neutral... (I mean, all characters skips neutral in this game, but Slayer just does this so well). And the last and more important thing, Slayer has a wife and the GGST players don't.

[@entropy7705]

In Slayer's eyes the entire cast of GGST is Chipp Zanuff

[@levelzapstudios1145]

as an anji main slayer pisses me off because all his strengths are just anji's strengths but more, and all his weaknesses are just anji's weaknesses but less

[@mcgardenshedsofficial]

common anji player L

[@noahsullivan288]

I’m a Millia main and I feel the same way, particularly around his reward. Both are characters who have crazy mix and struggle in disadvantage (Slayer bc lack of options and Millia bc low health puts high risk on her), but slayer gets to cash out on damage from basically anything while I’m lucky to do 50% after an oki setup. Slayer gets crazy meter while Millia iirc has the lowest meter gain in the game. Granted some of this is probably me being bad but it does feel a lot like slayer is just Millia with more reward. Oh god I sound like the Millia guy don’t I

[@Cactus_fucker]

@@mcgardenshedsofficial catch me spinning into your mothers room tonight

[@DestroyerOfDoom]

I feel millia is worse chipp in every way. Less meter, about same health. Worse neutral, no dp. However the mix once you get into the blender is unbearable lol​@noahsullivan288

[@Mike-official]

parry:

[@fnndhshsbxnf]

slayer feels so unfun to fight compared to the rest of the cast. i don’t think there are any other characters that can kinda just flail around and know one bread and butter combo but still win

[@M0HAK0]

If you can hit him and take his burst, i feel he isnt as scary. If he hits you though ggs. Honestly imo they should nerf his regular damage and give him crazy damage ONLY when he lands a BSU setup.

[@satorrotas93]

@@M0HAK0100% this. Rn it feels like his universe mechanic is kinda neglected by most Slayer players.

[@anotherpersonfromnorfolk1587]

I guess we just... forgot that Leo Whitefang existed? Or shit, even Sol Badguy

[@satorrotas93]

@@anotherpersonfromnorfolk1587 Nobody likes playing against them either lol

[@raywing00]

SSSSSSSSSSlayer and SSSSSSSSSSol 😂

[@peacewalkr6942]

His massive health pool should not be understated imo. Spending over half the round smacking him around and he still has more than enough health to work with, along with the meter he gains overtime. Assuming you’ve already used your burst already or used your meter to try and put yourself in a better spot. It can take 1-2 interactions for slayer to snowball out of control and roll over you. Makes it seem like slayer just ran away with the game after being a punching bag for most of the match.

[@heracrossz7701]

@@peacewalkr6942 that's my main issue with him specially when he gets access to gold burst and super prc.

[@johncrq3594]

i think this character was kinda butchered from xrd, making his highest damage accessible anywhere and removing his high execution defence skips as a tradeoff just resulted in a nuke character that only cares about rps. the most shocking change was 2h special cancel, thats just insane

[@mexicanchicken3377]

i think it was a good transition from xrd in terms of gameplan structure, but youre entirely correct about removing the high execution. His pb loops have only some execution requirement with heavyweights having their own rules, but the glaring issue is that he has access to high damage without the execution at all. Want a high damage CH but dont want to practice pb loops even though theyre easy? well ch > 6h > pile does like 70% of the job which is just unfair for lower level players. Additionally, hes missing the simple difficulty of needing to do links to achieve knockdowns, such as his +r 5k > 2k > 2d LINK, which was not too difficult but kept him out of the hands of players who would abuse his buttons at a low level. I think if they scaled his damage down while also increasing the difficulty to play, we would have a character that is more enjoyable to fight and less of an issue for the less experienced. Fingers crossed for big october patch.

[@slurponaut]

@@mexicanchicken3377 I think the normal gatlings and having more special-cancellable normals are one of the biggest reasons that he is so easy to get loads of damage with in this game. You couldn't easily gatling into 5H or 2H for tight frame traps and easy CHs before, and 2H/2D couldn't be made safe with mappa hunch or dandy step. It definitely streamlines his pressure and makes it 10x more suffocating

[@mexicanchicken3377]

@@slurponaut Yes, and its important to note that in order to link those frame traps, his buttons were massively more plus in previous iterations, such as his 5k being plus in +r and xrd, while in strive its -5, and this made it so he had to time his frametraps to reap their huge reward, where in strive he can kind of do it automatically. I love strive slayer, but there is fundamentally an issue with mappa being cancellable always which means his tricky buttons dominate a bit too much and force unfavorable random feeling high risk rps. The funny thing is, with the exception of 2h and 2d special cancel, i wouldn't change much else about his design other than forcing the links and limiting the routing to make it more difficult to play and master.

