A very basic description of how multiplayer works. (Note: this guide assumes you are using an xbox controller to play the game)

The termenology in this guide assumes you have already familiarized yourself with the game's basic concepts through campaign mode.

The main focus of multiplayer battles is to destroy the enemy master ghost while protecting your master ghost. You can also win by critical downing the enemy master four times, but that’s not the main focus of the battle, and is more likely something you achieve while trying to destroy the enemy master ghost. There are a variety of ways to accomplish this, but it’s primarily done through summoning and contracting servants, capturing ghosts, acquiring mana, and reaching the enemy master ghost with your servants and crushing it.






Your master cannot capture ghost easily, and in most cases cannot damage the enemy master ghost while there is a barrier on it, that’s what servants are for. Servants can capture ghosts quickly and destroy the barrier on master ghost, and your master can damage the master ghost properly once barrier is destroyed. The power of the enemy master ghost’s barrier is also reduced the less ghosts he has, so capturing ghosts is vital as it helps for that purpose as well. Your going to need mana to purchase things in the organ including servants, so don’t bother trying to skimp out on capturing ghosts, because it will guarantee your loss. So summon servants, tell them to do stuff, like capture ghosts, and get you more mana, and when they run into enemy servants, they fight, and you help them kill those servants too.

As far as the enemy master goes, it is something that you cannot ignore. Masters are the most powerful unit in a tribe, and although your objective is to destroy the enemy masterghost, ignoring the enemy master will give you tons of headaches, and will make things much harder to deal with. You CAN avoid confronting the enemy master for the most part and still win, but that’s extremely hard to do and will require some top notch strategy on your behalf, and if you had top notch strategy, you most likely wouldn’t be reading this basic strategy guide.




There is something very interesting concerning the masters of tribes. They are the largest threat to your tribe, but the are also the greatest liability of their tribe as well; needless to say, the same applies to your master. Masters can dominate any single unit in the game, and can destroy a majority of your servant’s single handedly, while transporting his servants around the map, dumping his troops at ghosts that are deep in your territory, slowing the advance of capture units and your servants and giving you all the headaches that you are giving him. So you’re going to find that, time-to-time, you’re going to want to kill the enemy master (and he’ll want to kill you as well of course). When the master dies, it’s extra bad for the tribe for a number of reasons, which is why the master is a huge potential liability.

Killing the enemy master is good for you for a number of reasons.

Firstly: he stops giving you trouble temporarily. Plain and simple,

Secondly: you can kill his units without fear of him raining on your parade temporarily as well.

Thirdly: his master ghost receives damage from its master dying (or as the game calls it, receiving a “critical down”) and it’s barrier also is reduced, each consecutive death will do more damage to the master ghost and reduce the barrier further than the previous death. Take advantage of this by either going to the enemy masterghost alone or with units and going to town on it. all the more if the Master ghost is ungaurded. If it’s the third critical down, you can most likely destroy it if you get there fast enough. Given some time, the masterghost’s barrier will refill itself, so you must act quickly, before the enemy master comes back.

Finaly: the last benefit of critical downing an enemy master is that his fourth critical down will destroy his master ghost. Keep in mind that the opponent is fully aware of this and will obviously try to pull the same stuff on you for the same benefits. Killing enemy masters is a smart, and very powerful tactic, but you should not focus on that alone, unless you can absolutely destroy your opponent in master combat.



To summerize the basic strategy of multiplayer. You purchase and unlock Servants to capture and control ghosts, these ghosts give you mana, so you can buy more servants and items to help give you an edge. You kill enemy servants and transport your servants to block the flow of enemy capture units to ghosts, and to slow enemy servants marches, while stopping the attempts of the opponent to do the same to you. All of this is to get your servants a clear path to the enemy masterghost, to destroy it, all the while making sure you don’t leave your masterghost vulnerable. Finally, you stop the actions of the enemy master by attacking him and killing him when you deem it appropriate, and take advantage of his critical down to push your forces more aggressively, or safely regroup. Remember, your primary objective is to make sure what’s going on in the map is in your favor at all times, and whatever you do yourself should not distract you from what is going on in the map.

Now you understand the basic idea of how Guilty Gear 2: Overture plays. Next, how do we play effectively? There’s so much going on at once, you can’t keep up with it. The easiest way to simplify the game is to prioritize what you should focus on. The game can be broken down to what’s going on in the map, and what’s going on in front of you. Both are extremely important, but there is an order to things.

Think of it like so: what you do and where you go depends on what goes on in the map. With the exception of maybe the very beginning of the match, where you take preemptive action depending on your objective and the map your on, you will be using the map as your guide to your actions at all times. This means you NEVER ignore what happens on the map. Map is king.



