In Gulty Gear Strive, Giovanna is a rushdown character who excels in pressure, forcing her opponent to play defensively during her ambushes. Her normal attacks are enough to open up the opponent slowly and her combos are easy enough to deal sustainable amounts of damage without too much effort.

For newcomers in the series, Giovanna is a great starting point as many of her combos are simple to execute but are also serviceable gateways into Strive's mechanics, including Roman Cancel Drift and input buffering. As with every character in Strive, the possibilities with Giovanna are virtually endless, which means the following combos should serve as entry points to the character's overall game plan.

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For the sake of readability, the universal numerical notation used in most fighting games will be used to break down her combos in a readable format. For the unaware, numerical notation in Guilty Gear Strive refers to using numbers to reflect all eight directions similar to that of a keypad.

This is a simple combo that follows the basic rule on how combos work in Guilty Gear Strive, specifically linking a normal into another normal and ending with a special or an overdrive. Her Far Slash is a trio of kicks not unlike Chun Li's "Lightning Legs," which is not only easy to hit confirm but also easy to net a decent chunk of damage. What's also special about her Far S, aside from the added range from dashing into it, is that it can link into her heavy slash through the use of Gatling Combo.

Using a Gatling Combo is the act of linking a normal into another, ending the link with a special move, which in this case it's Giovanna's 214K or Sepultura. Sepultura is a versatile special that Giovanna can use to cover the distance in neutral as it is easily linked from her standing or crouching kick, slash, and heavy slash attacks. It's also the name of an amazing Brazilian metal band, which was more than likely intentionally named given series director and composer Daisuke Ishiwatari's love for heavy metal.

This combo may seem daunting on paper but this introduces the new updates to Strive's Roman Cancels and how it incorporates into characters like Giovanna. Canceling a dash into a Roman Cancel, or Roman Cancel Drift, closes the gap easier, allowing Giovanna to continue the combo.

Using Roman Cancels offensively during a combo will initiate a "slow-down" state, allowing for follow-ups that aren't possible under normal circumstances. This makes hit-confirms from Trovão absolutely deadly as Giovanna can combo from almost full screen, catching opponents by surprise.

Giovanna's standing slash has different properties in close range than from a distance as seen with her "lightning legs." Her close slash is a knee that lifts her opponent in the air slightly, which linked into crouching heavy slash into Trovão, will force the enemy into a juggle state, allowing her to continue the combo while her opponent is helpless. By slightly delaying her standing kick, she can link into two Trovão specials, ending the combo.

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Giovanna's go-to anti-air, aside from Strive's universal 6P, is her crouching heavy slash where she extends her leg in the air vertically, catching her opponent from the air into a juggle. On counter hit, the opponent is suspended in the air long enough for a juggle, which can be linked to Sepultura. Players will have to be mindful of the floating state the opponent is in or else the following attacks will whiff, thus the combo must be input with a slight delay to compensate.

This combo combines the philosophies of the previous combos and adds them into one big combo, carrying the opponent enough for a wall break and stage transition. Players can apply what they've learned from previous Roman Cancel combos as well as delaying the following inputs just enough for the full combo to connect. If the opponent is carried to the wall and on the verge of a wall break, Giovanna can adjust the combo accordingly.

These five combos are enough for any beginning Giovanna to get started, although as mentioned earlier, these combos scratch the surface of what Giovanna's potential is. As Guilty Gear Strive is relatively new, optimal combos and set-ups for various fighters, including Giovanna, are constantly updated and improved upon. With enough practice, players can learn the game with Giovanna and decide to continue playing her or move on to more technical characters.

Guilty Gear Strive is now available on PC, PS4, and PS5.

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