[@slurponaut]

@@mexicanchicken3377 Hard agree. The only other thing I might change is to make air combos actually useful lol. j.D pretty much has no use other than to be gatlinged from j.S and j.K because air combos are so much less optimal than any grounded combo. But strive is a very grounded game so that's unlikely.

[@mysteryakatsuki]

People who complain about Totsugeki are the ones that want Slayer badly and now they have to pay the price.

[@LunarNeedle]

Huh, so it makes sense why as a Goldlewis main it just felt right to hit 684H when out of 2H range. Goldlewis can actually handle the matchup really well compared to most!

[@drewsbiggestfan689]

Playing neutral vs Slayer as Testament makes me feel like sisyphus, 2-step gameplans suck in strive already but with Slayer I feel EVERY aching moment of it. God forbid I bait a 2H and cant run u[ quick enough to let 5H combo from f.s because its hitbox is so small, meaning I need to spend burst to make the punish count or else he's just going to keep swinging and not be afraid of whiffing his big buttons, and once I do spend it for a ~10% health loss combo, I have to lame him out AGAIN so I don't get two-tapped and have the situation repeat. I fucking love slayer aesthetically and character-wise but fuck does he just make me wanna close the game and go back to sleep

[@baliaza4485]

I hate that I can't kill pot in one interaction (This is obviously a joke)

[@Garbaito]

Great editing, valid explanation and small but really helpful tips in one video, easily one of the best GGST content out there. There are some videos on YT that consists of opening training mode and show unedited footage without any script, which feel boring, but here, it's easy to follow, understand, and most important, it's enjoyable!

[@GGSTFraudGameplay]

Thank you, I'm glad you liked it!

[@P0tatoThief556]

His entire thing is SUPPOSED to be bad defence but high damage and pressure, but they gave him a cross-map reversal.

[@gunnyisgoodboi4846]

Yeah your right, make like in xrd, it deals half your hp and can loop into combos but maybe half the range

[@enclavehere4705]

this isn't actually true. Slayer in every game before strive has some of the most belligerent defense in the whole cast(top 2 backdash frame data that becomes top 1 because it can be jumped out of at any point and canceled into specials through bdc, bdc dead on time is a true reversal that also hit fullscreen, though it could be blocked after the flash if the opponent was far enough), slayers weakness in the earlier gg games was the fact that while his damage was high, it always required either resources(meter), positioning(the best slayer combos in xrd and +r are usually near but not at the corner) or counterhits, and they usually came from big, relatively slow attacks(pilebunker, crosswise heel, it's late, 6h etc.). Basically, he was inconsistent in his damage, extremely meter hungry and required the player to gamble in order to get the hits they want. Strive slayer throws this out of the window, the corner doesn't matter for him, he gets 40% from a non CH c.S. starter bnb and meter just adds even more damage to his already high damage combos, his damage is increadibly high and extremely consistent. The way i think nerfing slayer should go is actually to nerf his ability to convert into big damage without counterhits(making him mostly unable to route into pilebunker meterlessly without counterhit by making c.S. not combo into 6h and making nothing combo into 2h would be the way i'd do that personally). his big counterhit conversions should stay imo(nerf CH 2h though, that shit should not be able to route into 70% meterlessly) I also think adressing the reward he gets from k mappa would also be in order, i don't know who thought making it give knockdown on hit was a good idea, that move used to be minus ON HIT, it should not give that much screen space so easily.

[@smalltoids6070]

It didnt get touched on but the meter build on slayer is kind of insane. I dont think theres been a time after he landed a blocked k mappa that he didnt end up getting to about 60% tension on the blockstring

[@Vernafveik]

Fighting Slayer as Testament feels awful because of how good Super Mappa Punch is at punishing me for playing my character. With other full screen supers I don’t feel invalidated because: -They either don’t travel fast enough to punish me on reaction, so I can RC the start-up of my Grave Reaper or Arbiter Sign for an equal tension exchange. -They don’t leave me right in front of the opponent afterwards, where Testament will struggle the most. -They don’t deal too much damage for me to be 1 interaction away from a loss. If Slayer has 50 tension Testament is just forced to stand there and not commit to doing anything they are designed to do.

[@TheGreenestOfCats]

I generally find that controlling the air space with j.236H, j.D, j.H, and j.S helps a lot with disallowing slayer to use his super, but generally yeah I agree it’s a sucky matchup.

