Your Only Move Is HUSTLE Guide to Elder

Introduction

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Elder is a defensively-oriented character with high burst damage with meter and poor neutral options. He excels in close range with fast, short-range attacks and multiple lows to scare the opponent into doing something they don't want to.

Playing as and against Elder requires a completely different mindset than normal, because of his defensive options. More often than not, Elder forces you to play his game, and think about your options in a different way.

Main Mechanics

Health Elder normally takes 15% less damage, up until he reaches 12,000 health and returns to neutral, entering an Install-esque state where Elder takes 10% more damage. Additionally, when exiting Ultra Awareness, Elder instantly takes 3,000 damage.

Installs Upon reaching 12,000 health and being in a neutral state, Elder transitions into a state where his moves are far more aggressive, getting vastly increased range and access to Ultra Awareness, at the cost of his Weaves not granting a punish when successful. During this state, free cancelling a move in Watch Out stance keeps you in the stance, with the exception of Take A Step Back. Additionally, Elder slowly generates meter over time.

If Elder has at least 6 meter and in the previously mentioned Install, Elder can activate Ultra Awareness, quickly draining his meter in neutral but giving him access to Blind Spot, a versatile teleport if Elder is close enough to the opponent. While comboing, using any of Elder's movement supers will deal damage to the opponent, with Going Over There dealing vastly more damage than the other two.

Weaves Instead of the standard blocking and parrying, Elder has two Weaves. Wind Blow dodges low attacks, and Water Flow dodges mid and high attacks, with a fast toggle on both to dodge attacks frame 7 and faster. If the Elder player guesses the correct height and speed of the incoming attack, they get a Perfect Weave, which functions similar to a parry if Elder is above 12,000 health. Otherwise, Elder is left at +2 block advantage and in Watch Out stance. In either scenario, he will gain half a super meter, and if Elder chooses to hold on a successful Weave, they will gain an extra full super meter, and return to neutral in Watch Out stance. If the opponent uses Whiff Cancel during this, Elder will Perfect Weave it, leaving the opponent extremely vulnerable.

If Elder guesses the wrong speed, he will still dodge it, but be left in a vulnerable position without his frame 3s and Weaves. If he guesses the wrong height however, Elder will get hit outright and take an extra 7,000 damage.

Elder can weave through parryable projectiles if he is close enough, granting meter and applying hitlag to everything on screen. If trying to weave an unparryable projectile, or weaving a parryable one at a further distance, Elder will transition into a version of Meditate that interrupts on opponent turn and takes a bit of chip damage from the projectile.

Along with Don't Try It, using a Weave when the opponent uses a defense option results in Elder performing a successful Weave, leaving him at +2 block advantage and in Watch Out stance near the opponent. If the opponent uses whiff cancel however, the result is a Perfect Weave, leaving the opponent vulnerable. Additionally, Elder can also weave through Burst, resulting in a Perfect Weave.

Watch Out Stance During this stance, Elder will have access to very powerful and often large sword moves to pressure the opponent up close and from afar. Most moves are plus on block, and all deal good damage. The main way to enter this stance is with Watch Out, a non-damaging move purely to enter the stance. Other ways include A Simple Step (usable in combos or at all times in Install), Going Over There, Weaves, and certain moves using the Unsheathe toggle. Unsheathing is slightly different to other methods, as this allows you to go into stance while doing something offensive. Along with Going Over There, this is the only way to use defensive options in Watch Out stance.

Ignoring Knowledge Check, Watch Out stance is the only situation where Elder can have multiple Guard Break timings, being frame 7 and frame 11.

Old Man BodProbably due to being old, Elder has no collision with the opponent, and can stand right inside of them. This lets Elder get as close as he likes, and can prove useful to flip certain moves not only for funky DI mixes but also to reverse the block pushback Elder would take, keeping him even closer after a blocked hit.

Elder can also use grounded-exclusive moves if he is close enough to the ground, sending him downwards and allows the use of lows in the air.

Specific Moves Of Note

The Other Defense Options Brace is functionally a block without being able to select the parry timing. In every other way, it is identical to blocking, down to parrying free cancelled moves and projectiles at close range.

Don't Try It is a somewhat niche move that specifically counters grabs, invulnerable moves, armored moves, and Guard Breaks. When the hitbox of one of these moves touches Elder during Don't try It, he counters the opponent with a large attack, dealing decent damage.

Meditate is a very important move to Elder's kit. If any projectiles are on screen, depending on the projectile, it will pull them in and absorb them if close enough, healing Elder a bit, or push them far away from him. This completely shuts down any projectile-based gameplan from the opponent, forcing them to rely more on their standard attacks. In addition to this, Meditate will generate a full meter over the course of its duration, giving Elder some much needed super.