Dealing with the map means dealing with the organ, something you will have toget used to doing on the fly, it just takes time and practice to know when and where you can pull it out. When your good enough, provided that you will not get destroyed by doing so, you can pull it out almost anytime, even if your facing an enemy master, just be brief about it, or you’ll die. There’s no short
cut to handling the organ, you will eventually figure out its layout, and how to operate it quickly with practice. Since it is such an important tool for victory, I will give you a quick guide on it.



Left on the D-pad will open the organ. Simply bringing it up will show a more detailed map than the mini map. From here you can see where your units are, and give them new orders, such as telling them to go to a new location, place them in groups, separate, or delete them.



From here, if you press x, you open the purchase window. You can purchase items through four different tabs. The first tab is for summoning and contracting servants. The second tab is for buying the character’s personal skills, each set of skills are exclusive to every character. The third tab is what I call the permanent Item tab. You see how each stage has different times and weather effects? Well the significance of that, is each stage version has different Items available in this tab that, regardless of how much you buy, the Item will always be there for sale, in never ending supply. This is where you will find the usual healing items and such. Learn what each stage effect has available in this tab, as they are consistent from stage to stage. The Items in evening Bel Canto valley on this tab are the same as evening Illyria. The final tab is the random Item tab, where you will find items that are not in the permanent Item tab are. Unlike the third tab, this tab is not already stocked with Items; it will fill up with Items over time instead. And once you purchase an Item here, it will disappear, and you will have to wait and see if it comes back or not. The more effective an Item is, the less likely it is to spawn. You will see bananas spawn more often than resurrections.




On the organ screen, if you press y, you will open the sell window. Here you can sell anything in your Item slot, even servants you picked up. This is good to use when you need mana and you have things you don’t need, or servants you don’t want to simply delete for no return on your mana.


Get used to pulling out and putting away the organ after doing what you need to do, as fast as possible, and your game will improve immensely.

The basic strategy in using your servants relies on the map you are on and the servants you are using. Take time to familiarize your self with each map, and what each ghost connects into. Look for potential shortcuts for quick raids on enemy master ghosts.



The basic strategy on pretty much every map is to spread your units through every route and potential opening to your master ghosts, which is a mutual route and potential opening for your opponent’s master ghost. Things get a little more complex in 2 vs 2 matches but even in that format, you are expected to take care of your side of the map, and to attack the opponent
closest to you.


In every map, it almost always boils down to your master ghost having 2 to 3 ghost directly next to it, and each respective ghost next to your master ghost has a path connected to it. So on the defensive end, prevent the enemy from advancing in those pathways that connect to ghost adjacent to your master ghost. But maps aren’t simply two to three paths ways, some paths intersect. It is those intersection that you want to keep an eye on, is if you are planning to have some fall back defensive strategy at all, separate a unit and leave it at that ghost which acts as an intersection. If there is a break in your defense and your opponent tries to slip past some units by using an alternate pathway, they might try to take advantage of an intersection that connects two paths. This way, you have a greater awareness of what’s going on in the map and thing are less likely to slip by you.



Be aware of paths that lead to the enemy master ghost with very few ghosts in between yours and theirs. It can be a quick and direct ticket to victory or defeat. Vital pathways such as those should always be defended. Leaving behind a servant at some of the ghosts you have conquered is a decent tactic and can act as a safety net against an opponent who is trying to steal stray ghost from you.



Don’t worry TOO much about servant types. It can confuse and distract you. As long as your servants won’t get annihilated, simply put together the servants that compliment each other’s weaknesses and send them out, they should do fine (armors and mobiles are a good example). Unless you see a big opening in your servant types (such as having only melee and range out, both vulnerable to armors), don’t go crazy with them. And if there is a weakness in your servant types, do your best to cover that weakness yourself. Only contract additional servant types that you are certain you can make use of effectively.

An interesting tidbit of information regarding servant classes. Mobiles are strong against ranged units, but not to the extent of the armor and magic classes. It's something to keep in mind that the game does not infrom you on.

All servant types, normal and elite, have 3 levels, and "level up" over time. When servants level up, their attack and defense increase, making them stronger. this may seem insignifigant at first, but this plays a big part in how much an advantage you have in late game. The longer the unit stays out on the map, the higher its experiance gets, and the more powerful it becomes. All units start at level 0, and progress to level 1, 2 and 3. this can be kept track of by the blue bar underneath a unit's health bar. the notches on the bar represent the levels. when the guage reaches past the first notch, they are level 1, and past the second, they are level 2, and when it reach the end of the bar, they are level 3. there is no other way to raise the level of units besides allowing it to go up overtime, regardless of how much it has fought or not. The only exception to this rule is Ky's divine gaze skill. the level up system for the servants gives you a reason to keep ypur units alive as long as possible, since they get stronger if you maintain them, instead of just replacing them.

emergency commands! emergency commands are issued via the D-pad. Up is to advance, right is to stop, and down is to retreat to the nearest ally ghost. These commands come in handy when you need to tell your servants to do something quickly and you don't have time to go in the organ; if your in the middle of a fight for example. these commands are not permanent, only orders issued though the organ are permanent; so be aware of that. These commands are only heard by those who are near your master, and you will know if they are following orders via the symbol that appears over their head. red arrow pointing up if they are advancing, an exclamation point if they are staying, and a blue arrow pointing down if they are retreating.



