Introduction#
Hello!! Recently I posted a form in Eiredashers where everyone could give their opinion on GUILTY GEAR -STRIVE-’s 2.0 Battle Balance Patch. This [huge] article is a collection of all of those responses. I have tried to use as many quotes from you, the marvelous masses, as possible [while still retaining a readable article].
In some sections I reference responses which I didn’t have the space to add into the article, for example by saying things such as “many responses”. I thought I would mention this for clarity, you’ll just have to take my word for it in those cases.
Stats#
First off, an appetizer, some stats! Yay!!
In total there were 22 Respondents to the form! Thank you all for your cooperation!
Total uses of the phrase “Wild Assault”: 11
Total uses of the word “Nerf”: 40
In terms of character representation [including secondaries], please consult the chart.
Reader’s Guide#
The main course. I’m going to go through each section of the 2.0 patch [Overall, System Mechanics, etc…] and attach the quotes that I think are most interesting or best represent the reception the patch has received. Because of how comprehensive this will be, it is going to be very long.
This article is not intended to be read from top to bottom [that would be exhausting], instead I would prefer you pick out whichever sections you’re interested in and read from there. Or name search your opp and snipe their Incredibly Wrong opinions. Or just look at the pretty pictures. Idgaf.
So what does the community think?!?
Overall reception to the patch#
The GUILTY GEAR -STRIVE- 2.0 Battle Balance Patch came out on the 9th of April 2026. It promised to be a huge update for the game, akin to title updates from previous Gears, and many hoped it would be a big shakeup in terms of meta.
Such an update took a long time to prepare; this patch came off an 8 month period without a major update. It is safe to say that there was much hope and anxiety in anticipation for this patch. The Irish FGC has had about a month to play with and get a feel for it as of writing this…
“I think it’s a massive improvement” - D4RK ONION
“It’s a much healthier game than before, lower damage and weaker midscreen combos make the game more fair.” - Dufferz8000
“Very positive overall! Feels like a great version with a lot of frustrating parts of the game completely toned down.” - Dr K
“I think it’s a better balanced game and one more suited for tournaments but one that I personally don’t like as much. I’m a big fan of system changes such as the PRC scaling and the changes to positive bonus but the changes done to standardize characters such as the removal of 4 frame normals and the removal of low profiles on moves diminish character diversity and their individual strengths in a way I personally don’t like, although I can understand people’s perspectives when they say it’s healthier for the game. I feel the same way about the extra limits on when you can RC. " -Goronberry
“Best version since 2.5 imo. very fun and feels balanced unless you fight chipp/ram/nago/leo/johnny/hc.” - Rubii
“I like the direction they’re taking the game! That being said there are some changes I take issue with this patch … certain characters getting too many buffs when others only got nerfs and certain already weak characters only getting weaker.” - Flood
“good overall, with some sore spots. definitely feels like the two steps forward the game needed.” - jayo
“While it’s definitely not perfect with how some character were balanced, I think this patch is a step in the right direction, and I’d argue a necessary step for a game like strive, whose power level in characters and system mechanics have only gotten more and more obnoxious as time goes on.”- Carbattery
“Mostly very positive and optimistic” - Mister_Finer
“Amazing. Apart from the character balance which honestly is not very great…” - -Xandra-
“It’s pretty alright” - FabricatorZayac
“Mixed, the game and the majority of the roster seems to be in a pretty healthy state overall but I’m not too pleased with the state of my main and my bias wins out” - Mr Potato
“’s alright”- Éadairbhe
A very positive reception in general, but with criticism going towards character balance. Many of the responses noted that they are pleased with the direction that ArcSys seem to be taking Strive. Common points of praise are the balance, the direction, and the removal of obnoxious system mechanics.
In terms of criticism, it lies largely in the way some characters have either been left too strong or made miserably weak, while a minority are unhappy with the homogenisation of characters individual strengths [We’ll come back to this point later].
