Guilty Gear player here. My personal picks for getting the win: Anji (or better yet EX-Anji for more options), Millia (I don't even need to 'say' Lust Shaker), and Jam (Kick combos into infinity)
I'm currently working on Dizzy after I watched some awesome vids involving her combos I also like to play around with May for her fun combos.
That said:
How to Bust a Groove with AnjiPlay some practice rounds with Anji to get used to his moves. He's got a few quick punches and slashes, but most of his really useful techniques require you to combo into them for real effect. Anji has a strong ground game, but lacks power in the air, so play your strengths and don't jump into your opponent.
Some of Anji's basic moves will strike BOTH SIDES of him, this is more useful in Isuka than in X2, but you be thankful for it if you remember these moves so you can cover your tail if someone tries to hit you from behind or Chipp/Faust/Venom teleports behind you. Just for reference these moves include his 2s (low), hs, and 6hs (hits 4 times, plus a fifth when he poses).
Now your biggest strength with Anji is his invisibility frames at the start of many of his moves. Use them to turn the tables on opponents who try to pressure you into defense. Once you're on the offense don't let up and combo into Fujin or his 6-hs to rack up the damage. I use short bursts of 2-4 attacks before finishing so that I don't have to worry about the guard gauge eating my attack. Since Anji is strongest in this short-combo zone you're going to want to mix up your attacks and fake-out the opponent with your delay hits and invicibility frames.
Positioning is important in this game too, and probably your bet option for closing ground or putting distance between you and your opponent is Anji's High-jump (forward or back). You can also push your way into the opponent's ground with forward dashes or dashing s/6hs.
Your bread and butter special is going to be Fujin:
(quick) or
(start-up delay, but longer reach and you're likely to bounce the opponent).
Fujin's nice on it's own, but you're a fool if you don't follow it up with
Nagiha- the traditional follow-up of Fujin and a quick low strike that's helps you mix-up attacks. Don't be predictable though, be sure throw out other hits too.
A quick hop that lets you get behind the opponent, good against a blocking opponent who doesn't expect it. Use this sparingly for best effect.
Shin: Ichishiki- An odd follow-up that hit's overhead. It would make a great follow-up to take out a crouching opponent if it's start-up lag didn't let them stand up.
You'll never win using only one lame move, so don't forget his other cool specials like:
or
(Kick version has longer reach, but requires more accuracy (two back-dashes away will put you in the perfect hitbox, Kick also hits overhead)) This little hop-step makes a good delay hit to fake-out an opponent, use the punch version sparingly and don't hesitate to hit a crouching opponent with the kick version (works especcially well after the opponent has been knocked back from guarding and attack.
The infamous butterfly, Anji's ground projectile. It's slow and has a long start-up, so don't think you can pull this out with no fore-thought. It works great as a wake-up hit (timing is key), but it's true power comes from the fact that when an opponent blocks the butterfly it turns into a second, overhead projectile with double the damage. Using this to your advantage you can throw out the butterfly, then rush in with a well timed low strike (Slash is my favorite) that makes it impossible for the opponent to block both at once. I don't like to use this, since I feel it's a bit cheap, but in tournament setting you can expect to see me whip a few turtling tails with this strategy.
A lovely anti-air for Anji in the form of a throw. Practice this one to use it against Chipp especially.
A recovery strike, use this any time you see you and an opponent dramatically clash blades (white flash after the two of you both connect with an attack).
Anji's only air special and one of my favorite moves overall. I use it as a wake-up game and I've practiced it so much I can even use it against crotching opponents with an instant air dash. It does decent damage and will punish the guard gauge of a defender.
Anji can use his Dust as a wake-up game too, but it's very obvious after you've used it once, so don't go thinking you can pull Sol's Dust loops with Anji. You can also use Anji's Aerial-Dust to float yourself in the air longer and stay out of overdrives like I-no's Megalomania of Faust's scalpel.
Now Anji's Overdrives are nothing to be triffled with either you're core overdrive is going to be:
Use this for when you want to finish a nearly dead opponent or punish an opponent's guard gauge. It's decent damage, but don't over-estimate it's usefulness.
HOLD This move requires you to be sitting down for a whole 2 seconds, which in Guilty Gear time is about 16 Ass-whippings. Try to use this overdrive to catch someone off guard or as a surprize after you've blocked a bunch of low strikes. An interesting thing I've noticed is that this hits Johnny rather well if he tries to use a mist-finer to stop your dash, once you see the mist-finer guard low and if he used the low slash, you've got yourself a target. While on the subject of Johnny's Mist Finer, you can go right through it with a well timed 6-HS so use this to your advantage.
Don't just counter, counter with style. This is my favorite move, it's got the damage, it's got the flash. Now if it were only easier to pull off.
Finally remember that Anji's Instant Kill comes out just as quickly as Ky's, so if you see you're opponent get dizzied hit the IK and they won't know what hit them.
Combo Time!I'm not one for long combos, in Guilty Gear the guard gauge makes longer combos less damaging so your best best is to keep things short and sweet with a variety of 3-5 hit combos that you can mix up on your opponent. I find some of my easiest and most reliable combos to be:
,
,
This combo hits high, low, high, low and works well for mauling an opponent who tries to do a standing guard. If the opponent blocks the first two hits cancel into the HS version of Fujin (236-HS) as it's start-up delay may trick them into thinking they've got an opening to attack. Unfortunately even if they do attack the invincibility during the start-up of Fujin will prevent you from getting hit. HS Fujin should wall-bounce them and follow up with Nagiha as directed to sweep them low and knock them down. Instant Air Dash (or if you're not good at that, just jump into the opponent) and follow up with:
to let them stand up into a Nishiki and take at least 3-4 of the 6 hits this dishes out. If they block they'll be pushed very far away so you should have time to recover and continue your assault. One additional note is that if they start blocking low replace the Nagiha with Ichishiki (P) or forget the Fujin and jump cancel into Nishiki. Finally if you're feeling really mean replace the 2-HS with 5-HS and replace Fujin with Sai:
to watch your opponent's life or gaurd gauge get mauled.
Another bread and butter combo for Anji is:
,
,
The timing is takes a little practice, but you can jump-cancel and repeat this combo ending it with a dust (which you can pretty much add whatever you want to). Also for added fun you can preface this combo with a close-slash and jump-cancel into it.
Also remember to mix up your combos, some all purpose intros for either of the above combos are 2P (not the greatest, but use it anyways to start things off low), Close 6S (doesn't combo into another slash, but does give you a little invicibility and works well into the above combos (you have jump cancel to "combo" into the p,k,s combo) or into 6HS, which is a 5-hit combo in and of itself when it hits in close range.
Sadly this version of Anji doesn't a have ton of options when it comes to damaging combos, but he does have alot of options as far as mind-games go and you can use your invicibility frames to keep the pressure on opponents with greater range and/or agility. I think I'll cover EX-Anji (who has a TON of options and damaging combos) next time.