Guide to Venom in Guilty Gear Xrd Revelator

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- Comprehensive Guide to Venom in Guilty Gear Xrd Revelator
- By Marin
- 7 Nov 2016
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- PSN: Marin9892
- Twitter: @wiskunderock
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Index:
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1) Glossary
2) General
3) Formations
4) Neutral
5) Combo routes
6) Okizeme
7) Advanced charge tricks
8) Bishop Runout

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1) Glossary:
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- P/K/S/H ball set				= P/K/S/H version of ball set (214P/K/S/H)
- XY ball set					= First setting the X ball with 214X, then immediately setting the Y ball by holding the Y button
- XYZ formation					= A ball formation whereby first an X ball, then a Y ball and then a Z ball have been placed. It doesn't matter whether the ball was placed by ball set or QV
- Teleport 						= 623K
- PQV/KQV/SQV/HQV 				= P/K/S/H version of QV (41236P/K/S/H)
- SSA/HSA 						= S/H version of Stinger Aim (4 charge 6S/H)
- SCR/HCR 						= S/H version of Carcass Raid (2 charge 8S/H)
- SDHM/HDHM 					= S/H version of Double Head Morbid (623S/H)
- SMS/HMS						= S/H version of Mad Struggle (j.236S/H)
- DA/BDA						= Dark Angel or Burst Dark Angel super (2363214S/D)
- RH							= Red Hail super (j.236236H)
- BRO							= Bishop Runout super (2363214H)
- lvl1/2/3						= The size of a ball. Regular balls are lvl0 and do 1 hit, lvl1 does 2 hits, lvl2 does 3 hits and lvl3 does 6 hits
- lvl1/2/3 charged SSA/HSA/QV	= Holding the button down while doing Stinger Aim or QV will automatically create a ball of that level
- Free/formation ball			= A formation ball is one created by ball set or QV. A free ball is one created when Stinger Aim or Carcass Raid collides with another ball (stationary or moving)

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2) General:
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Venom is a charge character. Therefore in order to become a good Venom player, you'll need to get accustomed to his charge mechanics and to the frames/seconds that it takes to charge up a charge move (Stinger Aim and Carcass Raid). If you can hold the joystick in the 1 position (which charges both SA and CR), then you'll have no problem with learning Venom. Later you may know in advance that you want to do either SA or CR and charge the corresponding direction, but until then you should charge by holding both directions.
One technique that you should learn is holding the down charge while dashing forwards. The input for this is 66[3]. This allows you very quickly use SCR in blockstrings, which puts Venom at frame advantage and in a good position to continue the pressure. Other ways to end blockstrings with SCR (or even SSA) if the blockstring starts with a standing move (e.g. c.S or 5K) is by quickly charging down-back after inputting the standing move, then continuing the blockstring with only crouching moves until the move is charged (e.g. c.S(2) (immediately hold [1] after the first hit) > 2S > SCR). Besides ending blockstrings with charge moves, you can also end with QV, ball set or teleport.
You can read about some advanced usage of the charge mechanic in the section "Advanced charge tricks".

Hitstop/blockstop glitch: whenever your attack hits the opponent or gets blocked, the game seems to stop for a few frames. This is called hitstop or blockstop and is present in most fighting games. You may think this is 100% purely aesthetical in Guilty Gear, however both characters are actually stuck in place for a few frames while projectiles continue moving.
This leads to a very useful quirk which I will call the "hitstop/blockstop glitch". First, do P ball set > immediate f.S while whiffing the f.S. You'll see that f.S does not hit the P ball. Now do the same but the f.S doesn't whiff (it gets hit or gets blocked). During the hitstop/blockstop of f.S the P ball continues to move downwards and eventually hits the still active f.S, at which point it gets propelled forwards!
There is another advantage of this "glitch". Place the opponent in the corner and repeatedly do 2S. You'll see that after a couple of hits you get pushed back far enough such that it will whiff. Now, also in the corner, repeatedly do P ball set > 2S. You'll see that you can do this indefinitely. This is because once a projectile connects with the opponent, it cancels the pushback of your moves.
You can do this trick with various ball placements and using various normals. Experiment to see what you can come up with.