System Mechanics#
A large amount of focus for the 2.0 changes were placed on the system mechanics of the game. Strive is coming up on it’s 5th anniversary since release, and in the time it’s been around it’s accrued a lot of tweaks to it’s baseline mechanics which all characters play by. The implementation of Wild Assault and Dust Shield in Season 3 [24/08/2023], the removal of DP RC in Season 4 [22/07/24], etc..
But not all these changes have been well received…
Wild Assault#
Wild Assault in particular has been contentious since it’s release, and ArcSys have gone through iteration after iteration in an attempt to mould it into something positive. After the Arc World Tour 2025-26 finals concluded, they revealed they would be removing Wild Assault, and were met with cheers and cries and a standing ovation.
“Wild Assault being gone means characters can be designed more sharply and that’s great. I don’t like overbearing system mechanics” - D4RK ONION
“…Obviously no more wild assault is nice too!” - Monj
What’s one change made in this patch which you totally love?
“Removal of wild assault, I don’t think I have to explain why” - Carbattery
“Wild assault being gone feels super good, I don’t think I need to go in depth on this. I’m very much with the common consensus here.” - Goronberry
What’s one change made in this patch which you totally love?
Removal of Wild Assault. It was far too strong and for a lot of characters felt one of their best tools. I would rather a character’s strengths come from their unique traits, not a system mechanic that every character has access to. It felt too homogenising and I think it being gone will allow characters to feel that bit more unique. - Orion
What’s one change made in this patch which you totally love?
“I bet everyone says “removing Wild Assault” here. Well. Removing Wild Assault” - Éadairbhe
While some have stated that they enjoyed Wild Assault for the cool combos it enabled, the overwhelming impression among the community is a sense of relief.
Defensive interaction as a whole#
I’ll be individually going over some changes to defense separately, but I thought it important to get the main viewpoints across beforehand:
“The increased punishment on failed defence is AMAZING. Missing a Dp is now punishable by a Dust launcher, and the removal of Roman cancel on back dash, invulnerable supers and throws was very much needed in strive. Now defence has to be much more thought out” - Dufferz8000
I have really loved all of the reversal changes this patch! With the removal of both roman cancelling reversal supers and backdash brc, having the opponent build 100 meter from your offence no longer gives them a free escape. - Flood
“I can’t help but feel that they went too far in places. I think that removing Throw PRC, removing Super RC, making reversals effectively a neutral reset on hit and reducing opportunities for strong oki and pressure loses some of the “Guilty Gear” DNA that makes Strive really special.” - Oisín Alumento
While many responses shared an adoration for the defensive changes, I want to focus on the opposing view point because I think it’s the most interesting.
A reoccurring theme among critiques of 2.0 was loss of identity. Goronberry mentioned that he dislikes the standardisation of characters away from 4f normals and low profiles which he said diminished the individual strengths. Now Oisín Alumento is saying that the limitations on Roman Cancel and lowered reward on meterless reversals, among other things “loses some of the ‘Guilty Gear’ DNA”.
This loss of identity is a point worth considering: At what point does a move towards a fair and balanced environment go too far and become homogenisation on a character or game level? We’ll see throughout the article where the consensus seems to lie on this issue.
Command grabs losing throw invul#
In the 2.0 patch, command grabs lost invulnerability to throws. Previously if one player were to normal throw and another command throw, the command throw would win 100% of the time. Now it seems to depend on which player’s throw comes out first, and seeing as command throws generally have 6-7f start up, considerably slower than the 2f of normal throws, it’s frequently the normal throw. Is this what the community wanted?
“I think the change that lets regular throws beat command throws is a bit silly. I think they should at least give the command thrower a throw tech scenario instead of just straight up losing. It makes command throws riskier to attempt than regular throws now.” - Flood
“The command grab throw invul universal change was initially scary but all it really does in practice is removing fuzzy pot buster’s application vs strike throw.” - mattie
“I also don’t agree with command grabs losing throw invul and it leads to a lot of odd scenarios.” - Dr K
From talking with with other players, and the responses to this form, I’ve found that everyone is confused with this change. It removes a lot of the power and utility that command grabs provided, and leaves them feeling quite weak. An exception to this is Pot who is often able to space his command grab out of throw range/grab after a guard crush.
