Guilty Gear XX for the PS2 ----------------------- Advanced Baiken Strategy ----------------------- Author: Arvandor Updates: Added a subsection "Dust Loop" to the Strategies section where I added another variation of the loop, and some other various notes that should help anyone learning to get a feel for Baiken's dust-loops. E-mail: Fox0045@hotmail.com Disclaimer: I took the time and managed enough boredom to write up this FAQ (not to mention the one other Baiken FAQ on gameFAQs is a bit lacking in solid strategy, and has some moves completely wrong in terms of usefulness). Use of this FAQ outside of Gamefaqs is prohibited unless I am asked permission and say otherwise. Keep in mind that a good lot of this stuff I tested, experimented, figured out, and play tested myself, with a wee little bit of online help and watching match videos (the match vids helped me the most personally). The few sources I did get some info from I'll site in the credits. Feel free to e-mail me about any questions, comments, suggestions, info I don't have, or info I listed that is wrong (I doubt it, but it could happen). If you send me any stupid questions or questions that can be answered in this FAQ, you will be sacked. Do you understand me? SACKED! This guide is NOT newbie friendly, I am writing this FAQ under the assumption that you already know what RC, FRC, Burst, Dead-angle Attacks, and other such GGXX functions are. I use the number system for identifying joystick/d-pad positions (blame soul calibur 2 for that one). Either than that, c.X stands for close, f.X stands for far, j.X stands for jumping or already in air, dj.X means you should have double jumped, and jc is a jump cancel. ================================================================= Table of Contents ================================================================= I. Character Bio II. Basic Move List III. Special moves IV. Overdrives V. Combos VI. Strategy VII. Credits ================================================================== I. Character Bio ================================================================== Name: Baiken Height: 5' 4" Weight: 99 lbs Blood type: B Birthday: March 5th Eye Color: Nationality: Japanese Risk Rating: C Subject is a Japanese woman on the run from the authorities. She is still deeply traumatized from the loss of her parents during the war. All of her movements revolve around her ultimate goal of revenge. Her current target is the one she regards as the creator of the Gears. Although her skill with a Japanese sword is great, she is no match for our military might. Additionally, her desire for revenge makes her easy to control, it would only help our mission. She should be viewed as a serious threat. ================================================================= II. Basic Move List ================================================================= Damage based on Sol as my beating dummy, as always (has average defense and I just love beating on the guy). -Punches P (8 damage) Notes: Baiken shoves the hilt of her sword into the enemy's gut. Its a quick move, good gatling starter/poke. 2P (8 damage) Notes: Baiken does a crouching hand thrust of sorts, same function as P 6P (15, 22 damage) Notes: Baiken does an elbow and then a back fist (2 hits). Like many other 6P's, this move has upper body invincibility frames, making it good for anti-air. This move is jump cancelable, and can link to specials j.P (10 damage) Notes: Baiken just simply does a jumping punch, nothing special. This move is quick but lacks any real range, best use is to help timing in air combos or for adding height (helps with her dust loop) -Kicks K (14 damage) Notes: Baiken lifts her leg and does a thrusting kick. Little more range than punch, a bit slower, still a decent gatling starter. 2K (12 damage) Notes: Baiken turns and ankle smacks her opponent with the sheath of her sword, hitting low. It's a great poke that hits low, unfortunately the damage scaling makes looping after the gatling not nearly as strong. 6K (22 damage) Notes: Similar to K in appearance, the difference being: 6K is a bit slower, moves Baiken forward a bit as she executes the kick, and it causes stagger on counter-hit. j.K (18 damage) Notes: Baiken does mid-air splits, kicking her opponent in the process. This move is good because it will launch a grounded opponent, and it is also her only jump-cancelable air move. -Slashes c.S (28 damage) Notes: Baiken draws her sword and then thrusts it downwards into her opponent. This move has great speed, decent damage, gatlings well, links to specials, AND can be jump cancelled. f.S (30 damage) Notes: Baiken quickly draws her sword while attacking, sweeping it across her opponent's chest and then sheathing it. This move has the same wonderful properties c.S has, except with added range and a slight decrease in speed. 