Jack-O Guides

Jack-O' Guide

Jack-O' is one of the most unique fighting game characters. And Guilty Gear is a series brave enough to bring such extravaganza to life.

It’s hard to say that her unusual mechanics paid off fully. In many Guilty Gear -Strive- Tier Lists, Jack-O' is somewhere at the bottom, so most professionals are not up to playing her. She is pretty complicated for casual players, and you rarely face Jack-O' during online matchmaking.

She is still great, though. Her very presence expands the boundaries of fighting games. And if people are reluctant to play her, that doesn’t mean she is not good for you!

Jack-O' might click for your fighting personality, so enjoy her. At least, it’s worth a try. You will have a chance to face opponents who don't really know what to do against Jack-O', so use her low popularity as an advantage.

This Guilty Gear -Strive- guide on DashFight will help you get the best from your Jack-O', understand her playstyle, figure out which attacks you should use in fights, and learn some basic combos.

Who is Jack-O' Valentine?

If you watched the story mode of Guilty Gear -Strive-, you already know something about her personality. She’s cute and humble, but at the same time, there are some dark secrets inside, mysterious powers. Jack-O’ can save the world as she’s able to return the human nature of I-No.

This girl is a Valentine life form, partially based on the personality of Aria, a girl Sol loved in the past. Jack-O’ has issues with accepting her emotions and even with sticking to a stable behaviour pattern. She has to wear a mask to keep herself concentrated on the battle.

The GG -Strive- story doesn’t tell much about the fighting abilities of this character, but that is not its purpose. Watch this anime to feel Jack-O’ as your potential main. Still, considering her unique techniques, be cautious with the decision — get practical experience first.

Playstyle of Jack-O'

She is a technical rushdown fighter that depends on momentum in fights.

Jack-O' is not really strong and effective with her normals. Even having some pretty good attacks, she becomes really threatening only thanks to her Servants. They are robotic minions that can be summoned to the stage and extend mixup/combo options of the character.

Using these Servants is a kind of an art. You should manage a special meter for summoning them. And you should feel when and how to use them in the best way.

Servants give Jack-O' an impressive variety of tools. In combination with her normals, they make the character great at both zoning and close-range fights. But to master these tools, you should be ready to spend significant time in the lab of Training Mode. It’s your creative energy and deep understanding of what the character is capable of that make Jack-O' reliable in fights.

And still, she has some flaws. It’s easy for opponents to destroy those Servants. You need to keep in mind the resource management with controlling Jack-O' and the minions in perfect harmony — this is quite a task.

Jack-O' is very dependent on momentum, but it can be lost quite easily. And then, the character is bad at defense and being under pressure. 

On a positive note, though, hours spent in the lab are rewarding. If you break the wall of complexity and feel the fighting pace with Jack-O’, playing her is a lot of fun.

Servants and Servant Gauge

When Jack-O' starts a round, she already has one bar of the Servant Gauge. In fact, it contains two types of resources: energy to summon Servants (green) and energy to give them commands (grey).

You gain both types of energy automatically, but the speed of this process increases while Servants are out and participate in the fight. It is better to always have a minion near Jack-O' — to support the meter restoration and to be ready for pressuring the opponent.

Jack-O' can summon up to three Servants simultaneously. They disappear after 8 seconds on the stage or after getting hit by the opponent. If Jack-O' hits a Servant, it loses 3 seconds from the “life cycle.”

The commands to Servants include attacking, creating shields, and exploding after 3 seconds. Jack-O' can retreat a Servant and thus get more energy to the Servant Gauge (it might be better than letting them disappear).

Gameplan with Jack-O’

This character opens many options, so your specific gameplan with her depends greatly on your preferences.

In general, Jack-O' should use normal tools to safely summon her first Servant, find an opening, and then keep the pressure going while taking care of the constant presence of Servants on the stage.

Always put effort into filling up the Servant meter. It’s needed to summon minions and to give them commands. 

There are attacks that give you the opportunity to summon a Servant. Put the character into a hard knockdown with 2D, which keeps the victim on the ground for quite a long period. Throws are also good for this, but they might not be that great for following mixups as the opponent is pushed away. Don’t lose a chance to summon your minion after a long poke, such as FS and 5K. Get servants to the stage after the 632146P Overdrive. 

Of course, these “summoning” attacks are just examples. You need to find all the suitable options for this to keep the pressure.

Without the Servant meter, Jack-O' should play her zoning game with normals, looking for the first opportunity to get that minion.

Best Buttons

Here are some attacks/moves of Jack-O' you could rely on while playing her. 

• 5K — it’s a quick poke with good range. You could use it to cover the Servant summoning. 
• c.S — it’s excellent for punishing the opponent and starting a combo. 
• S (FS) — this attack is similar to 5K. It’s slower but covers a bigger distance. It can be followed by 5H and cancelled into 214P.
• 2S is a good anti-air if the opponent jumps from a close distance. It hits right above Jack-O'.
• 5H requires proper spacing to be safe. Use it to launch Servants a bit further. On hit, it allows summoning a new minion relatively safely.
• 6H has a great hitbox and works from a big distance. At close range, it whiffs for short and crouching opponents. It might be used as an anti-air. You can summon Servants on hit.
• j.H is suitable for crossups. It’s risky if the opponent uses anti-air attacks.
• 5D is not really brilliant, but that is the only basic overhead option for Jack-O'.
• 2D has a very good range as Jack-O' moves forward. On hit, it allows you to summon a Servant safely. Use it as a counter poke. 
• Overdrive 632146P, Forever Elysion Driver. It’s invincible from the start and deals significant damage. You need to activate it while being very close to the opponent. With Roman Cancel, the attack can have a short follow-up.

Strengths and weaknesses

Good pressure is the biggest strength of Jack-O'. With enough practice, you will be able to sequence normals with Servant actions.

Jack-O' has excellent corner pressure. You also might enjoy the advantage of placing a Servant behind your opponents — for the sandwich pressure. 

This character gives many possibilities for your fighting creativity. And that is both a strength and a weakness. You might become unpredictable with Jack-O' mixing her various attacks. But to become effective here, be ready to practice in the lab a lot. Jack-O' is a complex character, hardly advisable for beginners in Guilty Gear -Strive-.

The necessity to manage the Servant Gauge and combine actions of a few entities simultaneously make Jack-O' even a more complicated fighter. 

If she loses momentum, it becomes immensely hard to regain her pace of the fight. An experienced opponent might know well how to stop Jack-O's pressure. Simple methods of neutralizing Servants make the situation worse.

How to Fight Against Jack-O' Valentine

Mere understanding of what Jack-O' is capable of with her Servants out defines the way of fighting her. You should focus on disrupting her pressure and neutralizing her minions.

Don’t let those annoying mechanical creatures fly around. It is enough to punch them with your fastest and safest attacks to create some troubles for Jack-O' in gaining the Servant Gauge. Also, they are pretty useless if you don’t give Jack-O' a chance to command them.

Jack-O' is rather vulnerable without her minions, so use such moments to the fullest.

Jack-O' is a unique character. You should be prepared for practicing this uniqueness to take the max out of it. She is rather for advanced players, and even if you don’t plan to main her, gaining some experience with Jack-O' might expand the use of tools for other Guilty Gear -Strive- characters and therefore make you a better, more versatile player.