Your characters position, or state, determine the options available to you and may alter the effects certain actions of your opponent have on you. Standing, Crouching, Squat, Jumping and Down are absolute classifications, while Back Turned, and Open/Closed Stance is relative to your opponent.
Standing is the default and thus most common position. A standing character is vulnerable to high, mid and low Strikes as well as high throws and offensive holds. However low throws and offensive holds will whiff. All damage multipliers are applied normally to a standing opponent. A standing state can be entered manually by the player by simply doing nothing/having the stick in a neutral position or can be a property of a character's move.
A player can also choose to guard standing with
,
. A character that guards standing will generally avoid damage from high and mid strikes but is still vulnerable to high throws and offensive holds. Low throws and offensive holds will still whiff against an opponent that guards standing. while low strikes will still hit a guarding opponent their damage will be reduced to 80%
The crouching state can be entered by the player by holding
,
, or
or is a property of a move. A crouching character will avoid high attacks and throws but will become vulnerable to low throws and offensive holds. Certain mid attacks will have improved properties when landing on a crouching opponent e.g. provider a better stun, or launch higher into the air.
A player can use crouching guard with
, or
. Crouching guard will prevent damage from low strikes and still avoid high attacks, throws and offensive holds. A crouch guarding character can still be hit by low throws, offensive holds, and mid attacks.
Depending on the player's input and the opponent's action entering crouched state can a take a varying amount of frames. Simply pressing
,
, or
takes 4 frames until the character is considered crouching. However, if the opponent uses a low attack the player can enter crouch state instantly to block the attack. If the opponent uses a high attack a character will enter a crouching state on frame 2.
Finally
allows the player to perform a crouch dash. By performing a crouch dash, the player enters the crouching state on the first possible frame.
Most moves can be used from crouching without any penalties, or special requirement, but a few moves require the character to be in a crouching position before they can be performed (for instance Eliot's
and similar moves noted with
), or can only be used while rising from crouching back to the standing position.
This state cannot be entered by the player manually and is only part of a move's properties (usually the recovery phase). The state has similar characteristics to crouching but is vulnerable to high and low throws at the same time (and offensive holds)
Back turned means the character is facing away from the opponent and has their back exposed. It is possible to stand and crouch with the back to the opponent. However, trying to guard with
will turn the character around. Standing with the back to the opponent alters a characters move set and gives access to a special character dependent set of back turned moves. Players cannot actively turn their backs to the opponent but most characters have a few moves that leave them with the back turned.
Blocking from a back turned position requires 3 frames to turn around and guard, this is something players have to take into account when evaluating how unsafe their moves are.
In addition landing, a hit on a back turned opponents increases the damage revision by an additional 25%. Strikes and Throws also often have different properties when landing on an opponent's back.
Open and closed stance refers to the relative foot position of the two characters on screen. Usually, the character models have one foot in front of the other. That means you can either see both characters having the same or opposing feet forward.
Open stance refers to both players having an opposing foot forward, while closed stance means that both players have the same foot forward. In open stance, both characters form a V-Shape ( \ / ) with their feet, while in closed stance they form to parallel lines ( / / ). These positions vaguely resemble an open and closed door, hence the names.
Characters may use a different arm/foot to perform an attack depending on which foot is in front. This can have a minor effect on hit and hurt boxes and as a result, some combos and setups may only work in open or closed stance. However, these examples are rare.
Keeping track of stance can be difficult for players. It may be easier to look at the characters' backs instead of their feet. Two backs or two front sides means open stance. One back and one front means closed.
“Stance” is also used to refer to unique fighting stances available to some characters. Every unique stance also has a name of their own and are referred that way. While a character does not have access to their normal move set and typically cannot guard, these stances usually come with a unique set of moves and often properties. For instance, Helena has a special stance called Bokuho that gives her access to new moves and avoids high attacks as long as she remains in the stance.
Some stances are only temporary and a character returns to a normal standing position after a short time, while others last until the player chooses to end them with a specific move or
The jumping state has 2 distinct sub-states: ”Jumping” and ”Jumping(Evade Lows)”. While the first state may avoid low attacks due to non-intersecting hit- and hurt boxes, the “Jumping (Evade Lows)” state is invulnerable to low attacks. Jumping characters cannot be hit with standing or crouching throws. Hitting a jumping opponent deals Hi-Counter damage. Jumping opponents are often considered airborne and moves will have different properties when they hit an opponent in an airborne state.
The state a character enters after a knockdown. The available options are severely reduced except for specific wake-up attacks. While laying on the ground a player cannot be hit with most moves unless they have a specific “Ground attack” property (marked in the move details on page 3) or specif down attacks (e.g.
)
A more thorough explanation of the ground state and options available to both players can be found
here