2S (32 damage) Notes: Baiken thrusts out a fan from her "bag of tricks" to poke the enemy. This move has decent range, great speed, can gatling, and links to specials. Definitely a must use poke move j.S (32 damage) Notes: Baiken's ultimate air-poke. Baiken thrusts a spiked mace out from her "bag of tricks" to bash the enemy. This move has incredible speed, amazing priority, links to specials, and is used in all of her air combos. -Hard Slashes HS (44 damage) Notes: Baiken does a really flashy movement, and sweeps her sword downwards accross her opponent. This move has good damage, but is slow. You can link specials into this move. Best use is during gatlings; I hardly ever use it on its own, because even when it can be used without fear of interruption it pushes Baiken out too far to be good for pressuring. 2HS (22 damage)x3 Notes: Baiken crouches down, whips out her sword, and lets it spin, slicing up her enemies for up to 3 hits. This is a fantastic move, it does good damage, comes out fairly fast, is good for anti-air as well as lockdown and pressure, and the first two hits can be jump cancelled (if landed counter-hit or on airborne opponent, you can jump cancel into air combo goodness) 6HS (66 damage) Notes: Baiken pulls out her sword and swings it downwards, HARD. This is her most damaging single hit normal move. Although a bit slow, it doesn't push out as far as HS and you can link specials into 6HS. Good in pressure strings or used as a meaty wake-up move. j.HS (40 damage) Notes: Baiken pulls out her sword and points it downwards, to stab her foes. This move has incredible priority, lasts a good, long time, and can link into specials. -Dusts D (20 damage) Notes: Baiken braces herself, and then unleashes a ball of what appears to be ki energy to launch her opponents airborne. Its somewhere ranked in the middle as far as dusts go, it has decent range, decent speed, but telegraphs a bit much. 2D (30 damage) Notes: Baiken does a sort of break-dancing sweep. This is an EXCELLENT move. Baiken's 2D hits low, has great range, great priority, is jump cancelable, and can link to specials (236K combos and launches), and the 2D can combo after a number of her normal attacks (c.S, f.S, HS, 6HS). Great for move for adding pressure. j.D (50 damage) Notes: Ahh, Baiken's infamous arm-cannon; in that "bag of tricks" Baiken has, apparently there is a dragon (she must have some extra-dimensional device in that sleeve of hers, maybe its where all the tatami mats come from). For this move, she pulls out the dragon's head, holds it like the arm cannon it is, and blasts her opponent for great damage, and sends them flying (causes wall bounce). All of Baiken's most damaging combos and famous dust-loops obviously involve using this move multiple times. This move is eligible for FRC. ================================================================= III. Special Moves ================================================================= Note: Most of the descriptions here are basic, I will detail combo options and other uses later in the strategy section. Suzuran (N/A) 63214K Baiken pulls her sword out, and very quickly dashes about 3/4 of a screen length at her opponent. During this dash, Baiken is considered as blocking high (IE lows will still hit, specials still chip, and your guard-gauge increases from hits). Tatami Gaeshi (40 damage) 236K Wee the tatami mat! Baiken raises her leg, slams it into the ground, and up pops a green rectangular mat. One of the meanest special moves in the game. The mat causes a good block stun, launches the opponent (the best way to start all her nasty air combos), and can be done in the air for more interesting effects I'll detail later on. This move is eligible for False Roman Cancel. Youzansen (44 damage) 623S (in air) Baiken draws her sword and swings it in a large arc ending downwards. It has good speed, and great priority as most air specials do, however is unsafe if blocked. This move has its place as air combo enders on rare occasion, but is best used tiger-kneed to hit a crouching opponent. (Tiger Kneed' would be 62369S) which allows you to execute the move very quickly from a standing position. Kabari (12 damage) 41236HS Out from the "bag of tricks" comes a claw on the end of a chain. Baiken will hook the enemy and draw them towards her (even if they block they get dragged). This move causes stagger on normal hit. Tetsuzansen (36 damage) S (after Kabari) Baiken pulls out her sword and does this really neat looking upwards swing. This move is uninterruptible after a blocked Kabari, but is highly unsafe when blocked at close range, so be careful. Note: This move works as decent anti-air if your