The downside to Meditate is that if the opponent hits Elder during it, he will be knocked out of it, and have extra minus block advantage, but the opponent will not be interrupted out of their move. In some situations, the opponent can hold their move afterwards to hit Elder in 1 frame.

Knowledge Check is extremely niche, giving very little reward and sometimes letting Elder be punished on hit. It increases the opponents sadness extremely quickly if it doesn't hit, gives half a meter when used, and another half on hit. It is -50 on whiff however; a non-free cancelled Knowledge Check usually results in a punish regardless of distance. The best use I've found is to end combo for extra meter, at the cost of any oki.

Going Over There An important and strong move that allows Elder to get close to the opponent almost for free. It has invuln frames 4 onward, completely bypassing everything in neutral, and even close range, with the exception of throw.

Single Minded Single Minded is one of Elder's primary sources of damage. Outside of Install, it deals increasing damage the more meter Elder has, using it all in the process. It's roughly 1,100 damage per meter, though it can be off at times. Inside of Install though, it only has 2 hits that deal 2200 damage, but only uses 2 meter and launches the opponent at a good angle. In this case, it can usually refund half or all of its meter on hit, making it extremely meter efficient for its damage. In Watch Out stance, it also serves as an extremely scary, highly rewarding Guard Break that has a different timing to the other 2 Guard Breaks.

Stretching My Back Premier anti-air, it boasts frame 3-6 air invuln, easily swatting any opponents out of the sky, though with the large upwards knockback might make it hard to combo off of at times. In addition to this, it also has projectile invuln for its entire duration, completely ignoring any projectiles.

Gameplan And Counterplay

Base ElderThis is where Elder is at his weakest, but where Weaves are at their strongest. Elder must play extremely defensive to get anything done, relying on Meditate to gain meter when given space or time. Watch Out becomes useful at a distance to harass the opponent with long-ranged moves and deal decent chip damage. Once Elder is up close, mashing against them is very scary, as their frame data is very good for keeping the opponent blocking while preventing a grab. The main goal is to get into Watch Out stance through an Unsheathe toggle. This stance has plenty of mixups to either open the opponent up or simply deal decent chip damage. Coming From Below is of note here, as it is the only low in Watch Out stance, making it unlikely to be parried if everything else is a high, especially the Guard Breaks. For similar reasons, Coming From Above isn't very good, more often than not resulting in Elder being -1 on block from the opponent trying to parry something else, making it better suited as a combo tool for the ground bounce. Take A Step Back is a low risk, low reward option, usually keeping the Elder safe from the opponent's offensive options at the cost of only rewarding them with a bit of damage and very poor Okizeme. Avoid using it if the opponent is scared of it.

Combating Elder in this state requires staying in mid range where Elder struggles to hit the opponent, but not the other way around. This constantly puts Elder under pressure of taking a stray hit and eating a combo for not weaving. If they do weave, and the opponent doesn't attack them, Elder is left in a vulnerable position that the opponent can take advantage of, and usually start pressure. If the opponent is at an advantage at close range, strike/throw pressure is very strong, as weaves are ineffective against grabs. If applicable, high/low mixups can be even more powerful and rewarding, as if the Elder guesses wrong, they get hit outright.

The win condition of this state is Single Minded, with its gargantuan damage potential at high meter. Building meter with Meditate and not taking too much damage lets Elder snowball and end games quickly if the opponent can't get a lead. Single Minded becomes much easier to land if Elder performs a Perfect Weave, leaving the opponent completely vulnerable to it.

Install ElderThis is when Elder becomes significantly more dangerous, and sitting midrange against him becomes less effective. All of Elder's attacks move him further and grant him more range, and allow him to play more aggressive. In addition to this, Epic Dash becomes a teleport, giving Elder very good mobility, when combined with A Simple Step. Watch Out stance becomes more scary, as a free cancelled sword move keeps Elder in the stance, lengthening blockstrings and giving way to even more chip damage. Everything Elder already wanted to do becomes much easier to perform, and their gameplan becomes even stronger as a result. This is at a cost to their defense however, as their Weaves no longer grant a full punish on a Perfect Weave. This forces Elder to open the opponent up in a blockstring or get a good hit in neutral, though chip damage from said blockstrings can be acceptable.

While Elder has more range and mobility in this state, they still don't have a projectile and need to get close to the opponent to do anything. Walling out Elder can prove effective with large attacks and neutral skips to make the Elder paranoid, though this can be completely bypassed with Going Over There.

The win condition of this state is either a long blockstring with high chip damage, or dumping meter in a combo for high damage in the traditional sense. While the first doesn't require meter, it can be harder to pull off and isn't as rewarding. The second is more often what you're going for, and can be accomplished with many uses of Meditate throughout the match.

Source: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3354541848

Guide to Elder

Introduction

Main Mechanics

Specific Moves Of Note

Gameplan And Counterplay

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