Elite servants can be brought out any time you deem necessary. That means you can bring one out in the first round you if you want. If you use it well, it can really help you push the enemy back, as well as do a lot of damage to an enemy master ghost quickly depending on the elite servant you use.

Be flexible when commanding your servants, and make sure you protect them from dying. If you see a large force that will certainly destroy a group of your servants, tell them to retreat, fighting at ghosts that belong to them gives them a defense boost and will give them a better chance at surviving, or at least give you more time to get there and save them. If an enemy master is attacking them, making them retreat will cause the enemy master to waste time chasing them.

While on the offensive, try your hardest to find or create openings to your opponent's master ghost. Some times players can get careless, so while they are advancing upon you master ghost on one side of the map, there might be an opening that they might not notice, and you can advance units at that point. You need to be quick to take advantage of this though, or you can lose the opportunity. Setting up a distraction isn't a bad idea either.

If your on the defensive and a ghost next to your master ghost is occupied by the enemy, if you decide to send a group of servants there to engage them, make sure you don’t leave your master ghost unattended. If your not willing to separate your units, just leave them at your master ghost where they have a better chance at putting up a fight. Number one rule is to never leave your master ghost at risk.



Last bit of advice to give is, while the match is winding down, and you may be dominating the map, make sure you either have servants protecting your master ghost or are at least at ghosts adjacent to it. The enemy may try to pull a desperate win strategy where they drop a significant force at your potentially unguarded masterghost. Just having a small group of servants (and depending on what they bring, a reliable elite) can be enough to repel their attack and provide ample time for you to get there and contain the situation. You have no idea how infuriating it is to lose to such a tactic, so keep this in mind at all times.

So, we have seen and explained how what goes on in the map, whether it be in the mini map or the organ, should dictate your actions in the organ when commanding your servants, now lets concentrate on the meat of the game play, the master unit. As The Master, you control the most powerful unit in your tribe, but, unlike your servants, your not going to be sitting at a ghost, picking your nose while you fiddle around in the organ. You need to move around the map and either transport units, kill enemy servants and masters, protect your units, and create openings in your opponents defense as well as steal ghosts. There is SO much to master play on the strategy end, much of what you learn to do and use will come through practice, trail and error, experience andwatching what other players do. I’ll try to give you some basic guidelines of what you should be focusing on.



I. Concerning the transportation of units

Transporting your servants and cutting off the flow of enemy capture units and slowing the marches of enemy servants, as well as gain early control of essential ghosts. One feature of the GG2 that give the strategy a deeper level of complexity is the ability to pick up and drop off your units, as well as emergency commands. In the beginning of a match, the first thing you should concentrate on is quickly giving orders and deploying servant as fast as possible. As soon as your servants spawn (they always spawn to your left first) pick them up and drop them off at key ghost, whether you pick up only one unit or three, the number you pick up depends on what you plan to accomplish. If your unsure of your skills, and are new at this, try picking only one up, than as you improve and get better, pick up two to three units at the start of the match. What you can do with the units depends on your strategy, for example, if you want to control a central ghost in the middle of the map before the opponent does, drop off the unit you picked up and tell them to stay there via emergency commands (right on the D-pad). That strategy is more along the lines of defensive.

A more aggressive tactic, is picking up two to three servants at the start of a match, and dropping them off at ghosts adjacent to enemy master ghost, cutting off all their capture units and halting the marches of the servants. Or you can use do a mix of a offensive and a defensive strategy, by both getting early control of central ghost, and partially cutting off enemy units. Keep in mind that enemy masters will use similar tactic on you, so be ready to counter them. Some masters, such as Sin and Paradigm, can use minions to gain temporary control over ghosts.

Transporting units serves purposes besides just getting a head start at the start of matches. You can carry and drop units mid battle to ghosts that you see open, but your servants aren’t near it, or are taking too much time to get there. If your units are halted by a big force, and you don’t have the time to fight them with your units, pick them up and dump the off at the closest ghost so they can continue on their way. You can go back and clean up the enemy servants you left behind.

It’s worth noting that emergency orders are only temporary, and if you want an individual servant to stay where it is indefinitely, you should separate it and order it through the organ. You can drop units off with out stopping if you run into a capture unit before you drop the unit off. This will make your trip MUCH faster, be sure to tell them to stay unless you are fast enough and skilled enough to give each Servant individual orders before they spawn.

