As the first new character intorduced into Guilty Gear Strive after release, Goldlewis Dickinson marks the beginning of the first season of content for the game.
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Goldlewis Dickinson, in Guilty Gear Strive, is the Secretary of Defense for the United States and the first person in the country's history also to be an active-duty Military Officer. Goldlewis is a defensive powerhouse with unmatched strength. Thanks to his raw power and occupation, Dickinson's weapon of choice is an enormous steel coffin from Area 51 with an alien living inside it, which he swings around effortlessly.
Defense
Goldlewis Dickinson is a Heavy character in Guilty Gear Strive and, as a result, has an incredibly high Defense Modifier. Dickinson has a higher Defense than Potemkin and the same Defense as Nagoriyuki, which results in an enormous health pool.
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Thanks to Goldlewis' large health pool, he will be tough to dispatch quickly, playing into his core fundamental combat strategies, which are to apply unmatched pressure and deal immense damage with each swing of his coffin. However, while he has tons of health, it is essential to know that Goldlewis doesn't have many "get out of jail free" cards and lacks some defensive options. For example, all of his standard attacks lack range, making him extraordinarily bad at poking and dealing with zoning characters.
In This Behemoth Typhoon…
As a result of Goldlewis' raw, brute strength, he has an incredibly unique Special Attack that allows him to swing his enormous steel coffin around in pretty much any direction he pleases, which is called the Behemoth Typhoon. The Behemoth Typhoon has eight different variations, all inputted as half circles starting from each of the four cardinal directions. Each Behemoth Typhoon Half-Circle must end with a Heavy Slash (HS) to register the Input.
The Behemoth Typhoon is Goldlewis Dickinson's bread and butter and truly makes him shine in battle. This Special Attack will enable Goldlewis to set up combos, wall bounces/breaks, and much more. The easiest way to start using the Behemoth Typhoon to your advantage is by inputting the Half-Circle the exact way you want Dickinson to swing his coffin, as it matches up perfectly. For example, if you're going to do a forward-facing Overhead Strike with the coffin, your Half-Circle Input would start from the Up Input and finish at the Bottom Input, or 89632 + HS (⭡⭧⭢⭨ ⭣ + HS). Once you get the basic movements down, the Behemoth Typhoon will open up significantly, and you will be able to chain them together to create nasty attack combinations.
Applying Pressure
As touched upon briefly earlier, Goldlewis Dickinson is all about applying pressure to the opposition and using his mass amounts of health as a way to bully his way closer to them. Dickinson has several ways of getting closer to the enemy to unleash tons of damage via his alien-housed steel coffin. Goldlewis possesses a couple of different tools aside from his coffin that also go hand-in-hand in helping him carry out his attack strategy — those being an exploding drone and an actual chaingun. However, each of Dickinson's gadgets is directly affected by his Security Level, ranging from Level 1 to 3 and gradually increasing over time.
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One of the best early strategies you can utilize with Dickinson is by deploying his exploding drone, Thunderbird, and follow behind it. The Thunderbird will only dismiss when it makes contact with its target or if the opponent hits Dickinson, allowing him to apply lots of pressure with little effort. The Thunderbird's damage and pressure potential only get amplified with Goldlewis' Security Levels, which increase its range and damage output with each upgrade. Additionally, since the Thunderbird cannot get destroyed by enemy attacks, it will also block incoming projectiles, making it one of the best options to counter characters such as Ky or Leo.
- Thunderbird (Security Level 1) – 33 Damage
- Thunderbird (Security Level 2) – 40 Damage
- Thunderbird (Security Level 3) – 47 Damage
Furthermore, Goldlewis Dickinson has one more trick up his sleeve, which is his chaingun, the Skyfish, that he promptly pulls from his coffin and uses to start launching bullets at the opposition. The Skyfish is another one of Dickinson's tools for applying absurd amounts of pressure, and will keep the enemy at bay just enough for him to plan his next move.
Much like the Thunderbird, the Skyfish also has its attack properties upgraded with each new Security Level rank reached, which adds to the Special Move's potential. When fully upgraded, the Skyfish will do heavy amounts of chip damage on blocking enemies and will drain their Tension Bar if they choose to Faultless Defense it. Its ability to shred enemy meter or chip away at their health makes the Skyfish a terrifying threat when the enemy has low health, which feeds into Dickinson's pressure gameplay style. The Skyfish's bullets also cover the entire length of the arena and cover the low-mid area of the screen, making them only avoidable via jumping or blocking.
- Skyfish (Security Level 1) – 10 Damage
- Skyfish (Security Level 2) – 20 Damage
- Skyfish (Security Level 3) – 30 Damage
Overall Focus
Goldlewis Dickinson is a powerhouse, heavy fighter, that thrives on keeping a great deal of pressure on his opposition, which is achievable with all of his Special Attacks. While his dash isn't incredibly fast, and he lacks a double-jump, Dickinson possesses a great deal of mobility compared to some of the other Heavies in the game, making him hard to deal with at times.
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When playing Goldlewis Dickinson, your main focus is to find ways to keep pressuring the enemy to play into your many unique and deadly attacks. Letting your Security Level increase is also a significant part of Goldlewis' playstyle. It will enable you to play with the enemy in exciting ways by eitherkeeping them at a distance with the Skyfish or getting close with the Thunderbird. Your defense modifier and deep health pool will allow you to take some hits while nudging your way towards the enemy.
You will also be able to use your health to apply pressure early on, as you will have much more to work with. Overall, the trickiest aspect of Goldlewis Dickinson will be learning how to do each Behemoth Typhoon consistently, but everything else is straightforward and surprisingly strong. However, after you master the Behemoth Typhoon, you will be swinging his coffin around with ease, dealing unimaginable damage to the enemy.
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