Guilty Gear Strive: How To Roman Cancel

Coming for its earlier iterations, Guilty Gear Strive also have its Roman Cancel system for its character. This system allows players to go beyond to continue their combo in offense and even use it to stop their opponent's pressure. Here's how to use Roman Cancel in Guilty Gear Strive

Guilty Gear Strive Roman Cancel Input

Activating Roman Cancel requires players to press three attack buttons at the same time. If pressing three buttons at the same time feels too constricting, the game also has a specific Roman Cancel shortcut button in the Button Settings to do this for the player.

Once this is performed, your character will emit a blast of energy that cancels whatever they were doing and be open to follow up for another action. However, Roman Cancels require players to have 50% Tension meter available to use it.

Depending on which situation it is used, the Roman Cancel has four variations.

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How To Red Roman Cancel

Ever wondered if your combo could still go further and would give anything to continue it? The Red Roman Cancel is your friend as long you have the Tension to pay for it.

Red Roman Cancels come out when the Roman Cancel is used during hitting the enemy. Doing this will make your character emit a red energy that'll pop the enemy up in the air. The red energy also applies a slowdown debuff which makes them float longer in the air and make it easier to continue the combo.

How To Purple Roman Cancel

Some situations in fighting games make you feel that you've put your character at wrong place at the wrong time as massive attack is about to land at your vulnerable character. Fortunately, Guilty Gear Strive has a Purple Roman Cancel for this situation.

A Purple Roman Cancel comes out when the move is used during the recovery frames of a move or if an attack completely misses the foe. This Roman Cancel can save your life if you need to cancel a slow move and quickly block an attack.

Similar to the Red Roman Cancel, the Purple Roman Cancel also emits a slowdown aura but it doesn't blast the enemy away and its slowing debuff lasts faster.

How To Blue Roman Cancel

Due to its condition to use, a Blue Roman Cancel can look pointless as it'll only come out when a character is completely doing nothing and not taking or dealing any hits. However, a Blue Roman Cancel shines if you're aiming to land a difficult pressure against your enemy.

Like the Red and Purple Roman Cancels, the Blue version also emits a circle aura that places a slowdown debuff on any foes it hits. This version offers the longest slowdown debuff of all Roman Cancels and also works on people on the floor.

Once a character is affected by the slowdown, they are more vulnerable to counterhits as all their attacks move slower and their hits land sooner than usual. The slowdown also persists if the attacker lands a hit early and open up new combo routes against a slowly floating foe.

How To Yellow Roman Cancel

If you ever find yourself in a situation where you need to stop an opponent's oppressive offense and a burst is not a good option at the moment, using a Yellow Roman Cancel can save you. If a Roman Cancel is used while blocking, your character will emit a yellow light which will stun the opponent for a short while and open an opportunity to return the pressure.

A Yellow Roman Cancel also works differently depending on where the enemy is when the yellow blast hits them. If hit during on the ground, the fighter reels from the attack and is open to receive the pressure. While the other fighter is reeling, the defender can now deliver their own pressure and try to lay the hurt down on their attacker.

Meanwhile, hitting the Yellow Roman Cancel on airborne foes will send them flying away. The large gap it creates between the two fighters can make some breathing space for the defender if they wish.

The only weakness of the Yellow Roman Cancel is that it can be blocked if done poorly and can activate parries like Leo's Kahn Schild during his backturn stance.

How To Fast Roman Cancel

One of the unfavorable effects of relying on the slowdown buffs of Roman Cancels is that the juggling red blast reduces the overall damage of a combo. If players want to go for a maximum damage combo, cancelling a Red Roman Cancel or Purple Roman Cancel fastly can also help in that goal.

Once activating a Blue, Red or Purple Roman Cancel, players must press an attack button before their character can emit the circle blast. Using the Fast Roman Cancel can shake enemies awake as moves used to access this Roman Cancel are aimed to extend combos to hurt more than usual or to quickly take an opening in the enemy's defense. Unfortunately, this option is not available for Yellow Roman Cancels.

How To Drift Roman Cancel

Lastly, Blue, Red and Purple Roman Cancels can also be "drifted" to make the most out of it. By inputting a dash towards left, right, up or down before the Roman Cancel, their character will drift to that direction while also applying the cancel's slowdown effect.

The repositioning movement during this drift is fully invincible and can allow characters to phase through some attacks. For some characters, the Drift Roman Cancel allows them to perform combos that they normally can't reach due to positioning problems.

Once you learn how to use all these Roman Cancels, the enemy gets more worried on the potential of what you can do them when you have a filled Tension meter ready to go. Alternatively, the Roman Cancel can also work as a get-out-of-jail -free card and create surprising plays in your matches.

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