Overview
I’ll teach you all about the best ways to play Axl, from years of tournament level experience! Currently under construction, feedback appreciated.
Intro to Axl and Why You Should Play Him
Axl’s a unique character in the Guilty Gear series with his emphasis on longer reaching yet slower starting moves. While Guilty Gear is traditionally regarded as a game of fast paced aggression, Axl can sometimes best be played by reacting to the opponent from farther away. This makes Axl a lesser used character typically, but it does NOT make him worse than any other. In fact, his different gameplay style can sometimes infuriate opponents who have trouble dealing with his reach.
A quick guide to the notation I will be using if you are unfamiliar with anime fighting game notation: The 5 buttons Guilty Gear uses are Punch, Kick, Slash, Heavy Slash, and Dust, which I will refer to as P, K, S, H, and D respectively. When I refer to a directional input, it will be using numpad notation, with 5 being neutral on the control stick, 2 being down, 1 being down and to the left, etc. If you’re ever confused, just look at the numpad on your keyboard. All directions will assume your character is facing the right. A number in brackets like this [4] indicates you need to hold that direction for a short time.
This guide will also assume you are familiar with basic terms such as gatlings, special/jump canceling, roman cancels, startup, recovery, and a few others. If you find yourself unfamiliar with a term, I suggest looking on the Dustloop wiki[www.dustloop.com].
Finally, this guide will assume you are able to understand frame data, such as what a 12 frame startup means. I will usually abbreviate that to 12f.
The main moves you will focus on when learning to play Axl can be divided into a few groups:
- Long reaching zoning moves: 5P, 2P, 6K, 2S, 2H, j.6P, and j.S are all important normals. Rensengeki ([4]6S, Sickle Flash in English, though this guide will use the Japanese name exclusively and sometimes abbreviated to rensen) and Sparrowhawk Stance are extremely useful as well.
- Faster up-close normals: 5K, 2K, 6P, cl.S, f.S, 2D, j.H, and Bentengari (623S, Artemis Hunter in English, will exclusively be called benten in this guide)
- Tricky silly moves: 3P, 5D, 6H, Rashousen (41236H, Spindle Spinner in English, as with rensen this guide will use the Japanese name), Raiei Sageki (63214S, Thunder Shadow Chain in English, we will use the Japanese name).
While there’s more moves in Axl’s arsenal, those groups are probably the most important. Note that those categories are not set in stone, as 5D can be used to anti-air and zone, and 3P is quite fast and useful in pressure.
Ultimately your goal with Axl is either to use your zoning to prevent the opponent from getting a foothold against you or to use your long reach to bully your opponent with pressure and frame traps.
Basic Combos (Midscreen)
Learning combos might take some time, but is ultimately rewarding to your gameplay. Luckily for you, Axl doesn’t have many hard combos. I’m only going to cover the absolute basics, but even the basics require a somewhat tricky input.
In order to do the corner bread and butter combo, the Bomber loop, you need to do an Axl Bomber (j.623H) as low to the ground as possible. The easiest way I find to do this is to do a motion that seems strange at first but is very smooth when you get it down: 6321473H. What ends up happening is that the game gets the buffer for the 6 and 2 it needs during the half circle back, then the 7 puts you into the air, then the 3 gives the final input the game needs to read a successful “Dragon Punch” motion. One caveat when doing this is that it’s easy to do the motion TOO fast, and end up getting a ground move (usually the start of Sparrowhawk Stance). You’ve got to delay your button press, not the actual motion, so that you press the button a few frames after you go to 3 so that you have successfully finished your 4 pre-jump frames and are considered airborne.
It’s important to get this motion down to get any proper damage with Axl, so be sure to practice it until you’re comfortable with it. If you prefer to do 6923 or some other sort of input and can do it fast enough that you get a proper combo, go ahead and use that instead, though I find that much harder to do fast enough. Also make sure to practice whatever motion you use on both sides of the screen, ESPECIALLY if you play on an arcade stick. The feel of doing 6321473 and 4123691 is rather different on an arcade stick, but you need to be comfortable with both sides in order to be consistent.
