Nagoriyuki entersGuilty Gear Striveas one of its new characters – filling the role of a vampire samurai. With stunning visuals and a crazy backstory that screamsGuilty Gear, it’s no wonder why players give Nagoriyuki a shot in their first few battles. And just asStrivegives a modern take onGuilty Gear’s flashy mechanics, Nagoriyuki offers a new brand of straightforward mercilessness to combat.
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As a One-Shot Type, Nagoriyuki aims to catch enemies at a disadvantage and dish out heavy punishment. Enemies not fast enough can find themselves meeting their doom with a single powerful slash from this warrior vampire. Players who want to master Nagoriyuki will have to follow some tips to enjoy his brutally-efficient toolkit.
10Domination Through Pressure
Being a One-Shot character, Nagoriyuki capitalizes on bringing in as much pain as possible as often as possible. Armed with a massive katana and pure bloodlust, he pressures opponents into submission through combos that deal massive damage despite costing him the least movement.
A natural powerhouse at mid-range, Nagoriyuki switches aggression stances depending on his objectives. On most instances, Nagoriyuki dominates the neutral space through pressuring special attacks - almost never allowing mix-ups from opponents. Alternatively, Nagoriyuki may use massive normals to bring in the pain and finish fights quickly. Thanks to his cancelable Specials, Nagoriyuki can change battle strategies quickly.
9King Of The Waiting Game
Despite his intimidating natural, Nagoriyuki is built to adapt to situations. His strong but flexible toolkit demands precise mid-match adjustments to accommodate different enemy strategies. Given his slow nature, players can only dictate the flow of battle by punishing enemy movements.
Unfortunately for Nagoriyuki, moving too slow or reacting the wrong way can give a fast-enough character the right room to punish Nagoriyuki. This is especially the case withopponents like Giovanna that rely on speedy pressuringto avoid any escapes from foes. Thanks to Nagoriyuki’s Fukyo, players can apply necessary tactical readjustments and help Nagoriyuki reassert his spatial dominance.
8Keep The Pressure In Neutral
Nagoriyuki players can easily notice how his base attacks already give him roomto dominate the neutral space. His Normals give him impressive poking potential, often punishing approaches. A lot of his Normals either move quickly to react to opponents or occupy a large area to threaten an enemy’s advance. Notable Normals include:
7Mind The Blood Rage
Like other characters, Nagoriyuki has his own special gimmick - that being the Blood Rage Gauge. This gauge fills up whenever Nagoriyuki uses a Special, and fills up much faster whenever he cancels them. Representing Nagoriyuki’s bloodlust, the Gauge does enhance the overall range and attack power of his Heavy Slashes.
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When filled to the brim, Nagoriyuki enters a state of Max Blood Rage. In this state, Nagoriyuki’s Heavy Slashes all have extended range and firepower, almost reaching the entire stage. Sadly for him, Nagoriyuki in this state can’t use his Specials and depletes his HP constantly. This state essentially ends when Nagoriyuki loses half his HP - not a good thing in a speed-reliant game likeStrive.
6Blood Rage Plays Like Another Character
Imagine Zato-1, where the human Zato can dish out mix-ups while Eddie can tank most attacks - effectively two playstyles merged in a single character. Nagoriyuki acts much like the same way, given his active Blood Rage mechanic. With the right use of Blood Rage, Nagoriyuki players can use different sets of the same move that need different evasion mechanics.
5Capitalize On Limited Movement
Similar to Potemkin, Nagoriyuki not only lacks a predominant Dash mechanic but also has naturally slow moves. To counteract this caveat, Nagoriyuki can primarily rely on his attacks to reach opponents from afar - something not many characters can achieve.
As players know, his Far Slash and Close Slashes alone let him move forward while attacking. Thing is, Nagoriyuki has other moves in his arsenal that give him other opportunities for limited movement - while still leaving more than enough room for combos.
4Maximize Special Cancels
Unlike other characters, Nagoriyuki has the advantage of being able to cancel his own Special Attacks. This does risk filling up the Blood Rage Gauge much faster. However, the Special-on-Special Cancel can invite quite the interesting mix-ups, depending on the Specials used. Aside from Fukyo and Kamoriyuki, here are other Special Attacks to note:
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3Enter The Punisher
Despite all characters sharing means to punish opponents, Nagoriyuki’s moveset seems specifically tailored to counteract a lot of enemy gimmicks. When used properly, a Nagoriyuki player can punish multiple approaches through his Normals alone. Notable Normals that can become punishers include:
2Lifesteal And Taunt Into One
Nagoriyuki possesses a unique Command Grab in the form ofBloodsucking Universe. When triggered, Nagoriyuki can grab an opponent and bite them, stealing a portion of their life to refill a bit of his. Nagoriyuki has throw invincibility during this move, making Bloodsucking Universe great against reversal throws.
Players can also maximize this Command Grab through its taunting potential. Just threatening with Bloodsucking Universe can tempt gaud players into mashing or jumping. Andwith the right strings, Nagoriyuki can punish opponents who bite the bait quite easily.
1Bring Out The Blood
As players know, Blood Rage is a risk-reward mechanic that Nagoriyuki plays into the more he gets aggressive with his attacks. And given how temptingly powerful his Overdrives are, it makes sense for players to want to capitalize on them as soon as possible. Provided players understand the need to balance his Blood Rage, Nagoriyuki can count on two Overdrives to dish out heavy damage:
