Frederick Bulsara, also known as Sol Badguy, terrorized online matchmaking ever since Guilty Gear Strive launched its first beta, and although a lot of what he had was removed for the game’s actual launch, he continues to surprise new and veteran players with just how good he is.
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As the long-running protagonist for Guilty Gear, it seems that Sol’s plot armor has received a significant boost with him possessing a toolkit that allows him to deal with any combat situation the game can throw at him. Considering Sol also happens to be one of Guilty Gear’s more beginner-friendly characters, you are bound to find a lot of Sol mains on every floor of the game’s online rankings, so if there’s one matchup you must learn, it’s this one.
The Gameplan
Just like his rival Ky Kiske and the dolphin loving May, Sol is classified by the game under the “balanced” archetype, however, in practical terms, Sol favors the kind of aggressive gameplay Guilty Gear games often rewards, meaning it’s better to think of him like a Street Fighter’s Ken with Ky instead being more of a Ryu.
No matter how good Sol Badguy is, waiting for Arc System Works to nerf him is not a viable strategy so instead, you’ll want to exploit the few weaknesses the character currently has in his kit, especially when facing an overly offensive Sol far too used to seeing his attacks go unpunished.
In order to do this, you will need to react quickly to some of Sol’s attacks, memorize your own character’s best moves, and learn some basic fram data. The latter is basically how time is counted in fighting games, so if a move is +2 when hitting your block it means that unless you have an attack faster than 2 frames it’s not your turn yet.
Far Slash And Sol Badguy’s Other Busted Normals
When it comes to frame data, Sol has been blessed with many of the game’s best attacks (click here for a detailed breakdown of Guilty Gear Strive’s move list), thus beating Sol pretty much comes to working your way around these tools. The first of these is the very oppressive Far Slash punch, a highly spammable move that’s +2 on block, which on its own cannot be punished by any character in the game.
Despite Sol having one of the game’s best tools at the reach of a single button, as Strive's own mission mode will try to tell you, Sol can be hit when he's attempting two Far Slashes in a row (strict timing though) with most character’s faster options like standing or crouching punch, or a 6P anti-air (forward punch). Things get a bit more complicated when Sol follows up Far Slash with Standing Kick (pictured above) which is tied for the fastest non-throw attack in Strive.
The same could apply to Sol’s crouching attacks and his Heavy Slash button, all of which can lead to him landing one of Guilty Gear Strive’s most damaging combos. The key here is to punish Sol for using Far Slash repeatedly when he’s right on top of you before things get ugly if he mixes you up properly — using a well-placed Psych Burst can come in handy as well.
As if having Sol right on top of you wasn’t scary enough, he’s also equipped with a long-range Forward Slash (6S) that can connect to his specials when landed. Although not particularly fast, this flaming sword swing is disjointed so you don’t wanna contest it unless you have a superior sword or projectile; instead, aim for a well-timed jump in or dash in quickly before he can recover to preemptively throw one of the three attacks shown above.
Do keep in mind that blocking too much will raise your R.I.S.C. gauge (the purple bar under the Burst), which can turn red and cause you to take even bigger hits from Sol due to how damage scaling works in Guilty Gear Strive.
Defeating Night Raid Vortex
Sol's sliding special can seem a bit intimidating at first if you don't know how to deal with it, in part because it comes out pretty fast, regardless of that, you can still react to it with an attack of your own or simply block it, since it's usually the kind of special Sol will use when standing farther away from you. If blocked, Night Raid Vortex has quite a bit of end lag, so be sure to have your character's most damaging combos ready to capitalize on the opposing Sol's mistakes.
If Sol has at least 50% on his Tension meter, blocking becomes dangerous because he can fire a Red Roman Cancel to extend the interaction and do some heavy damage. In this case, you'll want to time a proper low attack right when Sol's about to hit you, to trigger a counter-hit sequence that flips the script. Do be aware that Night Raid Vortex travels under most projectiles and those won't do the trick to stop Sol.
Beware Of Fafnir
Though not nearly as fast as Night Raid Vortex, Fafnir can be even more menacing because blocking will still leave Sol with plenty of time to throw another attack in your face, increase your R.I.S.C. gauge, and in case it hits, it will combo into the former. Fafnir also comes with guard break properties that make it immune to Yellow Roman cancels, so what can you do to avoid being stifled by Sol's lunging fire punch?
The best option might be to hit Sol with a long-reaching attack as he's flying towards you because it'll stop him right on his tracks. Nevertheless, throwing him as he's just about to hit you does wonders too, because throws are Guilty Gear Strive's fastest overall moves at only 2 frames, so this will work provided you're quick enough.
Heavy Mob Cemetery
Like most characters in Guilty Gear, Sol is no exception when it comes to possessing an Overdrive super that will drain half of your life bar, yet he comes with the added benefit of being a fully armored command grab, hence it cannot be blocked, nor can Sol be interrupted with a hit after the cutscene animation. What to do then? Well, simply jumping or doing a Roman Cancel drifting upwards (provided you have enough meter) will do — causing Sol to miss the grab, but in any case, a shorter jump followed by an aerial hit is an even better option because it'll also add a bit of damage.
Pressuring Sol
Provided you've managed to survive Sol's constant barrage of hard-hitting attacks, you'll eventually have to hit him in order to win a round, so when approaching, always keep in mind the range and speed of his normal attacks. Even then, when approaching aerially or closing in on a knocked down Sol, you must be mindful of his Volcanic Viper, a meterless invincible reversal that can quickly turn the match much better than Ky's own version.
Waiting for Sol to whiff Volcanic Viper on wake up is not the best of strategies because the move might be too quick to catch on pure reaction before he fires another invincible Viper. In this case, exploiting Volcanic Viper's vulnerability to throws might be the way to go, though nailing down the timing for it will probably require making good use of Guilty Gear Strive's fantastic training mode.
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