The last reasons I can think of to carry your units are, that you can pick up and drop units at the enemy master ghost, provided the conditions are right, you can have a victory on your hands. The final reason is you can carry elites to where they are needed the most and carry them around for the sake of being a bodyguard. When you confront an enemy master, drop the elite and tell it to stay with the emergency orders, and you’ll have some back up to fight along side with.



II. Killing designated enemy servants

The next major objective for Masters is killing enemy servants. Which enemy servants you should focus on are simple. The ones that your servants have least chance of winning against, and enemy servants that hold ghosts that you really want, those are the ones you should be focusing on killing the most, but it really falls down to what you want to do in the end.

What specific Enemy servants you want to kill should depend on the character you are playing and what enemy units give you the most trouble. For example, if you are playing Sol Badguy and you see oncoming armor units, it’s in your best interest to get rid of those armor units as fast as possible, so go kill them yourself (because Sol does not have any regular units to counter armors other than armors). If you have no inherit tribe weakness, look for large groups of enemy servants to tackle and reduce their numbers to make it easier for your servants to fight.

Another surefire target are Elites. Elites are very powerful, and unless they are overwhelmed by enemy units they are weak to or do not have an advantage over, they will harass and tear through your army, unless you conduct damage control and get rid of them yourself. Target and kill elites, unless you have ghosts you need to maintain or capture and have higher priorities.

The last groups of servants you want to go after are the ones that are attacking important ghosts, or are protecting ghosts you want to capture. That’s pretty much all I have to say on that subject. The rest is all based on your personal judgment.

I’ll give you a quick guide to killing servants to help pull this off. You have free mode attacks that are centered on crowd control and do weak damage, however, not many characters have reliable free mode attacks. The ones that do (Sol and Izuna come to mind) have certain combos in free mode that do a fantastic job of creating some breathing space, so take advantage of characters with decent free mode attacks. The main attacks you will be using to kill servants as fast as possible are locked on combos, that for the most part, have nothing to do with spending tension with few exceptions here and there. Besides finding locked on combos that provide good crowd control or damage out, characters have special moves to help with crowd control, so find a good combination of free attacks power attacks, locked on attacks and special moves to tear through servants.

You can practice fighting servants in general free missions and specific servants in training mode to come up with good tactics for getting rid of them.

All right, this section is on controlling your master is engaging enemy masters. I will give you some basic information so you can build your game off from there. The primary way to get good at masters only is just fighting enemy masters and try out different attacks and strategies, much like a fighting game. This section can turn into something massive, but I’ll keep it light.

When engaging enemy masters, lets get what not to do out of the way first. Do not attempt to fight them without locking on (with few exceptions). Though there are moments where locking off will be helpful, such as performing a power attack, the majority of the time you are fighting, you want to be focused on the enemy master. Do not waste you tension, be conservative with it, or you will find yourself in a position with limited options. Do not charge into enemy masters who are surround by their units single handedly, you won’t win in most cases. And finally, when you are beating up their servants and they come up to engage you, do not ignore them, you will pay
for it.

When fighting, you need to know what your character can and cannot do, and what your opponent can and cannot do, as with any fighting game. To be honest, the masters vs. master fights are for the most part, like 3d fighting games. You utilize pokes, spacing, and all that other jazz, but you should know the basics of dodging at least, and know that there is more
to dodging than just sidestepping. Vertical attacks can be sidestepped, but not jumped. Horizontal attacks and be jumped, but not sidestepped. Projectiles can be avoided and punished by jumping over them. Some attacks can be avoided by stepping backwards. Be careful before needlessly sidestepping and jumping, because your character is vulnerable for the most part right after doing them. If you are going to punish a attack you jumped over, most characters must attack right after jumping, and usually with a direction + x, as that is most character’s air to ground attack. Be sure you predict, dodge, counter, mix up and practice those combos!

Needless to say, you shouldn’t expect your opponent to be predictable, and you shouldn’t be predictable. All characters have attacks to stop side steps and have a way to deal with jumping opponents. There are ways to break guard for every character, learn them and incorporate them into your game. Don't just sit there and block combos all day either, your guard will eventually be
broken that way too.

Keep in mind that you have servants to help you, and your opponent has servants to help them. Don’t be surprised if your opponent pulls out an elite when engaging you, as he might be carrying the unit around as a bodyguard. If your out numbered, your best chance is to create an opening for you to retreat. If you want to run, don’t just turn your back and try to blast drive, look for an opening and short dash away (using the L trigger) before you blast drive. Some characters can use attacks to cover more ground to run (like Sol’s bandit revolver, or Ky’s stun dipper) if you just turn tail and try to run or blast drive right away; you will most likely get stuffed. Make use of the super back step when running away, and the short dash when chasing the opponent.