Kabari is jumped over. Youshijin (12 damage) on guard 412P Baiken thrusts an anchor from her "bag of tricks" into the ground which then comes immediately upward right in front of Baiken. This is Baiken's fastest counter, but also the least safe, and has no invincibility frames, so if done in the middle of a string it may be interrupted. Untechable launch on counter-hit. Mawarikomi (N/A) on guard 412K Baiken's most situational counter. Baiken sidesteps about a half a screen length towards the direction she's blocking. Very easily punished, its best uses are for getting around a few select moves or out of corners. Sakura (30 damage) on guard 412S Baiken draws her sword, faces the screen, and thrusts it at her opponent with a pink flame effect. This counter has good invincibility frames, making it uninterruptable, and is great for discouraging gatlings and even punishing some overdrives. ================================================================= IV. Overdrives ================================================================= Sanzu Watashi (60 damage)x3 236236S Baiken slashes her enemy with three slow, painful slashes and shouts out the chinese characters "Tien," "Chi," and "Nin." In respective order. This overdrive activates quickly, has good invincibility frames, and does respectable damage. Best use for this move is on wake up. Baku (10 damage) The Baku overdrives are all done on guard, as a sort of counter overdrive. Baiken pauses, and smacks her opponent with a chinese character, each button having a different effect. Not usually worth the tension, but can come in handy at times. Baku Ki 463214P Baiken's opponent is unable to jump naturally for 14 seconds. Baku Rin 463214K Baiken's opponent is unable to use special attacks for 14 seconds. Baku Ryu 463214S Baiken's opponent does less damage for 14 seconds. Baku Hou (16 damage) - apparently the curse goes into affect before the overdrive hits. 463214HS Baiken's opponent receives more damage for 14 seconds. ================================================================= V. Combos ================================================================= Alright, here I will list a few of the various combos Baiken has. I'm not going to list all her basic gatlings, they're easy enough to figure out, and I won't be listing all the special circumstance combos (IE j.HS 236K land, then air combo etc). Those you can brainstorm/figure out on your own I hope. Keep in mind there are quite a few different ways of performing her dust loops, and I will be listing the ones that I prefer to use. I'll be listing the combos starting from the ground and launching, but keep in mind that any time you could air combo your opponent, the dust loop is more than likely a viable option. There are so many variations on her dust loop it hurts to think about, you can even do a mini-loop with NO tension, but 25% is best. You usually don't want to burn 50% as the extra damage isn't worth it (except on problem characters like Jam where its difficult to do the full loop, and burning the extra 25% tension would guarantee death). Damage tested on Sol -=No Tension=- S 2D 236K j.S j.D (142 damage) *(opponent in corner) S 2D 236K sj sj.P sj.S sj.D ad j.S j.D (land) S jc j.S j.D (214 damage) D (homing jump) S S S P S P K jc S P S D (131 damage) 6P (2 hits) jc 623S (72 damage) on guard 412P (counter hit) dash in 6HS 2D jc j.S j.D (154 damage) -=25% Tension=- ***(opponent in corner) S 2D 236K j.S j.D FRC qad j.D (land) sj sj.P sj.S sj.D ad j.S j.D (land) S (241 damage) **(opponent far from corner) S 2D 236K j.S j.D FRC qad 236K sj.S sj.D (203 damage) -=50% Tension=- on guard 412S RC 236K j.S j.D (120 damage) *(opponent in corner) on guard 412S RC 236K sj.P sj.S sj.D ad j.S j.D (land) S jc j.S j.D (215 damage) (opponent near corner) 62369S RC j.S j.D (114 damage) 62369S RC j.S j.D (103 damage) 6HS 236236S (207 damage) (See Strategies/Dust Loop for more setups into the dust combo, but without the damage listings) * - On this, the qad Is a quick air dash, and you have to time the air dust of it as so there is no recoil from the blast (do the dust as soon as you are able from dashing, takes a little practice). Also, the ad (air dash) you must fall a bit first, the timing is relatively tricky. These are also tricky to perform on high floaters like Jam, but they do work. (Note: It helps to omit any sj.P's on those problem chars). ** - This combo won't work on a few select characters (Jam is the only one I know of, haven't done much testing on this yet) because the qad 236K launches them too high to followup *** - On this combo against certain characters you have to add a standing slash after the 236K or the qad j.D after the FRC'd j.D will whiff (or at least won't hit as consistantly). So the