An interesting aspect of Venom's pool ball mechanics is that multiple balls can hit each other, which affects their directions and speeds. The balls will move in a "<"-shape away from each other and they will take on the speed of the fastest moving ball.
However, when a Stinger Aim or Carcass Raid ball collides with another ball, it will leave behind a free ball which is 1 level higher than the level of the SA/CR ball. If it got hit by a lvl3 SA ball, then the free ball will also be at lvl3. Also, the free ball does not spawn directly at the point where the balls collided. If an SCR or SSA hits a ball, then the free ball will move a little bit backwards in the direction that the SCR/SSA ball was moving. If an HCR or HSA hits a ball, then the free ball will move a little bit forwards in the direction that is was moving.
One other difference for a SA/CR collision with a ball is that the ball that got hit will always move away with the same speed and direction as the SA/CR ball, regardless of its previous speed and direction (if the ball that got hit was already moving). Meanwhile, the SA/CR ball disappears on hit (since it gets turned into the free ball). The effect of this is that even if SA or CR hits a ball on its way to the opponent, the ball that it made contact with continues on with the same speed and direction as the original ball, so as a result the SA/CR acts as though it didn't make contact with a ball at all. However, because it did made contact with a ball it created a free ball for free!
Therefore, whenever you can make SA or CR hit another ball, it is always better than SA or CR not hitting a ball. This is useful for both okizeme and neutral.
An important difference between formation balls and free balls is that you can move formation balls around by placing a different formation ball, whereas you cannot move free balls. This is important since if a formation ball is completely off-screen, then you can move it back on-screen, but you cannot do this with free balls. Therefore a free ball that is off-screen is essentially useless and it is good practice to immediately use free balls (i.e. by hitting them or teleporting to them) after you create them. The only uses that an off-screen free ball can have is for teleporting towards the edge of the screen or to let it be absorbed by Bishop Runout (more on this in the section "Bishop Runout").

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3) Formations:
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For beginning Venom players, his ball formations may seem like a huge mountain that they need to climb before they can even begin to play Venom. However this is not true, you can (and should) start playing Venom by just using his normals and specials, and using only the P ball.
P ball set is a very versatile move. You can hit the ball with many different normals and at various moments while it is traversing downwards to its final position. Figure out when you want to place this ball in a match; you should only place it when you know that you can do it safely.

Later on you can use other balls besides the P ball, such as the K ball, the S ball or the H ball. Each ball is placed at a different position: the P ball is low and closely in front of Venom, the K ball is high and closely in front of him, the S ball is high and closely behind him and the H ball is low and far in front of him.
This is called a 1-ball setup: you place 1 ball and then you use it by hitting it or teleporting to it. Venom can also set up more than one ball, up to 4. There are 4 different 1-ball setups, 12 different 2-ball setups, 12 different 3-ball setups and 4 different 4-ball setups. This may sound daunting, however you only really need to know all 1-ball and 2-ball setups to play Venom effectively. All 3-ball and 4-ball setups can easily be learned by simply combining 2 or 3 2-ball setups with 1 overlapping ball. For example: the PKS formation is essentially the PS formation and the KS formation with the S ball as the overlapping ball. 3 and 4 ball formations, however, aren't as essential as 1 and 2-ball formations and should be learned later on.

It is up to you to learn and experiment with all 4 different 1-ball and all 12 different 2-ball formations in various situations. Learn with which normals/specials you can strike each ball immediately after placing it. See which moves whiff and which don't. Know whether or not you can hit a ball while jumping forwards/neutral/backwards or airdashing forwards/backwards or dash jumping and then doing an air normal.
When playing Venom, you are bound to make a mistake sometimes and place the wrong formation. Or you have a stray formation ball somewhere on the stage (e.g. a K ball), so by placing a different formation ball (e.g. a P ball) you end up with a 2-ball formation (the KP formation). Either way, it is good to know what to do in these situations. Therefore in order to improve your play you should practice ALL 12 2-ball formations at least once.