Throw PRC#
On the theme of throws, Throw PRC [Purple Roman Cancel]! As of 2.0 there’s a lockout on RC after a whiffed throw, meaning you can no longer use meter to cover yourself. This has consistently been a very strong option throughout GGST’s lifespan, useful on offence and defense to swing the risk/reward. Now it’s gone!
“I love all of the RC changes but the throw PRC change is probably my favourite. One of the main issues I found with high meter build characters is they would basically remove any consequence of going for throw since you could just PRC and either punish their defensive option or force them to block again. Since its gone it makes offense a lot more interesting for both sides.” -Mister_Finer
“Throw PRC is gone! Amazing decision that I thought they would never do since RC is so core to guilty gear. It shows that the dev team is willing to make serious system changes to make the game healthier.” - MasterEdgelord0
“I know it’s a very unpopular opinion, but I’m unhappy that Throw Whiff PRC is gone. I felt like that was a really core part of what made Roman Cancel feel like a powerful mechanic, a mechanic that let you break the rules a bit if you could pay for it. And I felt that it struck a good balance of making the attacker in a situation feel powerful, since they could run Strike-Throw without one of those option leading to an immediate punish and reversal, while still having a real cost to being wrong … I think that the Tension Penalty change and the PRC scaling nerf would have been more than enough to rein in the more ‘problematic’/‘degenerate’ aspects of the Roman Cancel system, without needing to completely remove some of its flashiest applications.” - Oisín Alumento
To some, Throw PRC being gone is a great change. Mister_Finer enjoys the increased consequences for a wrong read on both offense and defense, saying “Since [Throw PRC] is gone it makes offense a lot more interesting for both sides.”
MasterEdgelord0, who also enjoys the change, praises ArcSys for being “willing to make serious system changes to make the game healthier.”
To others such as Oisín, this change is unneeded. He argues that Throw PRC was a core part of what made Roman Cancel feel powerful, “a mechanic that let you break the rules”, and that the Tension Penalty & PRC Scaling changes would be enough to keep problematic applications of RC in line.
c.S Hitbox#
In the 2.0 patch, c.S [close slash] hitboxes were lowered and standardised across the cast. Previously c.S was a key anti-air option, providing the most reward of any anti-air on hit, along with being a consistent way to jail fuzzy jump attempts during pressure.
“cS hitboxes getting nerfed is a very uninteresting change imo as it feels like a lot of characters were built with it in mind. It unintentionally makes fuzzy jump a lot better as it’s much harder to dissuade and harder to punish for some character. I think increasing scaling on anti air cS starters would’ve been a better change” - Mister_Finer
“The antiair c.S change is so stupid to me. Why would they spend 5 years giving characters c.S animations that are very clearly designed to antiair only to turn around one day and say “No, :3”. I understand wanting to lower the reward off antiairs but surely there had to be a better way, it feels genuinely terrible seeing the characters c.S very visibly go through them just for it to not hit because of the changes.” - Goronberry
ArcSys seem to’ve been targeting the reward off of anti-air c.S, which they have succeeded in, but Mister_Finer posits “increasing the scaling on anti air cS starters would’ve been a better change”.
A common complaint I’ve seen throughout the community, echoed here, is the fact that a lot of c.S animations don’t line up with the hitbox now. Attacks which look like they should hit completely phase through opponents in the air, creating some very weird looking situations.
Meter Penalty & Snowballing#
A gripe of Strive players last patch was “the game is too snowbally”. To address this, ArcSys made it so meter penalty carries over between wallbreaks, negating a lot of positive bonuses value. The result of this change is a choice: Break wall with super and use the hard knockdown to continue pressure without meter OR Break wall with a normal and use positive bonus to win neutral.