[@gyrolad]

@@TheGreenestOfCatsj.236H is still rough because even though it’s airborne, it’s still pretty close to the ground and the projectile isn’t active till later, meaning super mappa could still hit and k.mappa can air CH you for 1mil dmg

[@TheGreenestOfCats]

@@gyrolad you can delay your fall by both backdashing and charging up the input. Sometimes you gotta get creative with dealing with more grounded opponent.

[@Slafren]

If it helps, testament is my worst matchup as slayer

[@zhaoyun255]

There is a reason why Testament needs to have his traps style back. Testament's current style sucks vs. Slayer. No Grave Digger or Badland to keep Slayer in check was a crime against humanity.

[@andromeda8505]

you know those clips where potemkin hits a buster and it cuts to the round ending with potemkins win screen? slayer does the same thing but its almost any hit

[@hoja6084]

0:45 fernanfloo el crack universal 🥶

[@aarotron2189]

Gotta love that feeling of doing 1 whiff to get wallbreaked with 2-3 hits total

[@mrs_trains_6213]

As a faust main, slayers neutral skips make me genuinely want to die, plus fausts commital options being item todd and scalpel make slayer a chore

[@yeeyee2985]

fellow Faust main here best thing I've found for mappa hunch is Faust can low-profile it with crawl and punish with c.S or 2K when Slayer's in that long range, I don't commit to anything, just shimmy and watch for his approach if I punish it enough, I might try to sneak a thrust or item eat in, though that's especially risky when Slayer has meter for super mappa hunch Slayer still makes me want to die too lol

[@mrs_trains_6213]

@@yeeyee2985 oh shit crawl works? I never thought it would tysm

[@BankaiEdje]

@@mrs_trains_6213 all low profiles and all 6ps stuff hunches

[@notcraig255]

@@yeeyee2985 don't do c.s, its slower than 2k but 2k is good. you can also snip or grab

[@yeeyee2985]

@@notcraig255 That's kinda true. Slayer has 15 frames recovery after active frames and c.S is frame 8. So while it can work, I guess it's slightly riskier than 2K, which is frame 5 point blank for similar reward. Grabs def work too lol

[@canis760]

I think this video says things rightly. My only concern is that it's not obvious to people that his weaknesses are worse the better you get at the game. He has that noobslayer effect where he has a small knowledge check of knowing the matchups, but once you realize most of his pressure isn't real, he is defanged in a significant way. The problem isn't that he's "too good", it's just his design people don't like. But if that is worthy of changing, then we have the problem of "I guess these kinds of characters just aren't allowed to exist in fighting games." And we get the effect we are seeing over the last ten years where characters are made more and more bland compared to yesteryear.

[@helpsloan]

his pressure isn't real if you can perfectly read a 5 way unreactable mix every time, but we're not all Daigo. can we just admit his frames or numbers are overtuned and stop downplaying

[@ComfyJenny]

This video really hits all the points I think, really appreciate the different content this time! ❤

[@GGSTFraudGameplay]

I'm glad you liked it! I will definitely keep this format in the rotation, the editing was a bunch of fun!

[@codenamec.a.t2480]

Slayer genuinely feels like the easy mode for this game, I have seen Floor 4 Slayers beat Floor 10 characters just because they know their one BnB and that’s it

[@GGSTFraudGameplay]

Slayer is definitely one of those characters that can win against anyone if they don't know the matchup, characters like Asuka do this too but on a much smaller scale.

[@NyukiFrost]

Slayer could just use the HC treatment and have his health and damage get nerfed to compensate for his insane kit (and maybe not have c.S hit OTG), both characters purposely hold back canonically so it makes sense

[@uhohspaghettios821]

i love that when i play bedman and i hit slayers at ANY range with needle i am still minus and lose the next interaction if they simply jump, as a reward for successfully walling them out with the fake fireball button

[@GGSTFraudGameplay]

J.S has been hard carrying me in that MU, it's pretty good at preemptively dealing with K Mappa and leads to great reward.

[@Steiner0418]

Playing as Zato is literal hell against slayer. His 2H just absolutely ruins half his moves and kills Eddie so easy. Zato’s main pokes in neutral are 2S and Eddie’s Pierce which both miss Slayer’s 2H. Even when I’m full health and got him in a movie-length block string I feel like I’m at a disadvantage

[@saikou_no_koi]

Whenever Slayer is brought up, most of the time I despise him while some other time, I'm just sad This is a character that a new player might pick up and with how easy it is to just win as him in lower floor, humility is out of the question The moment that new player hits a wall they will be discouraged just because it stopped being easy and they can't rely on Slayer's bullshit anymore I remember the joy I had when I reached floor 4 after a month of learning, the fact that new players who picked Slayer first might not be able to enjoy that with the same weigh is kinda sad to me Some Slayer also just have that weird ego to them because they know that their character is broken and then they curse at anyone whenever they lose

[@eastcoasttone3952]

This is a very well made video. I’m about to screenshot the neutral chart you made and save it for future reference lol.