2-ball setups have two advantages over 1-ball setups:

1) You can hit both balls at once, which can inflict double the damage or double the block/hitstun. You can also hit one ball such that it hits the other ball in order to make them fly at different direction so they cover various strategic angles.
2) You can hit one ball but miss the other one. This is called "partitioning" and it is very effective because it allows you to:
	a) Hit both balls at various angles with various speeds.
	b) Delay usage of the second ball (either by hitting it or teleporting to it at a later time) while using the first ball for offense or defense/zoning.

When learning 2 (or 3 or 4) ball setups, keep these points in mind.

Some 2-ball setups are very effective and versatile setups and are worth practicing a bit more. These are:

- PK formation: Both balls can be hit with many different ground/air normals and specials. Very easy to partition this setup. Both useful for zoning and for okizeme. You can also immediately do 5P > P ball set after placing the balls, which will cause them to move in a "<"-shape, which is great for covering both the ground and the air while zoning.
- KP formation: While the P ball traverses downwards you can hit it with e.g. 5P or 6P while missing the low K ball. The K ball can then be hit with 2S or can be teleported to for a tricky low-to-the-ground teleport.
- SP formation: After doing SP ball set, do a very small dash forwards and then hit both with 5P or 5K. Useful for okizeme since it gives you many opportunities for mix-ups afterwards.
- SH formation: After doing SH ball set, immediately do 5P. This makes the balls slowly fly out in a "<"-shape, just like with the PK formation. With this formation, however, you do not need to do P ball set to create the "<"-shape, so it is slightly faster.
- KH formation: Both balls are placed very far forwards and low to the ground. This makes it a good formation for cross-up teleport mix-ups. A well known example of this is first placing the KP formation > 5P the P ball > H ball set (for the KH formation) > f.S to hit the opponent and the H ball > teleport to the remaining K ball.

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4) Neutral:
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Venom's neutral game is not exactly an exact science. Because you can make a ball move in a variety of directions, it doesn't really matter which ball/balls you place at first. It helps to have a good understanding of the angles that your opponent likes to come at you, such that you can then make a better decision about which ball to place. If your opponent likes to come at you from the ground, then placing a P ball is good. If they like to come from the air, then the K ball works well. If you feel like you need a little more distance, then setting the S ball is a good option. If you have your back against the corner, then setting the H ball is good because you can teleport to it. As a general rule of thumb: place your balls towards the center of the stage, so spawning an S ball with your back against the corner is bad, but spawning an S ball when you are close to and facing the corner is good.
Because a ball is so versatile during the neutral game and because it substantially opens up Venom's moveset, the golden rule of Venom's neutral game is this:

	"Always place at least 1 ball."

Deciding when to place balls is the trickiest part of Venom's neutral game. Sometimes you may need to give yourself more space by backdashing on the ground or in the air. Sometimes you may need the hurtbox of QV to place a ball instead of just using ball set (which is quicker than QV). Sometimes you may be pressured a lot by your opponent which makes it impossible for you to set your ball. In that case, you need to quickly get yourself out of the pressure and place a ball whenever you can.
Another big aspect of Venom's neutral game is knowing whether you should use close-up pressure or whether you should zone using projectiles. This mostly depends on the matchup. Some characters may have an easier time dealing with projectile zoning than with close-up pressure and others the other way around. In any case, determining when to go for pressure and when to go for zoning is another tricky part of Venom's neutral game.

