As the first new character announced for Guilty Gear Strive and a major character in Strive's cinematic story mode, the vampire samurai Nagoriyuki is a tempting character pick for newcomers. Unfortunately, many of those players find Nagoriyuki's fighting style confusing. He must handle a special mechanic that no other character has to deal with: the blood gauge. Mishandling the blood gauge can cost Nagoriyuki the match.

Nagoriyuki is an incredibly powerful fighter, who restrains his near-unstoppable strength with strict adherence to Bushido. His personality is reflected in his gameplay. Unlike Guilty Gear Strive's other characters, Nagoriyuki can freely chain his special moves together, while most characters like Giovanna need to spend meter to extend combos. But that comes at a cost. Every special fills up the blood gauge, a red bar above his tension meter. Most specials fills it by a third. When the blood gauge is filled, Nagoriyuki enters Blood Rage mode.

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When Nagoriyuki enters blood rage, he loses control of his blood-lust. His mask flies off, and both his sword and eyes glow red. There are some buffs in this mode, namely improved range on his normals, but the tradeoffs are not worth it. Nagoriyuki loses access to his specials and his health automatically drains, depleting half his health bar. Nagoryuki can end blood rage early with his blood rage specific super, Zansetsu, but it's punishable if missed or blocked at close range.

Because of the risk of blood rage's life drain, players should be cautious with his health, and save tension meter for faultless defense.

First, the blood gauge does not fill instantly. It fills gradually after Nagoriyuki's specials are performed. The player has a few moments after a long combo to empty the blood gauge. That being said, it's best for new Nagoriyuki players to restrict themselves to one to two specials per combo until they get a better feel for the gauge. His base damage is already high, so they can learn how to extend combos later.

The gauge goes down by itself over time, but considering how fast Guilty Gear Strive is, waiting is not a luxury Nagoriyuki can afford.

When Nagoriyuki lands a normal with his massive sword, using slash or heavy slash, he absorbs clouds of blood from the opponent and lowers the blood gauge. This happens whether the opponent is hit or blocks. Nagoriyuki players should stay at mid-range and consistently use long-range pokes to keep him under control. His standard super, Wasureyuki, also lowers the blood gauge, but it costs tension and is riskier.

Nagoriyuki's most effective tool for lowering the blood gauge is his command grab: Bloodsucking Universe. Performed with the dragon punch motion (forward, down, then down-forward) and punch, Nagoriyuki grabs the opponent and takes a bite of their neck, sucking their blood and rapidly draining the blood gauge.

It has a short range, but Nagoriyuki can easily enter that range with Fukyo, his teleport special. With quarter circle forward or quarter circle back and kick, Nagoriyuki teleports forward or backward. This special barely fills the blood gauge, and players can cover his approach by chaining into Fukyo from a far-reaching slash or heavy slash. For an even safer option, they can also close the distance with a sliding roman cancel.

Nagoriyuki's blood gauge can be intimidating, and many players would rather not think about an extra system when fighting. Thankfully, Guilty Gear Strive has several beginner-friendly characters. But those willing to put in the work of mastering him will have a powerhouse in their hands.

Guilty Gear Strive is available for PC, PS4, and PS5.

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