[@GGSTFraudGameplay]

My neutral chart is actually on dustloop in full resolution! (In the Slayer counterplay section iirc?) I haven't really sent the new version with the added 2H to anyone yet but I'll get to it when I find the time!

[@Slipdash]

The only character in this game that makes me tilt

[@Scubabooga]

I was thinking to myself lately about the duality of Season 3's last two DLC characters because in a way they share similar design philosophies. ABA and Slayer are both designed around the idea of having high damage output but each access it in very different ways. While ABA's pressure focuses around building and maintaining her install state through combos and looping pressure, Slayer just has the damage output of Jealous Rage without the work. Even his most basic pilebunker loop setup (CH c.S, charged 5D, c.S...) deals 286 damage to Ky, while a high damage heavy like Pot's average bnb deals around 270ish. ABA is fun to fight because there is buildup to her damage and ways to prevent it from happening but with Slayer it feels like the devs forgot all about designing ABA and created a character that's really one-sided to fight. His existence in neutral pretty much invalidates most of the cast's pressure, let alone with 50 meter. I don't think you can jusr nerf his damage to balance him out though, I think some of his moves should be more punishable (K hunch should be more than -2, SMH should have more time for a player to react to it). There might be some room to tune his damage scaling slightly but you run the risk of overnerfing and ruining the point of playing a super strong vampire.

[@Lyvola420]

AS A VERY NEW PLAYER, WITH LESS THAN 20 HOURS ii mostly played chipp in arcade, I have literally gone from floor 5 to floor 8 with slayer alone, he is that easy AND POWERFUL

[@piechara501]

Would love to see such videos covering May, Leo and other top 5 characters in this game

[@mikhail21]

For a character with strong neutral skip, he also has plus frames and guard crush.

[@postal3412]

The Axl matchup is genuinely hellish. The dude can just keep throwing himself at you with his massive health bar and damage until he gets 50 meter, and then I can't play the game. Oftentimes the best solution is to actually run offense, since my zoning is completely kneecapped after the match goes on too long

[@notcraig255]

even as a faust player who can forward crawl mappa, the boringness of just sitting there going forward crawl makes me lose because then I throw an item, then get kmappa'd right at the same time. basically the ltg clip of "I got tired of blocking"

[@zhaoyun255]

Slayer since his first debut in GG X2 has always been either completely busted or mid tier. Slayer is one of the few old characters that still got 90% of his toolkit intact like A.B.A in Strive. His style is always punishment to the holy hell. He is the OG combo into Instant kill without Stunt when he first debut. One thing that was consistent throughout all of his incarnation was the damage. Especially counter hit damage and pilebunker was even more toxic with its high stunt mordifier that often lead to an IK. To balance it out, he didn't have gagling but Link combo instead. What you Strive player didn't have to deal with in this game was Undertow (AC+R and XRD): AC+R is a one hit armor powerful move that grant him MASSIVE damage on counterhit. XRD ver. was a SLOW but UNBLOCKABLE which is good for oki and got INSANE stunt modifier. BDC (Back Dash Cancel): this is if not one of the BEST defensive option in Guilty Gear history until Strive took away from him. BDC will effectively make all of his special and super Frame 1 invincible. This is where the Slayer never block meme came from. Last but not least, he used to have THE BEST 6P in the game which could even anti air the floor and negate projectile. Can even beat like 90% of the super in the game. Slayer is the classic case of old design vs. new Strive design. Testament used to have NO issue with Slayer since he got Curse Skull, Web, Hitomi (tree), Warden (poison counter), Grave Digger (Not to be confuse with Grave Reaper), Badland and poison super (Frame 1 invul and +1 on block) to counter. The new Testament could not compete with the current Slayer that still have his offense intact and now he got Gatling combo instead, he couldn't hope to fight against this very monster.

[@jaycehawthorne9541]

Hit the nail on the head with it being just fucking tedious to fight the guy. I am a risk taker by trade when I play so being forced to basically sit back and only whiff punish the guy or punch him for taking a risky dandy step is insanely boring.

[@mryoyo3318]

meanwhile me. a slayer main who has fun watching someone tell me im not having fun lol. good vid tho enjoyed

[@remuvs]

For me, the biggest complaint about Slayer is how his counter play is entirely dependent on counter hitting before his specials land (6P a 14-22f start up K-Mappa, fuzzy mash against dandy step, ground throw/air-to-air MH etc) Being -1 or -2 on block (excluding pilebunker) makes it feel like the risk/reward is out of balance. It’s just not interesting how he can get away with his shenanigans if you miss the counter hit opportunity and he spaced himself to deny the throw punish.

[@MarceloHenrique-vq4zi]

I think is funny when people complain about backshot pilebunker combos because in older games that had no wall break the move used to wall splat and that's how you would get de loops going. It was a very creative way to implement pilebunker loops on strive considering that the alternative would be the move either wall bouncing or leaving the oponent tumbling on a normal hit without the instant wall splat, and that would make his conversions much easier and his damage higher..

[@Hostefar]

LordKnight if he made good videos:

[@davidburke4101]

Although dandy step is more of a noob stomper, it's also a major reason people hate the character. Being able to dodge and then delete somebody for whiffing a normal at midrange in neutral, or deleting players for daring to interact without using YRC, Burst, FD or Deflect. If you don't know how to deal with this move, you can just spam it and win, and it works in the only range you can play around mappa punch.

[@Iminsideyourwalls99]

I sure do love losing 65% of my HP of a CH 2D

[@minhlamat2879]

into the infinite c.S pilebunker loop bs

[@GGSTFraudGameplay]

CH 2D is another good one, that button is underrated as hell.

[@Iminsideyourwalls99]

​@@minhlamat2879 imagine pressuring Slayer with Foundre Arc in the corner and then getting fucking Pilebunker'ed into the wall. Couldn't be me hahahah...

[@Iminsideyourwalls99]

@@GGSTFraudGameplay I don't even know how they managed to give him THAT many OP buttons. Shaving the entire HP bar with 2D without meter is just stupid It feels like c.S works as an anti-air better than some of 6P's in the game 2H is just fuck you 2S vacuuming you into either command grab or dandy step cross up or some other bullshit I don't think there's a character that has as much OP buttons (besides Sol maybe)

[@Peeves22]

As a Slayer main, absolutely true video through and through I love this character, but I'd love him even more if I didn't feel like I cheated a win due to one interaction followed by a random super.

[@testhekid]

dude.. your commentary is phenomenal, id love to see more vids like this and tysm for the super quality vids

[@GGSTFraudGameplay]

Thank you! I'll definitely have this as a new format from now on, I really enjoyed the more edit and commentary heavy approach while working on it!

[@13thephantom]

As a Slayer who can't pilebunker loop (I refuse to learn them just to show that even without them Slayer is insane) the biggest issue I have with Slayer is just how oppressive he can be even in the hands of inexperienced players. All it takes is one stray hit or an insane roundstart option and all of a sudden you're blocking for your life. The fact I'm going toe to toe with my friend who's in Celestial as a floor 9 player because I can punish optimal options is genuinely dumb

[@acanopener6610]

Fraud gameplay with yet another banger

[@flamewizard9022]

I started playing GGST around when Slayer was released and I regret it. He was everywhere (still kinda is) and isn't fun to play against. I checked my badges and I have nearly 500 wins against Slayers and below 150 wins for every other character. I'm not even that great at fighting Slayer compared to other characters. Also, as a Gio main, comparing K Mappa to Travao, or super Mappa to Gio's ground super annoys me. He gets to skip neutral, while I have to win neutral, he also has a fullscreen super that's a safe reversal sometimes, while Gio's leaves her super open. Combined with his huge reward off of anything, he feels like an easier and more privileged Gio. Nothing feels worse than winning 4-5 interactions against a Slayer, just to lose at least 70% to a stray hit, or God forbid his 100 meter super (happened a lot when I was on lower floors).

[@GGSTFraudGameplay]

While he might feel like a more privileged Gio his neutral can't compare. Hang in there, the better you get the bigger the gap between Gio and Slayer becomes, keep on grinding!

[@flamewizard9022]

@@GGSTFraudGameplay I will, thx

[@Fatih120]

ggstair yet another certified kino video

[@KentiousIV]

2:25 "Can you guess which one this goes into? That's right! It goes in the square hole!"

[@dragonofthewestt4077]

Very interesting that I got this in my recommended as soon as I hit Celestial with Slayer in this month’s rankings.

[@GGSTFraudGameplay]

Don't let the anti Slayer psyop get to you, congrats on making celestial!