Remembering that servants are a factor, you can use nearby servants to your advantage, and if the opponent has servants and you don’t want to run, use crowd control while keeping the enemy master pinned down to give yourself some breathing space. Items and bringing along an elite unit is a good Idea as well. Make sure your back is not exposed to an enemy servant while fighting.

Cyclone blast is important to escape combos, and if blocked, it can be canceled with modern cancel to keep you safe. You can also air dash away if the cyclone blast is modern canceled. Try not to be too predictable with your bursting times, as players may predict a blast on your behalf and may simply block it, and if you don’t have the tension to modern cancel, you will be punished. some players may even simply step back and dodge it all together, not allowing you to even modern cancel and air dash for a safe get away. these types of modern cancel avoiding techniques are known as "baiting".

when players bait a cyclone blast, they will attack and combo their oponent thinking they will burst, depending on the oponent's habbits, tension and health. when they suspect the oponent to burst, they will back step out of the cyclone blast's range, move in, and counter attack. with this method, the player who blasted won't be able to modern cancel his burst, and he will be left wide open. be aware of this tactic, and use it to your advantage too! with proper practice and experiance, you should recognize the patterns the oponent cyclone blast to and use that to bait them into bursting, than dodge and counter.

if your on someone, and they burst, you can prevent them escaping by performing another burst to counter them. I call it counter burst. keeps people from getting away, and its good for that purpose. if this situation arises a lot, try buying tension potions so you can mess the guy up librally after counter bursting them.

Air teching (air recovering) in the air, though usually a good idea, in certain circumstances, can lead to big damage. To let you know, Izuna has an extremely damaging combo what requires the opponent to tech in the air in order to complete the combo, otherwise, the damage is severely reduced, so be aware of that. I don’t know any other character that has a combo like that. There
are also times when an opponent is teching, and you are performing an air combo, your character will “chase” them mid-combo and their tech will be for naught. I’m not sure how to avoid this, but you can try to lock off when being hit with an air combo, and try to air tech in a fashion that when you tech, you can air dash away from the opponent (to the side for example). You can also cyclone blast, or simply not tech when you think they will attempt this, they
will work also.

Teching to avoid knockdowns is a good way to escape unnecessary damage, andto prevent the opponent from using that opportunity to escape mid battle. It’s also good to use if you blast drive into a wall as it will save you time. Get used to teching to avoid a knockdown, unlike air teching, it doesn’t have a negative consequence, well, unless you are being hit by Ky's Stun dipper.
if Ky hits you with a stun dipper and knocks you down, don't avoid a knock down, because he can follow up with another one if you do.

You may not notice this, when you lock on and jump, your character actually jumps towards the target, instead of straight up. An interesting tidbit of information, this means you can continue air combos without air dashing to the opponent, saving the air dash for furthering the combo in
the air.

Modern canceling is an extremely important tool. Use it for shortening recovery time on moves to protect your self and to extend combos, whch would normally be impossible to extend otherwise, be creative and make the most of it. Also remember you can cancel the animation of attacks earlier by sidestepping, back stepping and jumping. You cannot cancel attack animation
with the forwards step however.

An important elemtent in master fighting is to pick and chose when and where to fight. Fighting on the enemy’s side of the map can slow down the advancement of their units, but it also puts you at greater risk. Fighting on your side reverses the situation. There are times where fighting the enemy master is not in your best interest. Be sure when you fight an enemy master, it’s the best thing to do at the moment; because there are times that after you defeat the enemy master, you lose a part of the map because you were distracted. Never be distracted from what’s going on in the map, and don’t be afraid to run away.

There are Items that can help you in win the fight, so I’ll explain all items you'll have at your disposal.



Bananas and Land Mines are traps set to either slow down your opponent (banana) or do massive damage (land mine). Bananas are cheap and keep the enemy master grounded for a couple of seconds; it's more useful than it sounds. A trick with land mines is if you place it where a dead body of a servant is, the corpse will cover it, and the opponent wont be able to see it.

Rapid Fire puts mid range pressure on the opponent, and can be useful for those who love to keep their distance. If the opponent blocks the rapid fire, you can modern cancel the animation of using the item, short dash to them and do a power attack (or another attack that breaks guard depending on who you are using) which they wont be able to escape. If they do get hit, you can follow up by MC the animation and short dashing towards them for a free combo off the rapid fire anyway. if it does it them, you can also chose to hit them with another Item as well, such as heavy feet or mouth zipper. finally, whether they block it or not, you can use that opportunity to turn tail and run away. rapid fire is very flexible in its uses, so take advantage of the Item.

