How to use Sol Badguy in Guilty Gear Strive

Sol Badguy is currently dominating the multiplayer lobbies of Guilty Gear Strive and is the subject of countless memes and rage in the community.

Aside from being ridiculously easy to use and being pushed as a starter character of Guilty Gear Strive, he has one of the best damage outputs in the game.

This guide will go into some of the basic movements, the buttons and the game plan for Sol Badguy in Guilty Gear Strive. There will be no information on feasible combo routes and in case some of the jargon used is confusing, make sure to check out other guides going into more detail on fundamentals alone.

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Guilty Gear Strive: A guide to using Sol Badguy

Basic pokes & getting in

Sol can primarily be considered a rushdown character in Guilty Gear Strive, and above all else ,getting close to the enemy is the priority. If getting into range is the problem, the main tools he can use are:

Gun Flame [236P]

The ground-based projectile is a standard poke in Guilty Gear Strive, and upon hitting the enemy, it puts them in stun long enough to get close.

Bandit Bringer [214K]

The overhead attack has Sol slugging the opponent with a fiery fist from the air and is generally canceled into from his normals, mainly his 6S. It can be used either in the air or the ground, but it has a lot of kick to it, and opponents generally can’t react to it.

Bandit Revolver [236K]

A knee kick that can also be canceled from 6S. Just like Bandit Bringer, it can be used in the air and upon connecting it is a multi-hit attack, thus being a great tool for combos.

Night Raid Vortex [214S]

The riskiest poke in comparison to the rest. It cannot be confirmed and is extremely punishable. In general, this move is used on read when an opponent throws a projectile, as it allows Sol to completely avoid the projectile while landing a hit.

Sol’s kit & earning the Wild Throw

Most of Sol’s specials have been discussed in the previous section, once again showing just how much of a rushdown character Sol is in Guilty Gear Strive. His other specials include:

• Volcanic Viper [623S/H]
• Fafnir [236H]
• Wild Throw [623K]
• Feint [213P]

Below is a quick reference to all of his moves and supers in Guilty Gear Strive:

Sol's Movelist (Image via Arc System Works)

The Volcanic Viper works like a DP but it’s important to remember that in Guilty Gear Strive, anti-airs aren’t always the right answer to jump-ins due to the existence of Faultless Defense. Volcanic Viper is more effective when used as a combo tool and wakeup attack.

Fafnir is the most risky special in his arsenal. It deals a lot of damage, but it is slow and can very easily be reacted to. The move cannot be canceled either, so the only way to use this is on some very hard reads. When it does connect though, it has decent combo routes due to low recovery.

The Feint has Sol faking doing a Gunblaze and is generally used to trick an opponent into jumping, to then score an air-grab. With a good offense, opponents in Guilty Gear Strive can effectively be conditioned into falling for Feints.

The Wild Throw

The most important special amongst all of these, however, is the Wild Throw. It's a tool that takes advantage of the opponent’s fear and it can only be performed easily on a well conditioned opponent.

It requires Sol to be extremely close to the opponent and is essentially a command grab that deals massive damage. On whiff however, it’s extremely punishable, and make no mistake, this move is easy to whiff.

Overwhelm the opponent with a good enough and diverse offense to earn these throws. It’s no easy feat to have an opponent simply let someone run and grab them. They have to either be too afraid to move or expect something else.

The game plan & Sol’s supers

To put it simply, go hard and go fast. A good defense is obviously necessary, but in Guilty Gear Strive, Sol should always be the one dealing more pressure. He is not good at just waiting for an opponent to make a mistake, and his best combos come out only when he seizes the day.

Sol has two supers:

• Tyrant Rave [632146H]
• Heavy Mob Cemetery [214214H]

Tyrant Rave can be confirmed and is a good combo finisher in Guilty Gear Strive. But Heavy Mob Cemetery is a move that relies on reads and is more or less a reversal with infinite armor.