Manual links are denoted with xx. Most of the time you will be doing normal gatlings or special cancels. Jump cancels are denoted with JC, super jump cancels are SJC.
The first combos I’m covering are really basic hit confirms into knockdowns or air reset situations. These will be the large majority of what you do, but don’t be discouraged by the lack of damage, as the advantage gained by the knockdown or the air reset is very much worth it.
5K, cl.S, 5H, 2D, rensen
This combo is the full version of a typical knockdown string. Most of the time you won’t be close enough for the entirety of it, in which case the first thing you do is remove the 5H, then if you’re too far still remove the cl.S. If you are too far and get a f.S, the combo won’t continue, so you need to consider doing some pressure strings starting from the f.S.
This combo also represents a basic Axl technique during hit or block strings: holding back on the control stick the entire time in order to get the charge time for rensen. Rensen only requires 30 frames of charge, which is only half a second, so you have plenty of time to get the required charge in a string like this with multiple moves that require no forward on the stick.
Vs. airborne opponent, 5K, cl.S, 2S, SJC, j.H, j.D, Axl Bomber
This combo is part of your normal anti-air confirm. One of the strengths of starting a blockstring with 5K cl.S is that if you hit the opponent while they’re in the air, you get plenty of time to visually confirm whether you should do a ground combo or an air combo. Also, if you accidentally get f.S instead of cl.S, you can still do 2S and potentially continue the combo, spacing depending. This will make more sense as you play matches.
Also to note is that the SJC is a little trickier than you’d think at first. Despite hitting 2 for the 2S, you will most of the time need to go back to 5 and THEN do 29 to super jump. This is because if you hold the 2 from 2S for a few frames, you lose the potential to do a super jump since it requires a very low delay between 2 and 9.
Vs. airborne opponent, 6K, 2S, instant Axl Bomber
The purpose of doing an instant Axl Bomber midscreen is primarily to give a hard knockdown instead of an air reset, which could be preferred vs. certain characters. It’s important to practice your instant Axl Bomber so that you get this consistently! Also note that some characters such as Elphelt will not get a hard knockdown from this combo, but that is normal and due to character weight differences.
3P, 2D, Rensen
This combo is a basic way to get a knockdown out of a normal 3P hit. At first, it will be rather tricky, because it might not seem like you can get the charge required for rensen, but it’s definitely possible. Just go from 3 to 1 as quickly as you can, and make sure you press the 6S for rensen close to the end of the hitstop (the pause whenever a move connects with the opponent, before the hitstun begins) of 2D.
Counterhit 3P, f.S, 2S, SJC, j.H, j.D, Axl Bomber
This is one of the best ways to take advantage of a counterhit 3P. Using f.S instead of 2D in a block string means that if they don’t get counter hit but get normal hit, you won’t be able to continue the combo, and so you’ll have to do a pressure string out of f.S.
Bentengari, RC, 5P, 6K, 2S, SJC, j.H, j.D, Axl Bomber
Bentengari is a useful move that normally cannot be comboed after, but by using 50 meter to roman cancel it, you get some damage after going straight through an opponent’s move. This combo works regardless of if the opponent is airborne when you hit them with the bentengari, but you may need to adjust by leaving out the 6K, 5P, or whatever else seems appropriate.
6P, cl.S, 5H, 2D, rensen, 9 followup (the swing up), RC, xx 2S, SJC, j.H, j.D, Axl Bomber
This is a basic way to get a launch from a normal combo string on the ground. After the RC, wait until the slowdown ends to hit the opponent with 2S for more damage; you will avoid the damage scaling that is added by a roman cancel this way. Often times you can lead into a corner combo from this since it pushes the opponent a ways away.
Counterhit 6P, cl.S, 2S, SJC, j.H, j.D, Axl Bomber
It’s important to remember that 6P on counterhit launches the opponent into the air. This can provide interesting interactions when you can 6P through certain moves such as Faust’s f.S.