[@dragonofthewestt4077]

@@GGSTFraudGameplay I don’t, I think he’s a funny character with some ridiculous tools. Just like how every character has their BS, they’re all stupid in their own ways. You could make a “Why everyone hates _____.” With all the characters cuz all the characters are stupid, annoying, basic, have to play lame against yada yada. I main Johnny, but I decided to get Celestial with Slayer just cuz I think playing him is funny when my opponent explodes for making a wrong guess. Just like how a lot of other characters can do the exact same thing. Seems like an overall Strive issue rather than a specific character. I think it’s just a case of serious power creep. Anyway, thank you for the congrats.

[@GGSTFraudGameplay]

@@dragonofthewestt4077 I'm actually working on "Why everyone hates Nago" as we speak!

[@dragonofthewestt4077]

@@GGSTFraudGameplay be sure to put in his roundstart game, and his borderline infinite pressure resetting tools.

[@GGSTFraudGameplay]

@@dragonofthewestt4077 Will do!

[@blibulon]

As Slayer's #1 hater, this video puts all of my issues with him in a way that's easy to understand

[@agentjp106]

One on hand, I love this video and agree with most of its points. As a slayer main, I love his mix-ups and how slippery he feels, but I always wondered why his disadvantage is so unfun. The point you made about him feeling tedious when he's getting walled out feels so true. I have a lot of fun with him and I love learning his kara cancels and all the weird mixes I can do, but I don't like feeling like I'm ruining the game for everyone else. I liked playing him before everyone began agreeing he's got some significant flaws, and I hope he gets nerfed a good amount so I can go back to enjoying playing him without feeling bad about it. I also wouldn't mind tedious match-ups being made less so. If I had to suggest a fix, first I'd say a solid damage nerf, but then again I also think everyone's damage should be tuned down. Especially Slayer's though. Then I'd say give him a better backdash. I don't necessarily like blowing people up in 3 hits, I like using his weird mix-ups and unconventional movement to do weird combos. I know Slayer's whole thing is damage, but even with a nerf the straightforward nature of his simplest combos would let him feel strong without actually doing ridiculous amounts of damage. TL:DR; I like playing Slayer, but he can feel tedious and I feel bad making the game unfun. I want him nerfed but also slightly reworked to alleviate this and keep what I think makes him fun. Great video, thanks!

[@MrUnc]

I'm glad Slayer is in the game because more people are complaining about him than ABA now.

[@T4nkE-ng1ne]

The amount of times i grab slayers after blocking their mappa punch every game is astonishing, it's like they don't learn (same with bedman tbh) Edit: don't know how often this works in high level, but on floors 4-6 this is the case ALL the time

[@Dude9106]

The fact that i cant even properly threaten him fullscreen or even half screen once he gets 50 meter is insane. I go from being able to use rensen, tornado, 2h, and command grab to having to sit in a corner, using 5p and 2p to stuff him if he tries to skip neutral while also having to fear his anti zoning super more than anybody else's because i cant roman cancel or even use timestop to stop it or dodge. It just changes what was supposed to be a fairly even and sometimes fun matchup that revolves around him struggling against my tools while i have to watch out for 2h and respond to his air or ground movements and punish him accordingly, to waiting for him to do a move i can punish safely without getting hit by super mappa hunch. Unless he decides to roman cancel it and hit me with a regular mappa hunch, which means im stuck in the corner against his absolutely devious mixups, like triple cross up master hammer,or just the fact that he can get a knockdown and then dash once or twice to make guess with out any skill whatsoever, and its safe against reversals like super or even deflct shield, because turns out i did wild assualt instead because he cross me up twice just because he dashed. Even Millia, who is worse than slayer and is actually difficult to play, and has insane mix, she has to actually play the game and even when she lands a hit, im not dying form that hit, i get to continue playing compared to slayer just doing 2h into pile bunker loops, then super yo delete 95 precent of my life for trying to escape. Jumpings not a option either, because the overhead also catches jumps, and then i take another pilebunker loop into super into death. Plus, he has decently high health, so killing him is really har even if i get a counterhit in optimized conditions with full RISC,100 meter,timestop, and corner so can do bomber loops, he will still have orange health and then he makes a comeback because i used rensen fullscreen. I apologize for the length, i just needed to rant.

[@michaelchristian6096]

The funniest thing about Slayer is everyone saying since season 1, "Slayer is gonna be a menace in Strive, y'all ain't ready." Then it happens

[@running_dry7429]

Playing against slayer is a great indicator of how well you can play defense and how well you know your character's moveset in order to punish properly

[@neog8029]

Playing Bedman against Slayer feels like fighting a Dark Souls boss when I can win so many little interactions and then get obliterated for a single misplay anyway.

[@colingaul9579]

I’m not sure if this is a good video to comment this on, but I would really appreciate if you could do a video on Faust sometime. I’ve been hard stuck on floor 10 for months and I don’t really know where to look for good Faust info. Dustloop doesn’t really help with the stuff I’m struggling with (matchups and oki, especially with items) and I have no clue where to look for that stuff.

