Following the announcement that Venom’s reveal trailer for Guilty Gear Strive will debut at Arc World Tour Finals 2024, Guilty Gear fans started posting gameplay videos of the pool cue-wielding assassin duking it out in past games. One video, in particular, draws focus to Venom’s Ball Set special move in Guilty Gear Xrd Rev 2 and how it can zone characters like Ky Kiske with little to no effort.
To add some context, Ball Set is Venom’s bread-and-butter move that places a billiard ball on the field. Placed balls do nothing on their own, but have different reactions based on how players interact with them. Hitting a ball with a normal attack will cause it to launch at different angles and speeds (they can also be hit by other balls to change their trajectory). Balls can “level up” depending on how long a special move input like Stinger Aim and QV is held. They can also be spun either towards an enemy (Top-Spin) or back at Venom (Back-Spin) by using his Carcass Raid and Stinger Aim special moves.
Needless to say, Venom is one of the Guilty Gear franchise’s most mechanically complex characters. The amount of moves he has combined with the different ball reactions means that players need to spend a lot of time practicing to get good with him. Once you get the hang of him, however, Venom can be a massive nuisance to your opponents.
Though you can spend hours labbing Venom, the above video shows just how easy it is to lock down a player who doesn’t know how to fight against him. Instead of using Venom’s entire kit, the Venom player spams Ball Set and hits the generated balls to prevent their opponent from getting close. Despite the Ky player managing to close the distance and land a combo, the Venom player quickly finds an opening to perform Ball Set and continue with a different sequence.
While some people try to defend Venom’s Ball Set by arguing that the move doesn’t do a lot of damage and that some of his moves are more complex and require hold inputs, others were quick to voice their displeasure of having to fight Venom with his previous moveset in Guilty Gear Strive. Much like Jack-O’, whose Servants can be problematic, Venom’s billiard balls can create a lot of pressure provided he can set them up. Players are likely to have a hard time fighting against Venom just as much as learning how to use him.
Guilty Gear Strive is currently available on PS4/PS5, PC (Windows), Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, and arcades.