“The change to Tension Penalty to overwrite Positive Bonus is a really smart change imo. I think the biggest issue Strive had before was how over-abundant resources were, especially in a world where Wild Assault made Burst an offensive resource in addition to Tension.” - Oisín Alumento
What’s one change made in this patch which you totally love?
“Meter gain nerfs for super wallbreak, stops snowballing” - DialNouns
What’s one change made in this patch which you totally love?
“Probably the fact wallbreak carries meter penalty over and means pressure is no longer as snowbally. Lets me have more interactions in a game overall” - Lightheon
What’s one change made in this patch which you totally love?
“Positive Bonus doesn’t override tension penalty.” - Cho-Cathal-ic
Everyone loved this one. A stray f.S leads into a Wild Assault leads into a super wallbreak leads into hkd positive bonus pressure…blah blah blah! But now two elements of that dastardly string of events are gone and we are all the happier for it.
Other miscellaneous system mechanic changes#
The rest of the defensive changes didn’t have enough specific quotes to make their own section so I’m gathering them here for your pleasure.
DP Recovery#
The change to meterless reversals has also been a standout for me. Now DPs are useful tools for escaping offence and resetting to neutral, instead of complete momentum shifts that give oki.” - Flood
“it would be nice if they could take a look at DPs having way more recovery frames. If your character has a multi hit DP and the last hit whiffs, you can be extremely unsafe on hit. Bridget DP is now a massive liability and it feels unintentional.” - D4RK ONION
PRC Scaling#
“adding scaling to hits that connect after a PRC i was begging for this for years” - jayo
Backdash BRC#
What’s one change made in this patch which you totally disagree with?
“the removal of backdash BRC overheads those were kinda cool” - jayo
Burst Changes#
“Honourable mention to gold burst being easier to do on wakeup just make it punishable please why is it -2” - Mister_Finer
“The changes to the binding of Burst & Deflect shield to accommodate the addition of Counter Blitz makes sense to me, but it’s never going to stop feeling weird.” - Mr Potato
What’s one change made in this patch which you totally disagree with?
“The new burst and DS inputs. Not only did it take absolutely forever to get used to; they also just suck and often don’t come out properly…” - -Xandra-
System Mechanics /end
Jam Intermission#
Jam is new and fun and evil and everyone seems to have an opinion on her. Like everyone hates her! Or.. does everyone love her?
“Jam is my fav dlc char by far” - Rubii
“Bnuuy (pretty self explanatory)” - FabricatorZayac
What’s one change made in this patch which you totally disagree with?
“Jam. Safe on block aerial low.” -Cho-Cathal-ic
It seems that we’re still undecided on Jam Kuradoberi.
Character Balance#
This is a huge topic and I am totally not qualified nor do I have the bandwidth to talk about all 33 of it’s characters in depth, so I’m going to leave the fun to you guys…
“Since WA has been removed and 5H has been reverted along with some other changes [Johnny] feels more interesting and more importantly more fun to play.” -Mister_Finer
“Slayer fared quite well, though the changes do make me sad. The patch was overall nerfs and while I do think Slayer got hit pretty hard, I don’t think any of his changes were something that will make him bad, and the new patch being lower damage overall means his damage being as high as it is feels more valuable now. I actually really really like the change to pilebunker where it lost damage out of P dandy step. It makes his combos a lot more interesting by encouraging you to do harder routes for better reward.” - Orion
“Overall I think bedman got off pretty good all things considered, being I think overall stronger this patch then last, while getting new tools that are fun to play with … Id give their handling of bedman an 8.5/10” - Carbattery
“Pot is fine now but I wish slidehead could have armour back because it’s legit useless. The universal hurtbox changes removed some of his routes which kinda sucks. He’s way less belligerent overall and he’s back to having to actually try in some mus. Importantly though his non-special neutral feels much better to play with the 5h change and his faster walk speed, which was already my preferred style of playing.” - mattie
“Launch Aba was by far the most fun I’ve ever had with the game, second to launch Slayer, so to see her in this state now makes me really sad but what can you do.” - mattie
