[In Progress] [Guide] Gloria: lessons from Quickmatch

I’ve been playing a lot of Quickmatch games with Gloria for my Youtube channel here, and I’d like to share some thoughts and insights that I hope I’ve gained. I purposefully avoided reading too many guides when I started the series, because I wanted to see how far I could get based only on my knowledge. Various people have sent me insights along the way, and I’ve done my best to take these on board. Still, Gloria is definitely a high-skillcap character, and a lot of the time I feel like the timer has forced me into decisions that I’m not sure are optimal, so it’s definitely useful to know you are generally aiming to do and plan your turns ahead.

This guide is still in progress, and is unlikely to end up being a conventional guide. Rather, I see this being a list of tips and information that should be of use to refer to once you know the basic Gloria game plan. Please go give suggestions and requests for what you want to see, and I’ll try my best to add, if I think they fit.

:heart_exclamation: :heart: :sparkling_heart: :heart: :heart_exclamation:


Gloria Grayson, Hopeful Healer

“Things will turn out well if we keep a positive attitude.”

Characters that can end Healing Sphere off an attack starter

Healing Sphere ends if you are thrown or fail to heal in a turn. An opponent can prevent you from healing by getting a knockdown, so it’s important to know which combat losses can lead to this happening. Spamming fast attacks can work well against some characters, but dodge into throw is a good counter to this strategy. A combo into throw will end sphere even if you Blue Burst it.

List of characters
  • :rook: No dodges, but 3* knocks down on hit, and Rock Armour/J into Q throw also cancels HS.
  • :lum: This is a rare matchup where taking KD instead of face cards from RTD is often the right play. Notably this can even happen if you block his attack.
  • :setsuki: Combo into K throw side both knocks down and is a throw to end HS.
  • :quince: Q throw both does all the damage in the world and ends sphere. Avoid.
  • :vendetta: 7 is Vendetta’s main knockdown tool.
  • :onimaru: Final Authority is pretty painful.
  • :persephone: On Your Knees (AA) is Persephone’s only non-starter source of knockdown.
  • :zane: All of Zane’s throws are linkers and J is a really scary knockdown ender.

Is 2.2 speed a fast attack?

One of the defining parts of Gloria’s play is reliable access to powerful 2.2 speed attacks, on the fast side of her J and on her K. Matchups tend to play out differently depending on whether an opponent can easily outspeed these moves.

All characters have some degree of access to fast super attacks that all beat 2.2 speed. I have classified them in this list based on how easily they typically get such super moves. For example, Rook typically blocks and powers up for Wall of Vines as his Plan A game strategy, and so he is more likely to have counterplay than if he had to rely only on Thunderclap (J). On the other hand, Quince relies on spins to win combat far more than on Consent of the Governed (AA).

Strong combo starter <2.2
  • :lum:
  • :valerie: (via BoS)
  • :setsuki:
  • :vendetta:
  • :gwen:
  • :onimaru: (mid- to late-game, via Final Authority/aces)
  • :zane: (with Meaty Attacks after knockdown)
Can reliably tie or beat 2.2 but not combo
  • :rook: (K is very strong because Rook can’t rock armour while knocked down)
  • :grave:
  • :jaina:
  • :argagarg:
  • :menelker:
  • :persephone: (On Your Knees is scary enough that maybe she belongs to the above section)
  • :troq:
Struggles to compete with 2.2 speed attacks

These characters typically have to block or dodge Gloria’s fast attacks. Note that this by no means at all implies that they present an easy matchup for Gloria; this largely depends on the strength of their burst damage and dodge followup.

  • :geiger:
  • :midori:
  • :quince:
  • :zane: (in neutral)
  • :bbb:
10 Likes

I would definitely put Troq in the “can reliably tie or beat 2.2 but not combo.” Q and AA beat 2.2s, and J ties, which at least prevents Overdose.

4 Likes

That makes sense, so I’ve changed it. I don’t think I’ve actually played that MU yet, so I will bow to mystictraitor’s superior Troq experience

3 Likes

he is a terribly talented troq.

3 Likes

If I’m being pedantic, technically Onimaru doesn’t combo :wink: and Jaina also deals high damage at sub 2.2 with Q+ (13) or A+++ (37). Possibly both these two characters should be in the same section?

For the first list of stuff (“Characters that can end Healing Sphere off attack”), I think it’s worth separating out the x.8 throw characters from the rest.

Using Troq as an example, sure he doesn’t have any attacks that can KD you, but he can still always remove Sphere if he guesses right with either fast throw or dodge into throw, and that’s true of any character with throws faster than 7.8.

For characters with x.8 throws, being able to KD or remove Sphere off of attack is a much bigger deal, since Gloria could otherwise play a 7-throw to guarantee keeping her Sphere (see Argagarg). So Geiger (K, blocked Time Spiral into throw), DeGrey (Q), Quince (Q/A, combo into Q), and Gloria (K) are the really important ones to know since those characters have a hard time removing Sphere using the usual throw/dodge-into-throw mixup that all other characters have.

Your second list of stuff (“How good is speed 2.2?”) looks good to me!

4 Likes

I’m reviving an ancient thread because the current Solo Shodown tournament has got me playing Gloria again for the first time in a long time, and I have a few thoughts that I’d rather get down somewhere less ephemeral and more conducive to discussion than live commentary on my Youtube channel.

Why is Gloria so difficult to play well?

She’s mechanically complex

I doubt anyone would disagree that Gloria is one of the most difficult characters in the Yomi cast to be successful with. Her turns have a lot of choices to make. Here’s a non-exhaustive list of choices which have a big impact but do not have one-size-fits-all answers:

  • should I power up for A♥ early-game?
  • which non-:heart: do I discard to heal?
  • which :heart: do I recur?
  • how close to death do I need to be to heal for no/little value (no Healing Sphere up, no :heart: in discard)?
  • do I play a second Healing Sphere to double down, or do I save it to re-attach if I lose my current one?
  • do I use Overdose on low HP to dig for answers and/or force a result?
  • do I use Bathed in Light when my opponent is on low life, to recur my Jack as a combat option or trigger Healing Sphere without spending non-:heart:?

Every combat matters

As well as the straight-up complexity of the character, the wording of Overdose to give a huge reward on combat wins, Gloria’s slow speeds and small HP pool and the requirement to not get thrown/KD and constantly be healing to keep your engine running all combine to make combats quite dependent on reads.

Compare this to a character like Setsuki: you just use moves like Q and 7 throw which are likely to beat 2/3 of the combat triangle and have good payoffs on each of them. With Gloria, you (often) just have to guess right just to use your kit effectively, to say nothing pushing an advantage and not dying really fast to characters like Midori, Zane, and Menelker who can blow through your whole life bar in a couple of combos.

1 Like