- The pressure

Learn about pressure strings and guard breaking in BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle. Understand attack properties, safe vs unsafe moves, and offensive pressure types.

To create a pressure string (a sequence of attacks performed while the opponent is blocking), you must study each of your ground and air attack's properties, including:

• How long it takes to come out.
• How far it reaches.
• What you can do immediately after each attack (how to cancel each attack into other attacks like chaining normals or cancelling into specials or Distortion Drives, or into movements like jumps or dashes).
• If it's possible to do another attack right after, whether it leaves a gap between those two attacks or if it is a tight string.
• Whether it hits mid, low, or overhead.
• If it is safe to do if the opponent blocks (if it leaves you open or can be punished if the opponent guards your attack).
• If it has any special property, such as invulnerability, guard point property, or being unblockable.

To test whether a string is gapless (tight) or not, set the training dummy to “block the 1st hit only,” and use your string against them. If the dummy blocks your entire string, it means it is a tight string. Against tight strings, you only need to block the 1st hit and your character automatically guards every other attack, as long as you’re crouching versus low hits or standing versus air hits.

An attack can be safe on block if it:

• Is positive on block (giving you frame advantage after you use it), or is just slightly negative on block (it can have frame advantage as low as -4 if the opponent blocks normally, or -1 if they instant block the attack).
• Ends at a distance from which the opponent cannot attack before you have time to guard.
• Is cancellable into a safe action, like a jump or another safe attack.

If you have 50% heat meter, you can usually Rapid Cancel (a mechanic to cancel most moves to make them safe) any move, making it safe. The same happens regarding the Overdrive, which can also be used to cancel most moves and make them safe.

Once you find all these aspects regarding each of your attacks, you’ll be able to put them together in a rational way, allowing you to do safe and effective pressure strings against your opponent.

Your goal in pressure is to break their guard. To achieve that, there are two main types of aggressive pressure: mixup pressure and punishing pressure. If you successfully balance and alternate them both, your pressure can be devastating. Finally, there’s a third type of pressure – range pressure – which is a more passive one.