Ky Kiske is one of the first two characters to be revealed for Guilty Gear Strive before its release. Similar to Sol Badguy, the poster characters for any fighting makes him a great pick for beginners who want to learn the game. A very different character to say I-no.
So if you're looking for some extra help to get to grips with Ky Kiske, along with his move list and best combo read on. Here's our guide on how to play as Ky Kiske, but first, let's learn a bit about him.
Who is Ky Kiske in Guilty Gear Strive?
In Guilty Gear Strive story, Ky Kiske is first king of Illyria which is equivalent to the president of their nation and is the long-time rival of Sol Badguy. Compared to Sol, he is the cool, calm, and collected antithesis of Sol. Playstyle-wise, Ky is still Sol's anthesis despite both of them are all-rounders.
As a character pick, Ky Kiske is an all-arounder that specializes in the utility of his moves. His strength does not come from strong, solid hits but in applying layers of strategy against their opponent.
In simple terms, Ky aims to win through rapidly checkmating their foe in giving them disadvantaged situations which are the reward for him landing a clean hit and establishing airtight, hard-to-contest pressure against their foe.
If you're aiming to win through solid decisions and generally learn Guilty Gear Strive's mechanics intimately, Ky Kiske is a good beginner pick who'll help you learn the game rather than instant gratification through big hits.
Ky Kiske Move List
For his move lits, Ky Kiske in Guilty Gear Strive sports a basic, standard set of special moves and supers which are reliable enough on their own. The use of his moves are also straightforward for any beginner to understand.
Compared to Sol Badguy's explosive damage, Ky's special moves don't hit as hard and are designed to be tailored to revolve around a gameplan. Due to his less damaging and standard options, Ky Kiske may feel like a boring character pick due to having efficiently effective moves.
Here is Ky Kiske's movelist written in Numpad Notation:
- Stun Edge - 236S
- Charged Stun Edge -236HS
- Aerial Stun Edge - 236S or 236HS in mid-air
- Stun Dipper - 236K
- Foudre Arc -214K
- Vapor Thrust - 623S or 623HS (Air OK)
- Dire Eclat - 214S
- Ride The Lightning (Overdrive Super) - 623146HS (Air OK)
- Sacred Edge (Overdrive Super) - 236236P
- Dragon Install (Overdrive Super Transform) - 214214HS
Ky Kiske Beginners Guide
For starters, playing Ky Kiske wildly and blindly pressing buttons into fights may get beginner players some wins with varying degrees of success. Ky's moves are effective enough to destroy an opponent who often makes too much mistakes and just takes hits from him. However, Ky truly shines when a gameplan is formulated and the enemy is locked into situations as a result of his attacks.
At best, it'll be best to have a run through to the Mission mode and learn everything it teaches to you by heart. Applying Ky's pressure requires players to work on his strengths and prevent enemies from using its weaknesses.
In hindsight, playing Ky is a responsibility with a large payoff in the end. If you decide to not continue playing Ky anymore after playing him for so long, he's going to teach you how to make the most of your character's tools and find situations where they're effective to frustrate your enemies into a calculated defeat.
Ky Kiske Best Combos
When going for combos, Ky's combos should always lead him to stack an advantage to an enemy. For starters, carrying your enemy to the corner with combos that end in Dire Eclat in midscreen would help. Examples for those combos, written in Numpad Notation would be:
- 5P 6P 214S
- 5K 6P 214S
- 2K 6P 214S
While Ky has a lot of options to send enemies to the corner, these ones will be enough for beginners and explore longer combo routes to hurt foes and get them cornered at the same time. Ky benefits well from having control of the match and the corner is the easiest place to secure this advantage.
Once you're in the corner, carefully use your Slash and Heavy Slash normals to scare your foes from carelessly trying to escape from the corner. Learning how to boldly attack and anti-air with your sword normals will be key in this process.
After they're conditioned to be wary of your sword attacks, the fun starts in using Ky's standing low up close which is his Standing Kick (5K). Ky's shin kick is a nightmare of a tool to defend with due to the wealth of safe pressure options he can do with it.
Players will need to use this tool to find their enemy's defensive weakness which could be their impatience, lack of matchup knowledge or even fear of challenging Ky's pressure. Try your hand in understanding your enemy through giving them hard-to-escape situations and exchanges in playing the fighting game neutral.
This gameplan is only an example that could work well for beginners. As stated earlier, Ky shines well on players who strategize and use their options efficiently. Learning fresh tricks will be crucial in improving your Ky game.
If aiming to learn not only Guilty Gear Strive but playing fighting games with mindfulness in general, Ky is going to be your guy.
Read more: Guilty Gear Strive: How To Unlock Colours
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