Counterhit 6H, 6K, 2S, SJC, j.H, j.D, Axl Bomber
A counterhit 6H is a great opportunity for free damage. This is doable even if you hit the opponent airborne.
5D, Homing Jump (hold 9 while doing the next 3 moves), j.D, j.D, j.6P, j.K, JC, j.H, j.D, Axl Bomber
This is your basic dust combo if you’re not close enough to the corner to do the corner combo. The situation you end up in isn’t the best but the damage is good and there’s not many better ways to do something midscreen off dust. For the jump cancel, make sure you go back to neutral before hitting 9, or you may run into trouble getting it to come out and fall too far down to continue the combo.
Nearly any counterhit air normal vs. airborne opponent, land, xx 2S, SJC, j.H, j.D, Axl Bomber
It’s important to be aware of how much hitstun you get from landing a counterhit air normal in an air-to-air situation. Most of the time you WILL get a free combo from it, and if you’re close enough to the corner, you can lead to the bomber loop.
Counterhit 2P, rensen
This is a valuable knockdown combo that gives you a knockdown from potentially a long way away. This also works on counterhit 5P.
YRC Rensen, run forward, cl.S, 2S, SJC, j.H, j.D, Axl Bomber
This doesn’t end up doing lots of damage, but converting from a YRC rensen is important to Axl’s pressure game. You can also do an instant bomber instead for a knockdown.
Throw, 6K, 2S, SJC, j.H, j.D, Axl Bomber
This throw combo works on everyone and is a great reward for landing a throw. Be sure to get a feel for your throw range and when an opening for a throw appears so that you can use this.
Basic Combos (Corner)
This had to be split up because I ran into some kind of character limit. Lol.
5K, cl.S, 2D, rensen, 3 followup (the chopper)
This is your basic ground combo in the corner. The chopper followup gives you ample time to do something to the knocked down opponent while giving additional damage. You can roman cancel the followup if you get enough meter in the middle of it to do an additional air combo, if you need to kill, but the damage scaling makes it not worth it unless it kills.
6P, cl.S, 2D, rensen, 9 followup, RC, xx 5K, cl.S, 2S, instant bomber xx 5K, cl.S, 2S, instant bomber
This is the basic bomber loop. For extra damage, you can SJC on the second one and do the basic air combo to add a few more hits; this is sometimes worth it for the air reset situation afterwards because you can attempt to air throw their air tech (more on that later). Not all characters will get knocked down by this, and depending on your preceding combo you won’t necessarily catch them with 5K. I’ll leave the specifics as an exercise for you to better understand the combo mechanics of Guilty Gear.
Counterhit 5H, xx 5D, Homing Dash (hold 6), 6P, cl.S, 6P, cl.S, 6P, 2S, instant bomber, xx 5K, cl.S, instant bomber
The main thing to take away from this is how to combo from a 5D in the corner, but it’s also good to know the 5H counterhit into 5D link. On lighter characters, you will need to remove the last 6P before going to 2S as they will float too high to continue comboing.
j.D (low to the ground), xx 6P, cl.S, 2S, instant bomber
Jump Dust gives a wall stick which gives you ample time to combo. You can go into a full bomber loop usually. Midscreen you can combo from j.D as well, but you need to catch them with something like 5P into 6K.
These corner combos are mostly about showing the different corner options; any midscreen combo that involves an airborne opponent can be turned into a bomber loop if you are near the corner. Be aware of hitstun scaling and the different sizes and weights of characters that might affect the combo possibilities.
How to Zone
Zoning is an integral part of Axl’s gameplan. If you think the idea of zoning is “cheap” or “unsportsmanlike” or otherwise somehow lame, you should not play Axl (and should probably rethink your goals regarding fighting games). Axl’s zoning is one of his great advantages and very much required to play him competently; ignoring this capability is ignoring one of his strengths.
While Axl technically has a projectile in the form of rensengeki, the large majority of your zoning will be in the form of his long reaching normals. Rensengeki may destroy projectiles and cover a large area on the ground, but the recovery is very slow and it is slow to travel in comparison to something like 5P or 2P.
Your main focus when zoning an opponent midscreen away is determining whether they will take to the air or not, and it is crucial to pick the normal you fish with wisely. Remember that most of Axl’s zoning normals have a weakness in the middle of the chain, which has a hurtbox. The very end near the sickle is always safe, but beyond that you can be attacked.
For airborne attackers, usually via an instant air dash or a move such as Sol’s Bandit Bringer, you want to fish with a 6K or a 5P. 6K’s slower recovery makes it more dangerous if the opponent can move across the ground quickly, but the large area it covers and its combo conversion capability make it a good choice in many situations. 5P hits much lower than 6K, but recovers very quickly and has a chance of hitting a standing opponent and causing them to block or even outright hitting them (and a counterhit can lead to a rensen for knockdown). If you hit too far away with a 6K to combo an airborne opponent, you can consider either doing a 6H to get closer (which is somewhat risky but can set up a nice situation since they will usually air tech in range of 2S) or canceling into Sparrowhawk Stance and threaten the opponent with that. Finally, 2S will hit a sheer angle above you, which is sometimes important in a zoning situation if they super jump at you or use a move that goes directly into that range (such as Elphelt’s air Bridal Express).
If you expect a ground assault, you have good normals for there as well. 5P can be used to hit certain ground moves (usually standing normals from taller characters or projectile moves used on the ground), but the large majority of the time you will throw out either 2P or 2H. 2P is fast, and gives a combo to rensen on counterhit, and also has a relatively low profile. 2H can hit all the way to the floor to combat moves such as Grand Viper or Stroke the Big Tree, and is also 2 hits to fight Potemkin’s super armor on Hammerfall; it also gives a knockdown automatically on counterhit, and unlike other chain normals, CANNOT be hit on the chain (though Axl’s body moves forward a bit). Both moves hit low, so they can easily catch someone walking backwards or forwards. You can also use 3P to fish against aggressive players, which has the benefit of being VERY safe on whiff.
Axl’s signature special is his rensengeki, a 3 hit projectile that is large and knocks down on hit. It serves an important role in his zoning game due to the 9 followup (called Kyokusa Geki in Japanese, but I’m gonna just call it the swing up), which is a fast swinging up of the chain from rensen in a large arc. On counterhit, the swing up allows for a combo opportunity, and it even hits a little bit behind him. Rensen will go through the majority of the game’s projectiles, with the only exceptions being super projectiles like Venom’s Dark Angel, Ky’s Charged Stun Edge, and the slow moving projectile from Leo (I may be forgetting one or two, but those are the major ones). It’s especially powerful if you YRC it before the projectile finishes traveling, as you can react to whatever position the opponent is in if they jumped over it or simply combo or pressure if they got hit. Getting the 25 meter for a YRC rensen can change the course of a match.
The other zoning special that Axl has is his new move for Xrd, Sparrowhawk Stance. The attacks out of the stance travel the entire screen away, but there are some limitations. The biggest one is that the chains from Sparrowhawk can be hit much like his normals such as 6K, but the two lower ones extend this hurtbox before the hitbox! Crafty players will instant block a low stance chain and then 6P or 2P the next chain, or simply do an invincible move right through the chains. While you can respond to attempts to hit it with normals by canceling into the high attack instead of the middle one, you have to simply respect any invincible moves such as Sol’s Volcanic Viper or Axl’s own bentengari. The other limitation is that there is a deadzone on the attacks directly in front of Axl, but that’s not important if you are using it at the most beneficial range. Otherwise, the move does quite a bit of chip damage and can do a good bit of damage if you hit the opponent into a combo. One important tip is that while you can only do 6 attacks before the stance ends, you can end it early with H if you need to respond to the opponent moving forward too fast. Another trick is that if you simply do 6 attacks and let it end normally, Axl will do a slow recovery animation, but if you cancel the 6th attack into the H stance cancel, he will recover much faster. You can also YRC the H stance cancel to make it much safer and even catch an opponent trying to punish it.
Bentengari isn’t exactly meant for zoning, but it can deter an opponent from moving too predictably into its (very large) range. On counter hit it will knock down far away, but even on normal hit it blasts nearly all the way across the screen, a good situation for you. It makes for an excellent anti-air if the opponent is close and you’re unsure about whether a 6P, 2S, or 6K will hit him, and it also can hit an opponent trying to run forward at you. This use of bentengari is best paired with 50 meter for a roman cancel to either make it safe or get a followup combo.
How to Pressure (Okizeme)
While Axl’s not known as much for his pressure, it’s nevertheless an important part of playing Guilty Gear in general. Zoning could last all of the time it takes to land one normal, and then suddenly you have an advantageous situation that is best served by going into pressure.
The most common pressure situation is against a knocked down opponent; this is called okizeme, or oki for short. When an opponent is knocked down, they are limited in their options and you have the time to put a hitbox directly on their body, with no chance for them to interupt it unless they have an invincible move. The most important consideration when deciding how to oki an opponent is whether or not they have an invincible move, as those characters require special consideration to be safe against them. Other considerations include deciding to mix up the opponent, or whether they have blitz shield available.
The basic idea behind oki is to time a move so that it is hitting on the first frame the opponent is finished standing up, or hitting them “meaty.” By hitting them on the first frame, if they decide to try and attack you with a normal or otherwise non-invincible move, they will instead get counterhit by the attack, possibly leading to damage and another knockdown, whereby you repeat the process. If they don’t press a button, they could still not block correctly. Smart opponents will simply block your attacks on wakeup if they have no other option, but this still leads to further pressure and a good situation for you. Needless to say, executing proper oki is important for skilled play.
When doing oki on opponents with no reversal options, you have these ways to pressure them:
- 3P on their wakeup. If you gatling into f.S, you can visually confirm a counterhit, or you can gatling into f.s 5H and use your options from there. Beware that if they fautless defense to push you further away during your blockstring, the 5H can whiff and leave you vulnerable.
- 6H deep on their wakeup. If 6H is blocked on the first active frame, it’s naturally +1, which is already a good situation, but if blocked much later into the move, you can do true blockstrings out of it on block, and get a combo on normal hit. On counterhit you get a free combo, of course.
- Instant air dash j.S or j.H. If timed correctly you can do a “safe jump” with this option and not have to worry about most anything they could do to avoid it, including a burst. The easiest way to get a safe jump is on a rensengeki knockdown; as soon as you can move Axl, do the instant air dash. On hit or block a 5K will usually lead to more advantages for you.
- 2H. Not really a great option since there’s few followups to 2H and they can be beaten in many situations, but sometimes you’re too far away for much else, and making them block can be better than them not blocking anything.
- Sparrowhawk Stance Low. This is best used against long range knockdowns, and has the disadvantages of Sparrowhawk in general. However, it can still be excellent long range pressure that keeps them at zoning distance.
Be aware of the different timings that people wake up! Depending on how they are knocked down (face up or face down), characters have different wake up timings. As well, each individual character has different wake up timings. I suggest getting a feel for the different timings, though looking at the wake-up frame data[www.dustloop.com] can give you an idea of what to expect. Generally characters wake up slower from a face up knockdown than a face down one, but some characters have it reversed, and some wake up especially slow. These differences mean you may have to delay your oki by a few frames on some characters. This is especially important when doing a safe jump, as a messed up safe jump can cause you to not avoid the thing you were trying to avoid!
One final note is that while your opponent might not have any invincible or otherwise special wakeup options, if you are too close to your opponent while standing on the ground, he CAN throw you. Throws on the opponent’s wake up override any hitbox that’s on them and throw you out of your move, so just use your range to your advantage, or be airborne when you try to hit them. 6H is specifically airborne during its active frames, so as long as you don’t miss their wake up timing, you should be safe right on top of them using it.
Reversal options can change everything. If you attempt to do a 6H oki on Sol, for instance, he could react and do a Volcanic Viper, which reverses the situation in his favor. This means that you have to change your strategy so that you are safe. Here are some general reversal situations and how to deal with them.