combo would look like this - S 2D 236K S jc j.S j.D FRC etc... The characters that require the extra slash are as follows. Ky Slayer Venom Eddie Axl Zappa Chip Testament Johnny ================================================================= VI. Strategy ================================================================= Alright, on to the strategy "I" use for Baiken. Keep in mind this section is very much opinion. Everyone is welcome to their own strategy, and this is mine (A lot of other Baiken's play VERY similarly, its not like Baiken has much variety or flare per say. I'm just warning you now in case you have a different opinion on how something works or doesn't work) -=General=- Baiken is the ultimate turtle, and not just because of her on guard special moves, her tatami mat helps to keep opponents from getting in when you don't want them to. Despite this, she can also be highly aggressive and pressure relatively well (the combination of the two is what I think makes her lethal). Her biggest weakness is her lack of good wakeup options. If Baiken gets grounded, you have to guess right or eat more damage. -=Defense=- When you are turtling your opponent has to worry about counters being thrown out. Some opponents will often anticipate them and try to draw one out, since the counters are unsafe and punishable. And although this may keep you from using your counters during strings a lot, it also can keep your opponent from doing their full gatlings and some of their unsafe special attacks. Pressuring Baiken can be very frustrating for your opponent at times, make sure to keep it like that. Figure out what moves your opponent gives FREE 412S's, and use it. Free damage is always good. (IE Zappa's 3 centipede, another Baiken's 412S, Slayer's 214P P and 214P K, and 236P/K etc, the list is huge, just experiment and guess and test). Especially since if you have the tension to spare, a free 412S could mean a free 412S RC 236K into air combo goodness for A LOT of free damage. Tossing it out at the beginning of gatlings is good discouragement too if done sparingly. Figure out when you think you can get on guard 412P to land counter-hit or on an airborne opponent, because that means LOTS of free damage. Be wary of doing this to opponents just because they're airborne however, because they could possibly draw it out, block it as they're landing, and then get free damage on you. I don't suggest using this counter TOO often, but do throw it out enough to keep your opponent sufficiently discouraged. Toss out tatami mats a lot. Even semi-randomly. Air tatami mats work especially well as they make it very difficult for an opponent to get in. Tatami mat also gives you a bit of tension, so feel free to back air dash Tatami, forward air dash dust (let the recoil blast you back away from your opponent) and so on, building up your gauge a little while turtling at the same time. Be sure to mix-up with attacking on the forward air dash so they're less likely to try to punish you. I'm sure some of you may be wondering about Baiken's overdrive counters, the Baku series. Personally, I NEVER use them, I just don't think it's worth the tension. However, if you DO use them, I wouldn't suggest doing the increase damage one. It doesn't increase the damage enough to make it worth half tension (as it only increases the damage on your dust loop by 80 damage or so), and your opponent will probably just go into turtle mode anyway. The other two seals, either seal jump or seal special attacks, are much better options. Even though these are the preferred options, they only last for 14 seconds, and any opponent who has been cursed will probably turtle up regardless. Thus why I never use them I suppose. -Anti Air 2HS is a good decent option, since Baiken is already short, and she ducks for this, a lot of air moves will whiff over her. If it hits, you can jump cancel before the 3rd hit and air combo. 6P is another great anti-air move like most characters 6P's. It has upper-body invincibility frames that will cause air moves to whiff, and it comes out quickly. Can be jump cancelled for air combo. j.S is also a good anti-air, out prioritizes AND outranges most air moves in the game. And the fact that you can link it to j.D and push yourself out of range is also a bonus. -Wakeup Baiken doesn't have a whole lot for reliable wake up options. Counters can help, but that still requires guessing any mix ups correctly, and countering lows isn't very practical. Your only other option is 236236S if you have the tension. Most players don't suggest it, but I find it's a great way to beat out meaty attacks, and as overdrives go, it does very respectable damage, worth it in my opinion. Its biggest drawback is that its semi- predictable. -=Offense=- Offensively