Bombs do unblockable damage, and are great for those who keep their distance as well as blow up those who hide in the servants. Even without the master being their or your target, it makes dealing with groups enemy servants significantly easier, and is an all around great Item.



Mouth Zipper comes out very fast, and can be considered a poke or fast projectile that stops those who rush in. If it hits, the opponent cannot use Items, and this can be a great boon to you.

Heavy Feet slow down the opponent greatly, and comes out as fast as the mouth zipper with similar properties. The opponent will be easier to fight with this and they won’t be running away in with this status effect on.

Dispel is practically a necessity, it gets rid of status effects (bad ones on you and good ones on the opponent), minions, Items and what not. It’s something you should ALWAYS buy, and is great for bailing you out of trouble. I've seen player often buy two of them at a time, because they're that useful. all of these Items can be combined within combos for a majority of the cast, as well as in conjunction with rapid fire, so experiment with Items and combos.



Capture Canon turns capture units into indestructible little balls of doom, they are encased in a pink barrier and it cannot be destroyed easily (but it CAN be destroyed by hitting it repeatedly). It captures ghosts quickly and does a lot of damage to the barrier of master ghosts, so if you are gong t raid a master ghost, and you have a ghosts next to the enemy master ghost, use a capture cannon, it can make destroying the master ghost considerably easier.



Capture Soldier I will also explain because I never see anyone use it. When your master ghost is under attack, use capture soldier,it turns a capture soldier into a big units it will and it shoots homing projectiles which do significant damage to enemy servants. It's extremely cheap and very useful, so take advantage of it.

Battery Rods can be used to help take out enemy capture cannons, or help take down the barrier for an enemy masterghost.

P-Drive raises you defense and your servants around you. your attack is lowered 30%, but defense is raised 300% for 30 seconds. Great for ghost defense, or when you think you servants are going into a fight where they have a good chance dying.

S-Drive increases the attack of your master and servants around you. Your attack power increases 175% which helps a lot, and unlike P-drive there is no penalty to using the Item. In return however, S-drive is twice as expensive, and it's duration on a master only lasts about 15 seconds, but 30 seconds on servants. Great for masterghost rushes with certain characters, as it will increase the damage done on the barrier exponentially for them and their servants.

Anti Rods are used against a type of unit that you know the enemy will depend on, so you should by the appropriate anti rod in advance and apply it when you deem it necessary. the defense and offense of the units effected by the rod go down considerably for 60 seconds, so take advantage of that time and wipe out the enemy servants that are effected by it.

Stun Grenades stun enemy servants and masters; also do a very miniscule amount of damage to masters as well (5 damage). The effects lasts on servants for about 15 seconds, the masters affected for only about 2-3 seconds, and can avoid the effect if they are hit by it mid jump (unlike bombs). Overall, the Item is not terribly useful, but it's a decent replacement for bombs if you have no access to them. Be quick to hit the enemy master while he's stunned.



Scarecrow distracts the enemy, lasts for a long time, and can't be killed very quickly by enemy masters. It's cheap. Be creative with it's uses to by time and kill off enemy servants. Might also help you deal with enemy elite body body guards masters may carry around with them.

Revival let's your character revive after a critical down on the spot, with full health and tension. use it when you are doing something critical, such as attacking an enemy masterghost. This item can be a game changer.

Healing Rods add an area effect of healing, and heal all allies slowly overtime. it's pretty useful overall.

I believe that things like Potions and Elixirs are self-explanitory, I'll just advise you to use your best judgment when to use such Items. They can save you a lot of time, and might save you from a critical down, so don’t ignore them.

Items in a fight can turn the tide of a match like you wouldn't believe, so get used to buying and using them as soon as possible. Be sure your not reliant on items though, as they won't win the match for you alone. Watch out for Items the opponents uses as well.

This guide was formatted primarily towards 1 vs 1 matches, but you'll find that all the advice will work for 2 vs 2 matches as well. Even so, there are some elements that apply exclusively towards 2 vs 2 that the rest of the guide does not cover, so we'll go over the differences in gameplay and strategy when playing 2 vs 2.

First thing to notice is that 2 vs 2 matches behave primarily the same as 1 vs 1, the major difference being the scale of the matches. There are still five rounds, each lasting five minutes. The objective is the same; destroy the enemy masterghost, and critical downing the enemy master can also destroy the enemy masterghost. the major difference here is now there are two enemy masterghosts you can go after, and two you have to defend. there's also now two masters per team. so now your match is bigger, and there's going to be more things going on at once. And you thought the game was complicated in 1 vs 1.

