Players often look for inspiration from fellow players over the internet in Guilty Gear Strive. However, players are writing their combos in a foreign language which are a combination of numbers and letters. Here's how you can read the Numpad Notation and accurately read those combos.
Guilty Gear Strive Numpad Notations Explained
Similar to previous anime fighting games, Guilty Gear Strive players also use the Numpad Notation to write their combos for easier reference. To read this language, players will need to look at the position of the numbers on the numpad. Each number stands for a direction and can be interpreted as follows:
- 5 - Neutral (No movement button pressed)
- 1 - Down left
- 3 - Down right
- 2 - Down
- 4 - Left
- 6 - Right
- 7 - Up Back
- 9 - Up Forward
- 8 - Up
All Numpad Notations are written assuming the character is facing right or on the Player 1 side. When trying to read the directions in the command list, see where the direction starts and ends before the attack button press.
Lastly, the direction presses in anime fighting games are not pressing each direction in a rapid succession. Guilty Gear Strive inputs require pressing the directions all it one full swiping motion for controller players and moving the arcade stick in the same directional pattern to do the special move or Overdrive super consistently.
Once you got this part understood, learning the directions is half of reading the notations.
Read more: Guilty Gear Strive Review: A Welcoming Fighting Game?
How To Read Numpad Combinations
All Numpad Notations are usually numbers paired with certain letters. These letters actually stand for the attack buttons found in Guilty Gear Strive. Here are the five attack buttons written in Numpad Notations
- P - Punch
- K - Kick
- S - Slash
- HS - Heavy Slash
- D - Dust
Mixing the two together will give you an attack that you can do in the game. For example, the Standing Punch for every character is said in Numpad Notation as 5P. As an example, we'll translate the whole of Ky's command list in Numpad Notation.
- Forward Punch (Command Normal 1) - 6P
- Forward Kick (Command Normal 2) - 6K
- Forward Heavy Slash (Command Normal 3) - 6HS
- Stun Edge - 236S
- Charged Stun Edge - 236HS
- Aerial Stun Edge - j.236S or j.236HS (The small letter j stands for Jump)
- Stun Dipper - 236K
- Foudre Arc - 214K
- Vapor Thrust - 623S or 623HS (Air OK)
- Dire Eclat - 214S
- Ride The Lightning (Overdrive Super Move) - 632146HS, requires 50 Tension
- Sacred Edge (Overdrive Super Move) - 236236P
- Dragon Install (Overdrive Super Move Transform) - 214214HS, requires 50 Tension and below 30% Health
The other characters also follow this notation for all the unique moves they have. For example, Chipp's Beta Blade is discussed as Chipp 623S if brought into a Guilty Gear Strive discussion.
Also, Look on Twitter, Reddit and Dustloop
Once you've learned how to read the Numpad Notation, you can now read combos that players post on Twitter and Reddit. As seen in Twitter user @PC_voltInLab's combo for Ky Kiske, the inputs to do his combo are in the said notation. If you're planning to look for the combos for a specific character, here are some character hashtags on Twitter that you can check
- #GGST_SO - Sol Badguy
- #GGST_KY - Ky Kiske
- #GGST_MA - May
- #GGST_RA - Ramlethal Valentine
- #GGST_AX - Axl Low
- #GGST_CH - Chipp Zanuff
- #GGST_PO - Potemkin
- #GGST_MI - Millia Rage
- #GGST_ZA - Zato-1
- #GGST_NA- Nagoriyuki
- #GGST_GI - Giovanna
- #GGST_IN - I-no
- #GGST_AN - Anji Mito
- #GGST_LE - Leo Whitefang
- #GGST_FA - Faust
Newer characters will also follow a similar pattern where their hashtag code will be the first two letters of their name. If two characters will share a similar first two letters, the later released character will use the third letter on their first name or the abbreviation of their first name and last name.
Lastly, the Guilty Gear Strive Dustloop page can be a helpful resource for newer players to read up on their moves. All of their moves are written in Numpad Notation and with a few footnotes on how to use the move effectively or at least provide a situation where the move is a strong option.
Read more: Guilty Gear Strive: How To Unlock Colours
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