These are some other useful things that you can do during the neutral game:

- "Playing with the P ball": this is a simple technique that exploits the versatility of the P ball. After doing P ball set you choose one of three options:
	1) Stay at your current position and hit the P ball as it is moving downwards with a variety of ground normals, such as 5P, 6P, 2P, 5K, f.S, etc. Use this ball either as protection to place another ball, or use it to move closer to the opponent.
	2) Move towards the opponent in front of the P ball and attack him with long range pokes (e.g. f.S, 2S, 6H), then cancel into teleport to go back towards the P ball. If you are above the P ball after teleporting, then you can choose to hit it with an air normal. If the ball is too far back, then you will teleport to the edge of the screen. You can then bring the P ball back on the screen by placing another ball (K, S or H ball).
	3) Backdash to give yourself some space while also for a short period keeping the P ball within striking range (with f.S or 2S), then using the added space to place another ball, such as a K ball for the PK formation (but an S or an H ball can also be used).
- S ball + S formation: sometimes you may need to backdash to give yourself some room to place more balls. In this case you can place an S ball which is initially placed behind Venom, but after you backdash (ground or air) the S ball is now in front of Venom and within striking range. In addition to placing the S ball, it also puts all other balls into the S formation, which is a great formation for the neutral game. The 4 balls in the S formation are placed far apart, both high and low above the ground, so they can be hit by either ground or air normals and the formation can also easily be partitioned.
- QV projectile shield: against characters that have projectiles, QV can be used to absorb hits of the projectile. QV absorbs any projectile while it is active (which allows it to absorb many hits) and the amount of hits that the QV ball has does not decrease when QV has absorbed projectiles. Note: some projectiles cannot be absorbed, such as Potemkin's flick projectile or any super projectile (such as Venom's Dark Angel).
- SA/CR free ball creation: a simple yet effective technique is to place balls in such a way that you can hit them with Stinger Aim or Carcass Raid in order to get a free ball. For example, placing a ball at weist height (by placing a P ball or an H ball) means that it will get hit by SSA and HSA, even when the ball is off-screen (which will create a free ball off-screen). Using SCR or HCR to create a free ball is also possible, but is usually restricted to precise positioning after you place a ball, which may not always be doable in the neutral game.

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5) Combo routes:
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Venom has a very straight forward combo route and can at various stages decide to extend the combo or decide to go for okizeme. There are some parts though that require special attention and against some characters you will need to change your combo route.
To know which combo to use against which character, we split the cast into two groups: the Heavy group (all Medium, Heavy and Super Heavy characters except Slayer) and the Light group (all Light characters and Slayer). Since all female and no male characters are Light characters, the Light group are all the female character and Slayer, and the Heavy group are all remaining characters.

First off, against all characters you start the most damaging combo's on grounded opponents with c.S(3), since the third hit of c.S launches the opponent. For Bedman, Kum, Leo and Potemkin the third hit of c.S hits even when they are crouching. Whenever you land a hit on a grounded opponent, first determine whether you can connect the 3rd hit of c.S. If this is not the case, then just end the combo with 2D into okizeme. Otherwise, continue.
Venom's basic midscreen combo route for the Heavy group goes like this:

	Heavy group, midscreen and corner, against standing opponents:
	- xx > c.S(3) > IAD > j.SHD > 6H

	Heavy and Light group, midscreen and corner, against crouching opponents:
	- xx > c.S(1 or 2) > 5H (optional) > SQV > 5P > IAD > j.SHD > 6H

The combo's against crouching opponents remain the same for Light characters, the only difference being the SQV > 5P > IAD > j.S part. For this part to work on the Heavy group, you need to create some distance between you and the opponent before doing SQV. This may require using all three hits of c.S(2) > 5H (which creates the biggest distance) or two hits by using c.S(2) or c.S(1) > 5H. For the light group, you need to be as close to the opponent as possible before doing SQV, so use c.S(1).
You can extend this combo route in the corner like this:

	Heavy group, corner extension, against standing and crouching opponents:
	- xx > j.SHD > dash jump > j.KSHD > 6H 		(also works as a midscreen extension against some characters in the Heavy group)
	- xx > 6H > SQV > 6P > IAD > j.SHD > 6H 	(can be very inconsistent depending on the character)
	- xx > 6H > KQV > 6P > 6H 					(almost always works if the KQV hits)