In 2 vs 2, you are a part of a 2-tribe team. Each player still has to command their own units, and each player has their own master ghosts they must defend. When one team member's masterghost is destroyed, that team loses, regardless of the other team member's status. So while both you and your partner are completely independent in your actions, you must still cooperate with one another to make sure both of you are in good standing. mana requisition for each ghost acquired is shared between both armies. your tribes wont attack each other or fight over ghosts. Items that would work on your servants will also work on you ally's servants, as well as your ally himself. you cannot pick up your ally's units, and you cannot give your ally's units commands, but you can see whatever it is they see on the minimap and organ. You can always see where your partner is on the map.

Technically speaking, the matches aren’t exactly twice the size of 1 vs 1. The maximum amount of servants allowed on the map in 1 vs 1 is 40. 20 servants for each player. In 2 vs 2, there is a total of 16 servants allowed per player, that 32 per team, and 64 on the map total. You have less room for summoning servants, keep that in mind.



The basic flow of 2 vs 2 matches is the same as 1 vs 1, but slightly altered in certain details. Your primary job in 2 vs 2 is controlling what could be said as "your side" of the map, and push back the opponent which is positioned closest to you. Depending on how your partner or how you are doing, you might help them out by sending some units to their side of the map if the map's layout allows you to do such a thing.

The important thing to remember when engaging the enemy on your side of the map is to not turtle; do not simply gain a majority of the map and just sit there. Advance, be offensive, and if you need support, send a message to your partner telling him to back you up. The message "gather up" (come to where I am) or "lets advance" (push forward with your units) should easily convey this message, and the opponent’s won't see it. If you simply sit there gathering mana, your opponent can use this time to fortify his defenses and build up his army, making winning all the more difficult. Be sure to make use of picking up units and cutting of enemy capture units just as you would for 1 vs 1.

So your in a good spot, and your partner is in trouble, naturally, you don't ignore your partner's problem, you go to where he needs you and help out. Whether he is losing a majority of the map, or he is being ganged up by two masters, your going to want to help him out either way. When you are out numbered 2 to 1 in master fights, your at a severe disadvantage, and you'll either need back up, or to get out of there right away. Knowing this, there's a good reason to help out your partner in master fights even when he's doing fine, it provides a great opportunity to critical down the enemy master. Don't ignore your partner's status, and even if you may lose part of the map in doing so, as long as both of you are not getting dominated, it's worth losing some offensive ground.



Be sure you take time in exhibition mode and practice on the 2 vs 2 maps. When you first play on them, you might be overwhelmed with their lay out and complexity. You cannot perform a training round in a 2 vs 2 size map, so configure the options to make the computer players very weak, and take the time to familiarize the layouts of certain complex maps. Going into the organ and taking advantage of the zoom and the camera tilt feature will help you understand the layout better as well. The organ map is 3D, so you can see what pathways overlap and such. Playing the computer in team matches in exhibition will help you get used to the maps in actual play. Not knowing the each map's layout will greatly hinder you, so learn them.

The only other general advice is work just as hard as you would in 1 vs 1, and be sure to communicate with your partner. if both of you are coordinated, you can pull of some crazy stuff, and leads to the matches being much more fun. Make good use of the message system, as communicating and cooperating players make for a deadly team.

Points match function fundamentally different from 1 vs 1, and 2 vs 2. In essence, it is GG2's four player battle royal. There are four players on the map, each with their own master ghost. There are no teams, each character is independent. There are no rounds, only a fifteen minute time limit, and once it is up, the match is finished. Players cannot be taken out of the game, masterghosts do not have health, and no matter how much they are attacked and how many times a master is critically downed, the master ghost will remain.



The main objective is points match is getting the most points by the end of the round. You gain points by taking ghosts, collecting mana, killing enemy servants, attacking enemy master ghosts, and critical downing enemy masters. When players are critical downed or have their master ghost attacked, they will lose points. The higher the points character who is critical downed has, the higher the reward will be for the player who is responsible (be it the master themselves or their servant.)

Since the match does not end when a masterghost is assaulted, the primary concern for the majority of the match is maintaining your territory, protecting you masterghost, and critical downing enemy masters. Do not spread your forces too thin, the tactics that work in 1 vs 1 and 2 vs 2 do not necessarily work well in points matches; take what mana and ghosts you can get, and if you want, you can cut off a close opponent’s masterghost. If you spread your forces across the map too thin, it will leave gaps in your defense, and someone can barge in.



Protecting your master ghosts is extremely important, as you will lose massive amounts of points for it being attacked. Keep something there at all times, and make sure what your keeping there is strong. Leaving an elite at your masterghost is a good idea in points matches. This is doubly important if you are in the lead, as your going to be a primary target. if your master ghost is
assaulted, you want as many servants being called back there to help out. Keeping your territory is not as important as protecting your masterghost. Put Traps around to help protect it as well, such as bananas and land mines.

