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.
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
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No dodges, but 3* knocks down on hit, and Rock Armour/J into Q throw also cancels HS. -
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. -
Combo into K throw side both knocks down and is a throw to end HS. -
Q throw both does all the damage in the world and ends sphere. Avoid. -
7 is Vendetta’s main knockdown tool. -
Final Authority is pretty painful. -
On Your Knees (AA) is Persephone’s only non-starter source of knockdown. -
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
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(via BoS) 
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(mid- to late-game, via Final Authority/aces)
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(with Meaty Attacks after knockdown)
Can reliably tie or beat 2.2 but not combo
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(K is very strong because Rook can’t rock armour while knocked down)
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(On Your Knees is scary enough that maybe she belongs to the above section)
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.
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(in neutral)
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?