“I think Faust definitely got weaker this patch, however with many other characters getting weaker too he hasn’t really moved in terms of overall strength. That being said he wasn’t in a good position before the patch and many of the problems that put him in that position were not addressed.” - Flood
“I think Baiken came out of the patch pretty well overall. The one major nerf she got (other than the universal nerfs to reversals) was losing the hard knockdown on H Kabari, which hurts her for sure, but it’s mitigated decently well by finding combo routes that set up a guaranteed meaty S Kabari. Beyond that, she kept all of her other really strong tools, namely her incredible Throw game, scary high-low with Yozansen (which didn’t get the overhead scaling nerf for some reason), and Guard Cancel Parry.” - Oisín Alumento
“Elphelt feels a bit less fun… I don’t like what they did to bomb and the Rekka ender but she’s still strong.”- -Xandra-
“Lucy is even more dead than aba they removed ALL of her combos and didn’t fix her losing on block or her disastrously low health for the type of offence she runs. I played her a lot casually last version and while she had her problems she was really fun, though I can’t say the same now unfortunately. She feels like one step forward two steps back this version :/” - mattie
“Zato-1: My initial thoughts I feel like zato is way stronger this patch. The lower power environment suits him way better and WA removal isn’t too big a deal for him since he only used in really specific scenarios. With all the changes he received over the last two seasons he could be a bit of a terror again.” - Dr K
“sol new move is the most wack thing ever and i hope whoever asked for sidewinder is banned from having opinions ever again.” - Rubii
“It’s sort of baffling; [Testament] was not very strong before the patch, and would likely have been pretty decent but not astonishingly strong had they been left totally unchanged - this is a meta where they should have thrived! Shooting them in both kneecaps mostly left them bad before the patch and worse after it.” - Éadairbhe
Happy Chaos [Author Opinions]#
I am making this section to talk about my guy because I have something to say. I played Chaos before the patch, but I can’t bring myself to play this iteration. They took the fun out and made him even more gross. Obviously this infinite stuff is going to pass but regardless he now acts as a zoner more than anything else. Who wanted this?!?
The fun of chaos for me was the fluidity of the gun on offense and in combos and how it could be used to lock someone down while you did some bullshit. The removal of 236S for this awful feeling H button, no more Air Gun, the changes to reload, and these jank inputs on portals all add up to a nasty, inflexible feeling gun that I hate.
I wanted him to be shot, he really deserved it, and maybe there was no way to have the Chaos I love without him being a permanent top 1. Despite all that, I’ll still be sad that I can’t take him into this great new patch.
The Disparity between High-tiers and Low-tiers#
An issue which players have bemoaned throughout Strive’s lifespan is the gap between how characters at the top of the pack [Leo for instance] are treated compared to those at the bottom [Testament, Faust, Lucy etc…].
ArcSys appear unwilling to make changes to shake the hierarchy and give players of lower tier characters more winning situations, while simultaneously letting higher tier characters run rampant for extended periods [Leo, previously HC].
In my opinion it’s likely this balancing is intentional, and ArcSys are content with an environment where Leo is powerful but do not want one where Faust can thrive. The question then becomes “Is that what’s best for the game?”
“I was hoping the meta would significantly shake up this patch but unfortunately the biggest shift we saw is high mid tiers like Nago and Axl jumping to straight up high tier while matchup specific low tiers like Testament and Lucy only got worse.” - Flood
“Other then the disparity between how much characters were nerfed and buffed I don’t have any hard grievances with the patch” - Lightheon
“My main gripes come with the changes made to specific characters. I understand the idea of making a patch that decreases the power level across the board but I feel like they went further than they needed to with nerfing some characters, specifically the lower tier ones. The end result is just that the lower tiers stay losing (with some exceptions like Axl fsr) while the high tiers like Leo, Johnny and Nago stay on top.” - Loop
This is a point that nobody seems to agree with ArcSys on, with many people specifically mentioning their dislike of the character balance this patch as I highlighted earlier. While characters will always have some disparity, the degree of separation between the current cast is a clear point of criticism.
