Sol Lekz’ Button Check: Astaroth

DISCLAIMER: Statements and theories expressed on the Button Check are simply building blocks and ground rules with the sole intent of providing less experienced players solid ground to develop themselves further. These are simply suggestions based on limited time (48 hours) spent on each character for analysis. Players are encouraged to drop in some helpful tips of their own on characters said player possess well enough understanding of. (Please hold back any tears if you think you are godlike, Best in the world, 1337 or possess any other self righteous undeserved sense of accomplishment over any characters reviewed on Button Check. This is a casual digest.)

Astaroth (Soul Calibur 5)

Spacing…Distance… Timing… 3 simple, yet sometimes hard rules, to keep in effect while using this gigantic killer. Power is far from a problem for this big guy, two good strikes can almost instantly steal a significant life lead during any portion of the match or simply tie up what was once a losing battle. By design, Astaroth thrives from powerful counter attacks meant to justly interrupt his opponent or perform strong punishes. This is where the character psychology comes into effect, no one needs to be told that Astaroth will hit them hard but training your opponent to respect that fact is crucial to his success. The start of almost any match with him needs to be focused on creating a gap between him and his opponent, his massive reach will have no trouble filling in the gap but should you allow your opponent to create a close range battle scenario, Astaroth is usually doomed against a large portion of the roster. His “quick” horizontal strikes are about as slow as anyone’s heavy vertical strike and is not desirable for counter acting close ranged pressure and quick strikes, HE IS DOOMED TO LOSE IN THESE SCENARIOS EACH TIME.

Positioning: Stay far far away and only battle up close under your own terms which should only be for punishes and applying pressure to put a round away. Because of his size, side dashes may not be as favorable as it may seem or act normally to avoid attacks since his massive frame tends to get catch the tail end of attacks and combos. Practice becoming familiar with the large amount of distance he needs both horizontally and vertically. Allow the opponent to stay too close on Astaroth for too long is more than likely a hopeless situation against talented players as well as button mashers.

Offensive Strategy: There isn’t a single option Astaroth has that isn’t doing to deal good damage so always mix up how you use his arsenal of attacks. Using the same setups in combination with his slow speed just makes him an easy read and predictable.  Learning all of his grabs and usage is crucial to his success as it is not only fun to watch but also helpful for the sake of winning. Astaroth has the unique ability to grab crouching opponents in addition to be able to chain these grabs from all of his properly timed counter attacks. Down+Back – A – A is easily his best low attack, it covers long range, moves in a 360 degree motion and can be used as a follow up to a lot of knock downed opponent scenarios.

Defensive Strategy: Not much to worry about until the fight has been taken out of his control by losing distance.  Once that is lost, knowledge of your opponent and their behavior becomes the largest aspect of his defensive play. Grabs and SOME counters are his only go to options but will get you nowhere without good intuition and some guessing. Putting in a lot of time and learning his match ups will give Astaroth better defense from instinctively knowing what the opponent wants to do when up close and how he should guard and counter.

Combo Usage: Astaroth is capable of “locomotion”, once you get started it can be hard to stop since he can put rounds away pretty quickly. His combo’s are short but the way you transition from one to the next is what makes his much a unique and overwhelming character. A huge portion of his short 2-3 hit combos possess a counter variant which can be chained and ended with grabs, learning the different variations of these will grant you at least one answer for every scenario. As a counter, try first learning the execution and proper in fight usage of (DOWN+BACK – B – B ~ DOWN + any grab command).