[@GGSTFraudGameplay]

I don't really have any Faust resources but checking out gameplay from professional Faust players is probably your best bet for now, I do intend to cover faust some day for sure! Highly recommend checking out Apologyman, he's been having insane tourney runs with his Faust.

[@acemaison2834]

After slayer phase died down and fighting people who main him i couldnt really describe the anxiety i felt towards him still u pointed out so i appreciate it and i hate the he will probably not get a nerf for a long long time . If he does idk what the hell they could do to make it more fair against him theres only a select few of characters that can be comfortable around slayers range and i play none of them . plus like he said once he has 50% meter it becomes " whens hes gonna super mappa , regular mappa red cancel etc. etc." the anxiety of him getting meter is immense . idk if its even possible for him to get a nerf without destroying his being . like his playstyle and everything is too built into what he does . The only way i think its possible to nerf him is dial bck on his plus frames or dial bck on certain dmg on counter-hit but not sure and open to suggestions .

[@rjallen0801]

I didn't see it in the video, but his health/defense values makes fighting him a slog.. It's like fighting season 1 Nago 😢

[@TheWaffleGod4]

My friend thinks he’s so good because he uses slayer and says he’s hard to play and when I use the burst he’s like “why’d you burst there?” BECAUSE IF I DIDNT I LOSE AND IF I DO I GET PUNISHED AND THEN LOSE

[@Worsterest]

it’s simple, i pull out my minion, i get super mappa hunched, i die

[@ExaltedUriel]

I think the fact that this whole time I assumed 2H was a SPECIAL move before watching this video says something about how insane his kit is, lol

[@averysketchygamer3241]

I think Slayer works best as a footsies character. One that focuses on finding a gap in your opponent's pressure and trying to capitalize on every whiff punish. I feel like increasing his damage output, giving him insane corner carry with pickups, and some of the best mix in the game has led to him becoming an insanely one dimensional and simple character. His higher damage worked in previous games because he could not open up his opponent without careful planning. Now he gets some of the most free damage conversions ever and gets even MORE damage on top of it due to Pilebunker wallsplat and Pilebunker loops. I have been asking for Slayer since Day 1 of Strive and I think he is just WAY too overtuned. He desperately needs a nerf to regain some of the more patient playstyle he used to have

[@micaiahreese]

Someone had the audacity to tell me he wasn't brain dead and took skill. Like huh

[@tattut5950]

Honestly I don’t play enough strive to the point to really understand what would be broken or not other than stuff slayer does but maybe making his moves have more frames when he whiffs an attack or someone reads him. He would still have really good damage though making him a mixup character with hard hitting moves that can mess up the opponent if they read wrong but if the opponent reads right then slayer could get punished really hard from negative frames and bad recovery. Feel free to say how wrong I could be just that’s what would make sense for me

[@thatdaveguy8895]

Well that sounds fun: Continues to buy season pass 3.

[@lastsonofktn]

Potemkin main here.. I've made peace with this matchup and never dodge any slayers I come across. For peace of mind for me I just basically use the matches to practice reaction busters when slayers fly in. I'd like to believe It does have a slight psychological advantage to land at least one..they gotta respect your reactions a bit more and then I'll throw in some other shenanigans to mix it up or at least try before I'm in the dirt.

[@its.anathema]

i wonder what brand of glue slayer mains like to eat the most.

[@Coron4cht]

Whats his difficulty on a scale of 1-10? I just bought strive and i like the way he looks. Idc about if hes strong and getting nerfs, im new so ts doesnt matter to me atm. Just progression.

[@GGSTFraudGameplay]

And that's totally fair! In terms of difficulty I'd probably rate him around a 2-3 out of 10, especially on lower floors. Regardless of difficulty I always recommend to go with the character that you like the most visually. If you like the way Slayer looks he's probably the character for you!

[@Richi.87]

That intro feels so personal as a asuka main. I have several clips of me vs scum dipper and damn, its so annoying

[@natman2939]

Getting two OTG’s in one combo is the problem. No more “tumble state” BS

[@VoodooBrew]

As a slayer main i only have one thing to say... You cant keep me out forever.

[@Tteokkaebi]

As a high level Pot, I feel slayer gets few opportunities to start their offense against me. The bad part is that when they do get to the offense, they only need to roll the dice twice right to kill me.

[@FoxtagtheFox]

And here I thought I was good at playing Slayer.