- Dragon punch style moves (Volcanic Viper, Beta Blade, Vapor Thrust, etc.): The large majority of these are weak to a full range 3P oki. The 3P will whiff, but you will be able to block or the move will whiff, giving you a free punish opportunity. You can also be tricky with sparrowhawk and activate the stance but not do an attack in anticipation of such a move, then punish it on whiff with the stance attacks. Note that Axl’s own invincible move, bentengari, is simply too big to actually use a 3P oki against it; you have to rely on safe jumps against enemy Axls. Also note that safe jumping Sin’s Hawk Baker isn’t a great idea because he can cancel to a plus on block move for a little bit of his food meter; 3P works great in this situation.
- Moves that are low invincible frame 1 (Riot Stomp): There’s not many of these, but doing a 3P or a 2H to these moves can be dangerous. Riot Stomp in particular is powerful against those options in the corner, as it comes out fast enough to punish a 3P on whiff. Midscreen, you’re often recovering fast enough from 3P to respond to it with a 6P or some other thing. Generally a safe jump always is effective in these situations.
- Invincible supers (Many characters): When you see the opponent has 50 meter, you need to be cautious on their wakeup. Lots of supers are very fast, so 3P will not recover in time and get hit by them (an odd exception is Potemkin’s reflector super). The safest oki against an invincible super is a safe jump.
- Blitz Shield: It’s not especially common to see it, but you must be aware of the possibility that your opponent blitz shields your attack. The best way to avoid getting blitzed is to mix up your oki a little. You can even do a trick with your safe jump where you instant air dash, but instead of doing the air move, you land and do a low instead. You can also do your oki early so that you recover just before they wake up, which looks very similar to proper oki and may cause them to do a blitz shield whiff.
How to Pressure (Blockstrings)
Blockstrings with Axl aren’t terribly long most of the time without consuming resources; this makes Axl’s pressure game a little weaker, but it does mean you can leave a lot of random frame traps if you play a bit wildly, and you can also be safe at the end of most of them if you feel like doing that.
The first and most important thing about doing blockstrings with Axl is understanding how YRC rensen works. Rensengeki starts up in 12 frames, but it has a few frames of significant travel time before it hits an opponent who is blocking a move it’s canceled from. This means that from many of Axl’s lower attack level normals (most commonly 5S, 2D, 2P, 5P, and occasionally you might do 5K rensen), there is a small gap where the opponent is not in blockstun if you cancel from, say, 2D from further away than point blank. For reference, 2D is a level 2 move that puts the opponent in 13 frames of blockstun; at point blank a YRC is impossible, but if you are further away (such as from pushback of your normals in the preceding blockstring), the travel time of rensen means that there’s easily a 2-4 f gap where 2D > Rensen is not a true blockstring and thus rensen can be yrc’d. You have to hit the RC buttons during this window, because if you hit it sooner or later you will get a red RC because the opponent is still in blockstun. This is important because the difference between spending 25 meter for pressure and 50 meter is very large.
There’s a few execution tips you might need to properly do a Rensen yrc. Some moves have a longer cancel window than they let on, so it pays to do a late cancel on those moves to ensure you get a yrc; I usually do a later cancel if I’m doing a 3P 5S blockstring anyway so that I can guarantee my charge for rensen, but sometimes it helps to do a late cancel on the absurdly long active frames of 2D if you think you’re a little close for comfort. When I do a cancel in the middle of a blockstring, I usually initiate it by pressing PKH for my roman cancel input; this is because I’m still in the process of lifting my finger from the S button and it would take longer to do my normal PKS RC input, and if you wait too long you get the red rc you don’t want. I suggest going into training mode and getting the feel for when you want to do the cancel off various normals, in order to get a proper understanding of the timing required.
