Guilty Gear -Strive-

This may be the hardest trophy to get for this game. To obtain it, you must defeat Stage 9 Nagoriyuki in Arcade Mode who is only available at the Extreme difficulty. In order to stay in Extreme difficulty and reach Stage 9, you can not lose a round INCLUDING against Stage 8 Nagoriyuki. However, there is some forgiveness here. If you lose a round against an opponent, then let him or her beat you the next round and select rematch. When you win the fight without losing a round, you will see that you are still at Extreme difficulty and still on track to face Stage 9 Nagoriyuki.

Stage 8 Nagoriyuki can basically be seen as the tutorial for Stage 9 Nagoriyuki, as you can use the same tactics to win both fights. Nagoriyuki is tough to beat if you fight him head on, but lucky for us who are not pro players, he has an exploit. This exploit is mainly that he has several openings where he can be grabbed for a throw( or +). First, REMEMBER that you have to win both rounds in Stage 8 to reach Stage 9. If you win after you lose a round Arcade Mode will end and you will have to run through Arcade Mode again. In Stage 8, the easiest way to start the exploit is to knock Nagoriyuki down so you can run in and throw him as soon as he gets up into his normal standing position. you can usually get an attack against Nagoriyuki as soon as the round starts. I main Ky Kiske so I usually start with Dire Eclat (,,+), but you cannot usually throw him after it due to the recovery time. The main move I use to knock Nagoriyuki down and run in for the throw is a crouching slash (+) followed by the Stun Dipper (,,+) or just use the Stun Dipper by itself. The sliding kick will not knock him down, but if the slash that follows hits him, Nagoriyuki will fall. Once you throw him, the next move is to run in and jump over him as he is getting up. Nagoriyuki will try to attack immediately once he gets up, usually with one of his heavy blood slashes. If you jumped at the right moment and he attacks with one of these slashes, then you can just walk right up to him after you land and throw him before he recovers from his attack. This is the main tactic you will repeat throughout the fight. If he attacks with a light attack after getting up then you most likely will not be able to throw him once you land. In fact, he may hit you with an attack unless you block it. At this point, you will have to knock him down again and run in for the throw.

If you knockdown or throw Nagoriyuki into a corner, then the tactic is slightly altered. You will not be able to jump over Nagoriyuki. Instead, run in and jump into the corner then double jump straight up ( while in the air). Nagoriyuki will get up and attack and you will land in front of him. If he does a heavy attack, then you will be able to avoid the attack and grab him when you land. You can repeat this process as long as you keep him in the corner. If he uses a light attack then, you have a fifty percent chance to grab him. Otherwise, he will hit you and you have to knock him down to start the tactic over again. Nagoriyuki tends to be a little more aggressive when he is in the corner, so if you want to throw him out of the corner you can. Just remember that your next move is to jump over him as he gets up, then walk forward for the throw.

There are two notable moments when you can just run in for the throw without knocking Nagoriyuki down. The first is when Nagoriyuki enters his blood rage state. If you can, block his initial AOE (area of effect) attack when he enters this state. It doesn't hurt you, but it will knock you to ground and you will not be able to run in for the throw. Nagoriyuki goes into an invincible recovery phase after the AOE attack. You have to run at him during this recovery phase and throw him as soon as he resumes his normal standing position. If you try to throw him to soon, you will leave yourself open to attack. The second moment is when Nagoriyuki uses his Zansetsu super move (a full screen forward slash that causes massive damage) while he is in blood rage mode. If you notice that Nagoriyuki has a super move available while he is in blood rage mode then most likely he will use it against you and you should keep back so you can block or avoid it. The best thing to do when he uses Zansetsu is to use Faultless Defense (Hold + while blocking) against it. Faultless Defense allows you block this attack without taking any damage pushing Nagoriyuki back a little at the cost of some of your tension gauge. After blocking this attack, you can run in (from full screen even!) while Nagoriyuki recovers from this attack and throw him. After a throw from either of these moments go into either of the throw tactics discussed previously.

When Nagoriyuki's health bar gets really close to turning orange, he will start to play more defensively and will not attack as soon as he gets up, but wait for an opening. Also, when he uses Zansetsu while in blood rage mode, if he has another super move available, he will do a Roman Cancel immediately after the slash and recover instantly to use another attack so you cannot run in for a throw. At this point, it is a little harder to knock him down but easier to continue to throw him once you get it a started or if you are still in the middle of it. However, you do have to change tactics a little. After the initial throw, just run at Nagoriyuki and throw him as soon as he gets into his normal standing position and repeat. If you throw him into a corner, run at him and throw him when he gets into his normal standing position. After this throw, DO NOT RUN. Just walk towards him and throw him towards the corner when he gets into his normal standing position and repeat until you defeat him.

After winning two rounds in a row against Stage 8 Nagoriyuki, you finally face Stage 9 Nagoriyuki. First, you are allowed to lose a round against Stage 9 Nagoriyuki. As long as you win the match, the trophy will unlock. Also, remember that if you lose choosing any option other than rematch will start Arcade Mode over ( you cannot change characters after a loss). Stage 9 Nagoriyuki is always in blood mode, causes a lot more damage with his attacks (ESPECIALLY Zansetsu), has a lot more health and can still use his special moves despite being in blood rage mode the whole match. However, he does lose his non-blood rage mode super move. This being said, you can still use the same tactics that you used in Stage 8 to defeat Stage 9 Nagoriyuki as he behaves the same way in every aspect. In Stage 9, Nagoriyuki begins every round going into blood rage mode with AOE attack. This means that after blocking against the AOE attack, you can go right into the throw tactic. Another advantage you gain is that Nagoriyuki will get dizzy every time you cause enough damage to completely deplete his blood rage meter. When the meter completely depletes, Nagoriyuki will get dizzy and the meter will refill immediately to full. This opens him up to a free attack. While it is tempting to use a super move, especially if Nagoriyuki is in the corner, there is a high chance that he will come out of his dizzy state and block the super move. To make it safer you should combo from a normal move into the super move. Personally, I find it better to just continue the throw tactic as the time it takes to recover from the super move as well as a screen transition puts both fighters at basically the same recovery rate and you will have to knock down Nagoriyuki to continue the throw tactic.

I know this has been a lengthy solution, but I hope this helps. Good Luck!