Guilty Gear -Strive- balance patch nerfs Ramlethal and Nagoriyuki, buffs Bridget and May

It’s been a while since there have been balance updates to Arc System Works’ flagship fighting game title, Guilty Gear -Strive-. But just in time for the holiday season, the big balance patch notes have officially been revealed.

With the community campaigning for nerfs to the game’s top tiers, ArcSys has somewhat listened. Ramlethal and Nagoriyuki have been finally been nerfed in hopes of knocking them down the tier list. But the community has not been sold on the game’s most oppressive character, Happy Chaos and his changes. H

ere is a look at the important changes in the latest patch, Ver. 1.24 (Battle Version 2.04).

Universal Mechanic update

#GGST Battle Balance Sneak Peek
◤System/Universal◢
The rate of R.I.S.C. Level depletion over time is now faster.
Also, the rate of Tension gain does not increase for the attacking character when an opponent with max R.I.S.C. Level blocks their attacks. pic.twitter.com/MbOOjSPEGu

— Arc System Works America (@ArcSystemWorksU) December 14, 2022

Outside of the character changes, there is one big change that is being made in the newest Strive update and that’s to the Tension and R.I.S.C mechanics. The idea behind these changes is to help and reward players that are on the defensive. The developers think that it is too difficult to launch a counterattack due to the aggressor having too much advantage.

As such, the Tension gauge, a resource meter players can use on Roman Cancels and Super moves, now increase more the higher your character’s R.I.S.C gauge gets. Essentially, this means is that the more you block, the higher your meter gets which allows for more counterattack opportunities.

Character changes

current uninformed assessment pic.twitter.com/KSRJCFHu8U

— Moist | Hotashi (@hotashis) December 14, 2022

Many characters in the patch are getting buffs with some receiving more buffs than others. For example, May is seen as one of the biggest winners in this patch with her main engage tool, Mr.Dolphin, getting less recovery when it hits the opponent with the goal of making the move safer to use.

Bridget is also seen as another big winner with her main neutral tool, Stop and Dash, getting a damage buff, speed buff, and a recovery buff while also making her Rolling Movement follow-up have less recovery time on hit while also keeping Bridget closer to the opponent on hit letting her have more options on offense.

after going through the notes and talking a few times pic.twitter.com/AxMc4B1YEe

— bc | Lord Knight 🐎☁ (@LordKnightBB) December 14, 2022

As for the nerfs, Ramlethal and Nagoriyuki are seen as the biggest losers in the patch according to the player base on first glance. The jury is out on Happy Chaos, the most polarizing character in the metagame, as some players don’t think his changes were enough to topple him from top-tier status.

With everything said, the balance changes are sure to shake up the metagame heading into the new year with the Arc World Tour finals on the horizon.