Venom's basic midscreen combo for the Heavy group doesn't work on the Light group, or is at the very least inconsistent. You can make it a little more consistent by using j.PHD instead of j.SHD, but this is still inconsistent. However, there is another combo route which is consistent for the Light group, but inconsistent for the Heavy group. The combo route is this:

	Light group, midscreen, against standing opponents:
	- xx > c.S(3) > PQV > dash jump > j.KSHD > 6H
	- xx > c.S(3) > HQV > forward jump > j.KSH (H ball gets hit by the j.H, bounces off the ground and hits the opponent) > dash jump > j.KSHD > 6H 	(can be inconsistent depending on the character)

In the corner, you need to change your combo route as follows:

	Light group, corner, against standing characters:
	- xx > c.S(3) > SQV/HQV > dash jump > j.KSHD > 6H
	- xx > c.S(3) > forward jump > j.SHD > 6H
	- xx > c.S(3) > PQV > forward jump > j.KSH (P ball gets hit by the j.H, bounces off the ground and hits the opponet) > dash jump > j.KSHD > 6H		(can be inconsistent depending on the character)

Extending combo's for the Light group in the corner is often difficult since both dash jump > j.KSHD and 6H > SQV > 6P > IAD > j.SHD tend to whiff (because the opponent is too high for the j.H to connect). Thus you are often restricted to ending your combo's early or by using the extension 6H > KQV > 6P > 6H.

Lastly, these are basic combo's for Venom after a throw:

	Heavy and Light group, midscreen, after ground throw:
	- throw > c.S/2H > SCR > IAD > j.SHD > 6H

	Heavy and Light group, corner, after ground throw:
	- throw > 5H > KQV > 5K/c.S(2) > 6P > 6H

	Heavy and Light group, midscreen, after air throw:
	- air throw > c.S > H ball set > dash > 6P > 6H

	Heavy and Light group, corner, after air throw:
	- air throw > c.S > high forward jump > j.KSHD > 6H 	(may be difficult to connect 6H)

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6) Okizeme:
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Okizeme is an important part of Venom's gameplan. He has many different setups that all contain meaty projectile hits (when the projectile hits the opponent on the first frame after he wakes up from a knockdown), which are inescapable except for moves with invincibility from frame 1 or Blitz shield.
Venom has several moves that are used for knockdown: 6H, 2D, QV and j.H. 6H and 2D always give knockdown, whereas QV and j.H may not give a knockdown at the end of long combos and against characters in the Light group (see section "Combo routes").
Below are just some examples of commonly used setups, both midscreen and in the corner. Experiment not only with these setups, but also try to come up with setups of your own (or learn by watching match videos)!

Midscreen:
- 2D > K ball set > dash jump > j.K cross-over okizeme: after 2D in midscreen, a nice setup is to place the K ball, and the dash jump over the opponent while hitting the ball with j.K. You can choose to land and go for a low with 2K, or just before landing you can backdash and hit the opponent high with j.S.
- air combo > 6H > H ball set > dash jump > late j.S okizeme: after ending an air combo midscreen with 6H, you are left with a lot of room to place balls. This is one great setup for this scenario. You do j.S as late as possible and make it only hit the ball and not the opponent. Then you can go for a fast low or for a TK Mad Struggle (which is a high).
- throw > 5H > lvl1 charged HQV > lvl2 charged SSA okizeme: midscreen throws also leave you lots of room to place balls. In this setup you create a ball with HQV, then send it towards the opponent with lvl2 charged SSA (as a meaty hit) while also creating a lvl3 free ball. You can use this free ball however you like, such as tapping it with 5P to put the opponent in a lot of blockstun.