[@ThatIdiotNamedKiyo]

Hes not broken hes just lore accurate

[@gonfer83]

As a main sol/slayer I can say that what works against slayer are the grabs and every now and then the smash but also knowing how to match slayer characters like anji johnny test if they are used well and not just smash you can beat slayer

[@M0HAK0]

I would rather fight slayer then johnny. Johnny is so fucking boring to fight and watch. He needs to go back to having a limited amount of guard breaks kinda like he did in Xrd. Hes not broken but he definitely is very frustrating to fight. This patch imo is a step up but 2 steps back as it feels a bit too lame. As for slayer complaints, I strongly think they shoukd nerf his regular damage and only give him very high damage strictly off of BSU setups. Right now BSU is literally almoat worthless since you can just land a counter hit or hit someone with high risk and always keep the pressure going with very little risk.

[@AsylumFade]

they should give him the link function he had in older games instead (ik he has some of that still there with the slash loop but you know what i mean)

[@GGSTFraudGameplay]

Links are incredibly fun to hit, I really miss it

[@AsylumFade]

@@GGSTFraudGameplay i feel like it would be more rewarding too and make the skill required to play slayer much higher

[@GGSTFraudGameplay]

@@AsylumFade Definitely!

[@kinokazama]

Bro feels like he’s from another game

[@ivanayala2715]

I am surprised to not see mentioned Slayer Slash buttons, he might as well have the best CS in the game being 7 frames and +3 on block, looping with FS (FS is also plus and stuns on hit, no need for counterhit) into itself, antiairing literally anything and being death on contact, 2S being also the reason why Pilebunker loops are so stupid Like aproaching Slayer would not be the worst if him just mashing stupid good and + buttons didnt give him the w in every scramble, his high defense stat and pilebunker guaratee meter always Other high damage tanks like Pot or ABA have to deal with low mobility or a timer, even Goldlewis has worst defense too While Slayer just skips neutral and mashes Also everyone just hates playing into it so the coming nerf might be nasty

[@lemone630]

I love mixing up a character 3 times only to have him deal more damage to me off of one 50/50

[@anotherpersonfromnorfolk1587]

So glad that Slayer came out with damage as high as it is. Because now they're too distracted by his damage to notice me playing Leo Whitefang. A character that can do... pretty everything Slayer can do, but better, and safer.

[@AcidicJesse]

I (unfortunately) main Slayer and, the main thing i find with Slayer is that he is an incredibly good beginner character for if you are newer (which means his appearance and dominance in lower floors makes sense), but is also a character with a skill ceiling high enough that a good Slayer at Celestial can get one good counter c.S and just explode you in a single combo What I find with Slayer is that his wins don't usually feel rewarding whatsoever. Like, good job, you can pilebunker loop someone from a 2D, but it doesn't feel like a victory you actually earn. Probably why people don't like playing him, and definitely don't like fighting him. Plus, also having the dumbest super known to man being Last Horizon. If a Slayer has full bar and you're at around half health, one 2H and you're dead. It's not a fun victory to just essentially eradicate someone because they didnt block low a single time and end up dying because of it, moreso for somebody like Asuka. Overall, I don't feel like Slayer deserves *nerfs*, moreso reworks to some of his kit to make him feel more like an actually fun character for both parties, rather than "close slash into death combo #13". It's a shame they didn't lean more into the Universe buff, i think its a cool mechanic that you dont even need to use because of the amount of dumb strengths that just outweigh playing around the gimmick

[@dodgyarchetype3251]

My beef with slayer is that he has a lot of cool movement and options once you dig into him, but I feel actively punished learning any of it because it's mostly all worse than fishing 2H/K-mappa/CS; Being technical with him feels like a hinderance rather than a reward. In my uneducated humble opinion, I would nerf slayers' damage output but increase it off a universe hit so you still get the lifebar-deleting plays and oppressive terror that makes Slayer appealing, just at specific defined moments rather than all the time.

[@sorrydudebros]

Not to mention that at any point in his pressure including your wakeup, trying to use IB or a reversal is useless since he'll just get behind you and ruin your input, getting a free CH that will kill you even faster. Supremely unfun, only matchup like this I hate more is May since she also does massive damage while easily winning neutral from far away (*cough* jump off dolphin to punish my correct 6P read *cough*)

[@JA-Sol-]

*players hating on Slayer* Slayer mains: *casually 6p the hate*

[@GGSTFraudGameplay]

I miss his old 6P so much

[@opgroundzero2.0]

what 6P?

[@normalabsolutely7240]

Just so everyone knows. Slayers crouching heavyslash was never special cancellable in past guilty gears. This is one of the reasons why I believe strive slayer is so much more powerful