speaking, it helps a great deal to have at least 25% tension, because FRC'd tatamis are great for applying more pressure. Anything you can jump cancel is good, especially when they're cornered; if you jump cancel a move, do j.HS or 236K as soon as you can, it is very difficult to punish on reaction. If they do punish you can mix with jump canceling, back air dashing out with slash to cover you. If they try to stand up to block the j.HS, then you can link it to an air tatami, land and pressure some more (if j.HS hits, the tatami combos). If you do a ground string, end it with an FRC'd tatami, dash in, and pressure more (unless of course you really don't feel it's worth the use of tension). Learn when to use 41236HS; not only is it your attack with the greatest range, but linking it out of strings and getting opponenets to block it helps your pressure a lot. The block stun on 41236HS is enough that the follow- up slash is uninterruptable, and something like a 2D or a S are nearly impossible to interrupt. So doing something like f.S 41236HS 2D jc j.H 236K (land) f.S 236K FRC (dash in) 2K c.S HS 41236HS>S would be a good pressure string. Mix and match, have fun, and try to be creative :) Although 63214K is used rarely, it is still used. On a cornered opponent, while applying pressure, it's good to toss it in there randomly and go for a throw, especially since a throw into the corner can lead into the dust loop (HS 236K to launch). Linking 63214K after moves where you often do 236K or 41236HS is also a good idea, very tricky to see coming that way. If used randomly and sparingly, it is hard to see coming and rarely punished on reaction. -Timing Timing helps a lot with your pressure. Sometimes waiting and putting a slight delay in between something might make your opponent think its their turn to steal the initiative, which is where you toss in a 2D or a 6K hoping for a counter on the 6K (the stagger usually gives enough time for 2D 236K if your opponent doesn't mash out). If your opponent likes to mash out of stagger and you land a counter-hit 6K, mix with your 41236HS and your 63214K-throw or just dashing in and adding more pressure. Playing with timing like this also empowers your tick throw game (see tick throws below) -High Low Mixups Use 2K and 2D as your lows, and if you feel your opponent is blocking low too much, feel free to put in a dust (VERY rarely) or an instant youzansen. If the youzansen isn't enough to discourage blocking low (because of its moderate damage) feel free to burn the 50% tension to RC it to tack on a good solid amount of damage; or even 75% tension to do an instant youzansen RC j.S j.D FRC into the appropriate combo depending on screen positioning (iad Tatami if mid screen, normal air combo if opponent is cornered). Dust is an obvious option, but it is slow, and telegraphs a bit much, used very rarely and with care you may land a few once in a while. Of all the three FRC's Baiken has, her air tatami is the hardest because of the weird delay that changes the timing from its ground version. However it serves as a great offensive tool to force mixups. Whenever you ground an opponent, and air tatami mat is great for forcing them to block and then continuing to apply pressure. Now, if you FRC it, you can mix up between landing and doing a low dust or 2K, and air dashing right after the FRC and doing an air dash combo (j.K j.P j.S j.D works well for this). If they block the air dash j.K, just keep doing K P K P K P (or K P S P K P S) until you land and then start up a ground gatling with P or 2K (for speed purposes). -The tick throw A tick throw is when you go from a poke combo starter right into a throw. Example you rush up 2K and instead of doing 2K c.S 2D 236K or whatever, you just 2K throw. Very effective, and very difficult to punish on reaction. If you think you can throw your opponent, especially if you can do so into the corner, feel free to do so, free dust loop if you do. Baiken's throw gives her a lot of power. Especially on FRC'ed mats or on blocked air mats, since the opponent usually KNOWS interruption of the oncoming pokes will result in counter-hit, dashing in and throwing will catch people off guard a lot. -Okizime When you ground an opponent you have advantage. Granted, Baiken often doesn't have good Okizime opportunities against opponents (due to the constant air comboing, they usually end up air-recovering, not grounded). On those occasions your opponent is grounded, what is there to do? You can go for a 6HS 236K FRC pressure, 2D jc or 236K FRC pressure, an instant yousanzen to discourage blocking low, or tick throw. Or if you have the time, jump up, do a tatami at the peak of your jump so that they'll have to stand up blocking it, and add