Needless to say, you don't want to go and get yourself critical downed. When you want to assault a masterghost, do it at the end of the match, where if you fail, you won't be excessively vulnerable afterwards. Your target at the end of the match should always be the one in the lead (he's got a crown on his point counter) or at least someone who's master ghost is vulnerable and will give you enough points to get in the lead. Remember that the match is not over until the counter finishes, and the tables can literally be turned in the last seconds of the match. Never drop your guard, not even for a second, and never give up.



In the end of the match, points are awarded to players for certain things. These include who has acquired the most mana, who has captured the most ghost, kill the most servants, kill the most masters, opened the most treasure chest and killed the most capture units. The only advice I can give on this is to make sure you are constantly doing stuff during the match. Yeah, that's pretty much all I can say on the matter.

Points matches in general are significantly less strict and competitive in comparison to regular 2 vs 2. It’s a fun, lighthearted game mode. It makes for a good change of pace, and you can use the matches to experiment with servants and tactics you wouldn't use otherwise.

Because some people may find it difficult to improve, here's guide focusing on how to properly use replay mode to your advantage. I do not want the players to be discouraged into thinking that replay mode is useless due to you not being able to view what the player does in the organ.While you cannot see what they do in the organ directly, you can still see the consequences of their actions in the organ, and if you pay close attention to the replay, you will miss almost nothing at all.



The largest advantage that replay mode presents is the ability to see the mini map and both opponent’s tribe’s an actions through there. From the beginning, you can see what each player does and handle’s their first move, and if you are watching a replay of a mach you did yourself, you may be surprised at who your game play looks like when your not engaged in the game. It’s much easier to point out your mistakes when watching replay mode, and whether you won or lost the match, the reasons you did so will become clearer, especially since you have a complete view of what’s happening in the mini map at all times. A good way to see why you lost a match is to view the match from the perspective of the opponent.



Now say your are watching the actions of the opponent, how do you know what the players are doing in the organ? Easy, there are a few indications of their actions. First, when they summon new units, the unit’s appear on the left hand side of the H.U.D. You should be familiar that all your unit’s and their status appears on the left of your H.U.D., so when you see the player as gone into the organ, give the list of units a glance. When the player purchases and item, the Item shows up in the inventory slot, it’s not very difficult to see that. As for orders to servants, just look at the mini map and follow the marches of the servants. You’ll find it harder to follow the actions of the players without access to the organ, but this doesn’t mean it’s impossible to figure out what they’re doing; just keep your eyes on the details I mentioned and you’ll get a lot out of watching replays.



If you chose to do so, you can wander the replay map as a chimaki, and view any area of the map at any time. You may think that there is no point to this, but it’s a potentially useful feature. You will be able to see what happens between servants when a master is not present, and this good to give you some interesting information about the properties of servants. This can teach you whether certain combination of servants work well together, how much of an advantage being positioned in a ghost they own provides, see just how useful elites can be and against what types of opponents etc. There’s a plethora of servant data can be collected, and unlike a session in training mode, this is real game data, so it’s more valuable than training mode test. Be sure to take advantage of this feature.

Replay mode is one of the best features of the game, and is an invaluable tool for improving. Take advantage of it.

So there’s a lot to this game, and a sure fire way to make sure the game is not too daunting is to split up what goes on and prioritize what you need to focus on. Here’s a quick summary on that.

First and foremost is your master ghost. Never leave it completely vulnerable.

Second priority is the map and your servants. They are the key to victory; you wont be winning matches unless you’re aware of what’s going on in the map. Protect your servants, you spent mana on them, don’t let it go to waste.



The last priority is your master. Don’t waste your skills and spend all day in the organ, and don’t go in a situation where you are likely to die unprepared.

Lets cover tools to practice real quickly. You have campaign to teach you the basics. You have free mission, which can help you in learning how to act fast in the organ in some missions and killing servants effectively with various characters (put the missions on hard). Going through them with a desired character, you can learn a lot about the particular character. You have exhibition mode, be creative in how to use it for practicing purposes, such as learning strategies for map layouts and such, and general match up info, but keep in mind that the computer is very stupid. And you have training mode for everything else, where like in exhibition and free mission mode, you should be creative in order to get the most out of the mode for practice purposes. (Training mode is a fantastic way to practice combos if you alter the dummy settings to block after getting hit and to recover as soon as possible out of a juggle.)



That’s all I have to say. This game is big and deep, so take your time and take it slow. Get use d to operating the organ and commanding your troops in free mission and campaign, don’t rely on the handicaps, and when going through free missions, do them on hard so you get something out of it (they are also a lot more fun on hard mode. All the more when you S rank them). The best way to get better is simply doing matches when you’re accustomed to the game, and seeing what the opponent does and testing what works. Just remember to not get too down when you lose and watch the replay to see what the opponent did so you can learn. Practice up and enjoy.