The Testament Situation#
Among nerfed low-tiers, Testament stood out as a particularly violent case of character destruction. Their changes were so universally disapproved by form responders that a section was mandated to catalogue all the distinct mentions.
“I’m not happy with the excessive nerfs they gave to Testament (who was already struggling)” - Flood
“Testament nerfs. Why did they do that to them.” - MasterEdgelord0
“The way they handled Testament this patch is utterly mind boggling. I have no idea what they want you to do with that character, and double stain is the stupidest thing I think they’ve given a character this patch. I really hope they give testament massive buffs soon. They have never been considered good since they released and did absolutely nothing to warrant these nerfs while chipp and leo get to be top 5 for another 4 years” - Carbattery
“Testament lost a lot of strength especially in midrange, I haven’t played much of them this patch.” - Cho-Cathal-ic
“Why did they do that to Testament? Like really. Why shoot such an already bad character?” - Loop
“They did shoot and kill Testament entirely.” - Éadairbhe
People feel a certain way about this character… like a tummy ache… something’s just not right.
Fishing Intermission#
You can now FISH 50 TIMES AT ONCE! This is a huge relief to collectors and fishing enthusiasts alike, such as Mr Potato, who mentioned this change himself.
What’s one change made in this patch which you totally love?
“You can fish 50 times in one pull now” - Mr Potato
Among changes this patch, this is ranking as the least controversial.
Conclusion#
As the final question on the form, I asked the players how this patch made them feel about Strive’s future. Were they excited to compete, getting back into the game, or was this not what they were looking for?
“I’m more motivated than ever to improve at the game since its been made a lot more stable. I think the game has been made more difficult since you can’t just snowball with WA and positive bonus anymore. There just less bs in general and that makes playing it a lot more fun.” -Mister_Finer
“The most important thing to me is seeing a lot of renewed interest and more people picking up the game. Having more players and a general positive sentiment does a ton to keep my enthusiasm for competing in strive going.” - Monj
“The state of the game as I mentioned earlier is pretty healthy and I’m hopeful for the future of the game and the friends that I have made through it. I’ll continue to compete and get better to work towards my goal of rising in ranks as a player.” - Lightheon
“I think the game is the most fun to play since season 2. I’m really enjoying it and want to lock in on playing/traveling for it some more” - Dr K
“I really enjoy this patch, I will continue to compete in tournaments, try to get to more locals, maybe do more online brackets.” - Cho-Cathal-ic
“I think Strive will be fine going forward, i’m aware that I’m in the minority [with mixed feelings] and that a lot of players are really enjoying the patch, so I think it’s just not for me anymore.” - Mr Potato
“I do wanna compete in this patch. Brought back my motivation to plays fgs. Very excited. RIP SOL BADGUY 2021-2024” - Rubii
“Definitely got me back into playing the game” - MasterEdgelord0
“I’ve only played in 1 tournament since 2.0 came out but I can confidently say it felt WAY better to play in it compared to any tournament before in the last 5 versions, online or offline … I’m very much looking forward to continuing to enter offline tournaments for the game for the foreseeable future :)” - mattie
To conclude, from observing the feedback, this has been in many regards a major success for ArcSys.
So many players are getting back into the game or are excited to compete again. There’s a feeling in the air among the Strive crowd as of late, the cheesey swiss bracket has been very populated with new faces… I am very hopeful for this game that I love so much.
I hope the love of the game that everyone shares has shone through this article. My desire while writing this is that all the players of the Irish FGC can be heard while we’re in this exciting moment together!!! I really think this community is special I am honoured to be in the position to create something filled with it’s voices.
Thank you for reading!!!#
A huge shout out to my girlfriend Nia [aka Flood] for helping me write this article. I wouldn’t’ve been able to handle the workload alone; Her help with organising and her keen artistic & editorial eye were fundamental to making this piece.
Let me end this on a quote from her, which I think sums up this patch:
“smell of the game? clean and fragrant” - Nia