pressure from there. -The Dust Loop Obviously a very important part of the Baiken damage output. There are quite a few setups, and two reliable versions depending on screen positioning. In corner (starter) j.S j.D FRC qad j.D (land) sj.P sj.S sj.D (fall a bit) ad j.S j.D (land) S jc j.S j.D 1/3 screen from corner or further (starter) j.S j.D FRC qad 236K j.S j.D Note: On the 1/3 screen one, on some characters you can FRC the last j.D and continue the loop normally, and other characters get launched too high from the mat to even do the second j.S j.D. The timing on the last air dash is kinda tricky till you figure out when to air dash, keep in mind that its probably later than you think it is, you'll be VERY close to the ground when you execute the air dash j.S j.D. Starters: Notice that some of these require up to 75% tension to do the full loop, but its often quite worth it assuming you have that much tension saved up (You'd be amazed how often you'll catch yourself with a lot of tension that is just begging to be burned up). Keep in mind that for actual looping, the final j.D in all those combos is where you FRC qad 236K/j.D into the rest of the loop, whichever is appropriate for current positioning. In some circumstances when you're near the wall but not close enough to do the qad j.D to continue the loop, you can do a j.D FRC 236K. Your opponent will bounce off the wall, and then get launched by the mat (quite late I might add) and then you can continue looping or finish with an aircombo or whatever 62369S RC j.S j.D S 2D 236K j.S j.D 41236HS 2D 236K j.S j.D iad j.S j.P j.K (land) j.S j.D counter-hit 412P (dash in) 6HS 2D jc j.S j.D 412S RC 2D 236K j.S j.D 41236HS S RC (dash in) 6HS 2D jc j.S j.D counter-hit 236K (dash in) 6HS 2D jc. j.S j.D counter-hit j.D (wait for wall bounce and dash in) S jc j.S j.D throw into corner HS 236K j.S j.D air throw into corner's wall bounce 6HS 2D jc j.S j.D *S HS 236K FRC iad j.D (land) 6HS 2D sjc sj.P sj.S sj.D (fall a bit) ad j.S j.D -> (on some characters) land S jc j.S j.D **S HS 236K FRC iad j.D (land) iad j.S j.D 6HS 2D 236K j.S j.D air counterhit 41236HS (dash in) S jc j.S j.D * - Hardslash often pushes you out too far for a j.S to hit (also holds true in any situation where the tatami will hit at its absolute max range non- counter-hit) So you have to FRC the mat, and iad j.D. Also, this one must be done in the corner, doing it further away changes it a bit (see below). I also listed the full loop since its varied slightly from the standard loop I listed. Actually, almost any time you're launching a grounded person near the corner with the tatami mat, this is the better way to go, FRC the mat, iad j.D, and then relaunch with 6HS 2D. ** - the variation for doing the previous one when opponent is not cornered, very unreliable. Note: In all the super jump combos involving sj.P sj.S sj.D, the sj.P can be removed, but it makes timing the air dash a bit more difficult. Though this is also the only way to do the full loop on some characters (by removing the sj.P that is). Also note, that certain characters may float high enough that any attempts to do the fall a bit ad j.S j.D may whiff. In these cases, try fall a bit ad j.K 623S. j.K reaches a bit higher, as does the 623S (j.D can combo off of j.K, but will probably whiff under your opponent if you're going for the j.K) ================================================================= Credits ================================================================= I'd like to give a special thanks to Ratticus1, Wraith, Manji128, Jake and TL for suffering through repeated beatings, and still coming back to play once in a while. They're great sports (save maybe Wraith ;P but we don't hold it against him) I'd like to thank the inhabitants of the GameCombos forums for the strategies and advice I've found there, as well as a few combo tips. Also thanks to Paul Benson for his FAQ, where I got the names for the special moves I didn't know the names for, and found out what chinese characters Baiken shouts when doing her 3 slash overdrive. As well as UNCONKABLE's Dust Loop guide for the useful information on how to make it work on all characters. Thanks from me (and probably from those of you reading this FAQ) to Ratticus1 and Wraith for proofreading this document. I have really bad formatting issues, and when I start ranting about strategy sometimes thoughts just kind of mingle together as they come to me and end up all confused and chaotic on the screen (not to mention sometimes my thoughts have bad grammar because I forget what tense I started the thought in etc). This FAQ copyright 2004, 2005 to Russell Milligan (Arvandor on the Gamefaqs boards). Retransmission in any form without express permission is strictly forbidden.