What is fuzzy guard?

Question

There's some hubbub being made about the launch (1.00) and first patch (1.01) version of Soulcalibur V having fuzzy guard.

How do I perform a fuzzy guard, and what does it protect against?

Answer

In the context of a 3D fighter, a fuzzy guard is basically a technique that allows you to block attacks in multiple hitboxes at once, usually low and mid (mid may also include throws). The big problem is that a fuzzy guard can effectively neutralize a good mix-up - that is, approaches or attacks that are intended to leave the defender guessing.

From what I've seen about the SCV fuzzy guard so far, it seems to hurt mix-ups pretty badly. The specific way it works has been outlined and demonstrated on YouTube:

By holding guard and tapping up (instead of holding up) your character will begin his jump animation but will not actually leave the ground. During that entire time your character is in a guard state and will block any moves that come in contact with him. However, if your opponent throws any low move (normal or special) the game will detect it and force your character to jump, successfully avoiding the low attack. This makes many mix-ups in the game easily avoidable, as long as you can get the tapping down.

IOW, tapping up while guarding will cause you to visibly start to jump, but instead resume guarding. At this point, if you get hit with a mid/high, you will block it. However, if your opponent throws a low attack while doing this, you will automatically jump and avoid it. The effect is that you are thus blocking multiple hitboxes simultaneously because the game made the "best choice" for you by either blocking or jumping.

YouTube demo (same video as in the post linked above; Note: contains some language):

Also note: In 2D fighters "fuzzy guard" often has a completely different meaning, but I won't go into that here since it's not immediately relevant.

Check more discussion of this question.

loading..