Corner:
- air combo > 6H > PK formation okizeme: this is the most versatile and least commiting corner setup. You can either decide to hit the P ball or the K ball as a meaty hit followed by mixups and if the mixup failed, then you can use the other ball for to continue pressuring.
- air combo > 6H > KP formation okizeme: you hit the P ball with 5P and the you teleport to the K ball for a low-to-the-ground teleport. From there you hit the opponent with an air normal for a high attack or you can land do a low attack.
- air combo > 6H > PQV > lvl2 charged SSA okizeme: you cause a knockdown by using QV instead of the usual 6H. Then you hit the ball with lvl2 charged SSA (as a meaty hit), which gives you a lvl3 free ball that you can use however you like. Often in this setup the SSA is YRC'ed such that you can force the opponent to also block the lvl3 ball.
- air combo > 6H > P ball set > SCR okizeme: the SCR hits the P ball which hits the opponent (as a meaty hit) and also creates a lvl1 free ball. You can then 5P the free ball and use this ball to approach the opponent and to apply mix-ups.

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7) Advanced charge tricks:
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Venom has several tricks that he can do involving the charge mechanic:

1) "Quick" charge: completely charging a move during the preceding move. For example: you can do c.S on a standing, blocking opponent and then charge down immediately after inputting the c.S. You will have completely charged Carcass Raid after the 3rd hit of c.S, after which you can cancel into it.
2) "Flash" charge: during the down-up motion for a Carcass Raid while the stick is in position 4, 5 or 6, you perform a standing move and then immediately cancel it to CR. For example: you have charged down by holding [2] and are reaedy to input an SCR. The stick necessarily must move past 5 in order to go to 8, so if you input the SCR as [2] > 5S > 8S, you can cancel the first hit of c.S into SCR. Also works with 5P, 5K, c.S, f.S, 5H and 6P. This can be useful for increasing combo damage when using c.S or during neutral when using f.S
3) "Chain" charge: Guilty Gear is a chain fighting game, meaning that you can already input the next move a couple of frames before the current move ends (as opposed to link fighting games, like Street Fighter, where you can only input the next move after the current move has ended completely). This poses a unique advantage to charge characters in chain fighting games, which I call "chain" charging. For example: you eant to chain Move A into Move B and then you want to do Move C which is a charge move. Chain charging means that you do Move A, then chain Move B as early as possible and the already start charging for Move C while Move A is still active. This gives you a couple of frames of additional charge time. Venom can use this to allow him to do CR after the second hit of c.S. This can be done by chaining for example 2K into c.S and then immediately holding down even before 2K ended.

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8) Bishop Runout:
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Bishop Runout is one of Venom's supers. He creates a giant glowing pool ball, which has some very interesting properties:

- When the BRO ball is created, it pulls all other balls that were still active on the stage towards it and absorbs them when they make contact. It absorbs both formation balls (up to 4 in total) and free balls (which has no limit on the amount that you can create). For the balls that get absorbed, the level of the ball doesn't matter; each ball counts the same.
- Sometimes a ball may be pulled towards the BRO ball but it will miss and it will start to spiral around the BRO ball. In this case the ball doesn't count as being absorbed until it actually makes contact with the BRO ball.
- For each ball that gets absorbed, the BRO ball increases in size, the duration of the BRO ball increases and the damage and chip damage per hit of the ball are also increased.
- The BRO ball behaves the same as a regular ball when it gets hit by a normal, however it cannot leave the screen (it will bounce off all sides of the screen) and instead remains moving for a certain period of time or until it connects with the opponent.
- You can hit the BRO ball with SA and CR, which will generate a free ball.
- While BRO is active, you can still gain meter but at a reduced rate.

You can use Bishop Runout in 3 different ways:

1) For chip damage: BRO does a ton of chip damage which can be used to end a round if the opponent has little meter left. Otherwise it can be used to drain the opponents meter (since he has to use FD to prevent chip damage).
2) For chaotic neutral: because the BRO ball will bounce around the stage, it can be very useful in the neutral game as a zoning tool. You can make the BRO ball behave very chaotically and it can cover many different angles. Note that if VRO is the last placed ball, you can always teleport to it for even more chaos!
3) For combo damage: though very tricky and situational, you can use BRO to extend your combo's. Only use BRO this way if you know what you're doing.