Your major pressure starter is gonna be 5K. A basic 5K string would be 5K cl.S 5H 2D rensen yrc; this is an extended string that will only really work at point blank starting range, but builds up plenty of RISC and ends with a powerful tool to keep going in the blockstring. This is also a good blockstring because it is also your basic ground combo, and is easy to confirm into a knockdown or more damaging option. As with the combo version, you may need to eliminate normals from the blockstring to make sure you hit them instead of whiffing normals in their face. You can also do this off of a 2K, which has a major advantage in that 2K low profiles a large variety of moves; remember that the damage off a 2K starter has 70% initial damage proration, however, so don’t try to spend meter if you get a hit off that starter lest you spend it on a weakened combo.
You can do rensen in the middle of this blockstring from any of the normals, but if you do it from 5H, you CANNOT yrc it. 5H is a level 4 move, with much more blockstun than most of the other moves; that can be valuable if you want to push the opponent away without an risk of a dp or something, however.
5H is an important move because it’s a level 4 move with gatlings out of it, yet the gatlings are usually slow moves; this means you can create valuable frame traps that unexperienced opponents will easily fall for and experienced opponents will often be forced to respect.
The most important of these is easily 5H to 6H. This frame trap leaves 5 frames for the opponent to do something before he is hit by the first active frame of 6H, which leaves out a lot of character’s more powerful poking tools. On top of that, 6H is airborne by this point in time, so there is no way to throw it (and air throwing 6H is really awkward and honestly probably not possible in any consistent sense), and it also goes over many low attacks such as various 2Ks and 2Ds (often getting a counterhit). The biggest threat to this frame trap (besides a dp) is a character’s 6P, but the upper body invuln is often not enough even on characters like Ky. And on top of all of that, if they block the 6H, you’re still +1 and can keep going. Beware doing this against opponents who are quick on the draw with their dps; it’s still technically a frame trap, so it can get you in trouble that way. You can also yrc the 6H to leave you airborne, eat an input, then decide about hitting a button in the air again before you land or landing then going low, or block if you see a threat.
5H to 2D is also a decent option. This isn’t technically a frame trap, but it is a low, so if they are expecting a 6H and are slow and too predictive with their blocks, they can easily get opened up. 5D is technically doable here, but has all the dangers of using 5D in most situations. Another odd option that will probably confuse the opponent is to not cancel at all, but that leaves you at a technical disadvantage at -2 (though that can be reduced to 0 if they fautless defense to push you out at that normal).
Finally, you can always do a special cancel here. Flipover/Raiei Sageki is an odd move that’s overhead, jumps at a weird angle, and +1 on block; Rashousen is a yrcable command grab (though only yrcable before the active frames begin); and Rensen can be a safe way to end pressure and return to relative neutral state.
2H only leads to 2 different moves, 6H and 5D. It’s also a level 3 move, which gives you less of a valuable frame trap when you attempt to do either move. The linear nature of 2H pressure means you should not rely on this, but it’s important to understand your options out of this move since it is so valuable in neutral. Note that technically you are in a pressure state when you land this move on block or normal hit, since combos will blackbeat after a non counterhit if the opponent doesn’t tech the stagger correctly.
Going into 6H from 2H is one way to regain complete control, but has a lot of dangerous aspects. There’s more time for the opponent to respond with just about anything (7 frames before 6H instead of 5, and possibly longer if you’re farther away when you do the 2H), so there’s a lot more ways for the opponent to beat this. On the other hand, it can catch opponents who are sleeping and also inherently ends in plus pressure if you manage to get them to block it, so it’s not the worst idea to just throw this out sometimes. If 2H hits, you’re actually much more encouraged to do it since it’s very unlikely for the opponent to even dp you out of the 6H, because of the stagger time.
5D is a funnier option here because of the relative distance you tend to do 2H. It’s a lot harder to bop without 100% anticipating it, and if you did 6H instead you will get a counterhit on those attempts to hit 5D for the most part. There’s a few characters who can OS bop 5D or 6H, most notably Venom and Sin with 6P, so on those characters you simply do neither. On 2H hit, players that have trouble teching the stagger will often get hit by 5D and then you get a combo. On block, many dps will clash with 5D, which causes really silly neutral situations out of nowhere or a really easy punish if the opponent doesn’t expect it.
Just letting the 2H end is also an option that’s not terrible, because you’re only -4 afterwards.
More to come.