Guilty Gear -Strive- Starter Guide - Baiken
The following page is an overview of Baiken's gameplay in the Guilty Gear series. She is a recurring playable character since the original Guilty Gear.
Overview[]
Guilty Gear[]
Baiken is able to control the neutral game with her iconic Tatami Gaeshi technique, either in the corner or in midair, as a powerful zoning tool due to the flipped-mat falling to the ground (which can halt many forms of approach and/or act as a lockdown tool for Baiken). In this game only, her tatamis have no recovery and no limit to how many can be on screen, allowing her to make walls of tatamis at will. Meanwhile, mastering the Youzansen move close to the ground gives her a strong overhead tool.
Guilty Gear X[]
Baiken is reworked into her most recognisable playstyle as a defensive fighter, having a plethora of unique Special Attacks that she can use while guarding: Sakura, the anti-air Zakuro, and the side-switching Mawarikomi. Due to this, opponents are forced to commit less often as well as limit their blockstring pressure from a slight distance, especially since said moves do not cost meter unlike Dead Angle Attacks. Her guard-canceling becomes even more dangerous with the use of her Baku-series of Overdrive Attacks. When they connect, they seal off specific moveset options of her opponent for a while. Baiken can also use Tension to cancel most of her guarding specials for a solid amount of combos (especially if one masters their FRC timings), with her aerial 
able to launch for a jump cancel extender.
Baiken isn't without her weaknesses, however, as her damage potential is rather limited with only just a few offensive special moves compared to her array of guard-cancel attacks. She also has one of the worst defensive and stun modifiers in the cast, meaning she normally requires a form of "perfect-play" lest she gets trounced due to misuse of her momentum. Despite her powerful defensive control, Baiken also struggles notably versus zoning matchups, since her tools mainly cover mid-to-close physical range, and knowledgeable players may attempt to carefully space their footsies.
Guilty Gear XX[]
In Λ Core Plus R, Baiken has been reworked the most within the XX games, in that her Suzuran is now able to freely cancel into any of her guard specials (on top of Suzuran already having guard point/autoguard), giving her strong pressure and conversion options as well as combo flexibility and ways to punish reckless pokes and approaches. While these new options substantially increases her neutral and offensive potential, Suzuran's input adds an extra layer of execution difficulty on top of the possible FRCs. Additionally, Zakuro returns as a guard attack while Youshijin becomes a standalone move, allowing the latter to become an on-demand anti-air.
Guilty Gear Xrd[]
Guilty Gear -Strive-[]
Tether via Ground Throw.
In Strive, Baiken has a new feature: the Tether (連結, Renketsu?)[1] state that she may inflict on opponents by using her ground Throw (
or 
+ 
) or the move Kabari (
+ 
only). These attacks allow Baiken to tie her opponent up with a red-and-black elastic rope, which has a bell in the Kabari version.
In this linked state, her foes cannot move away by a certain distance; should they try, they get sprung back towards her by the equivalent of a single forward step. At the same time, Baiken cannot move without dragging them with her. What is useful about tethering is the option to use the momentum from back-dashing, or use a move like Tatami Gaeshi to spring them back down, being able to extend a combo that may be otherwise impossible under normal circumstances. This state lasts for about 3 seconds, after which the rope automatically breaks, and it is possible to hold to prevent Baiken from tethering her rope during her Throw.
Details[]
Trivia[]
References[]