The Aggressive Triangle
Learning fighting games is one hell of an uphill climb, but in truth, most of the complexities new players get confused by are... illusions, so to speak. The core of fighting games is a very simple one, albeit dressed up in a web of mystery and complexity. The FGC isn't unique in this aura of mystery, but they're the most notorious, so let's try to demystify some of these elements.
Let's start with the eternal question of: "What the fuck do I do?" You boot up the game, you pick a character, learn their moves, and proceed to eat utter shit when fighting someone. You know how to do some stuff, but not when or why to even do it. What do you do? You could just open a wiki and read, but some prefer to learn on their own, so I'll present a framework that you can use to figure out what to do on your own:
Literally everything here is rock paper scissors.
Anything, and I do mean anything you find in a fighting game, can be boiled down to a three-group structure where one group beats the other. Some of these are obvious, others less so, but let's start with three things every character has and you will be using often in any match: An attack, a grab, and a block.
These three tools are essential for every match, regardless of which game you're playing and which character you picked. Now here's the question, when do you use these? Why do you use these?
Those of you who have played fighting games for a while will notice that these three items also fall into a 3 group structure:
- When someone is blocking, the appropriate response is to grab them, as attacks will be futile and leave you at disadvantage.
- When someone is aggressive, it's typically best to block and wait out their onslaught until an opportunity presents itself, as any grab will be met with a punch.
- If someone is trying to close distance for a grab, blocking will allow you to be a sitting duck, so it's best to be aggressive quickly.
Therefore, we have a basic structure: Grabs beat block, which beats attacking, which beats grabbing. Simple.
Now you may be thinking "hold on now! Surely, not everything can be neatly slotted into this structure!" Considering how complex fighting games present themselves to be with frame data and nightmareish inputs, it's an understandable reaction to take, but... no. It really is all. As David Sirlin points out, any option beyond a 3rd layer of complexity will just loop back around to being one of the existing 3 layers.
Don't believe me? Let's look at another option: The Invincible Reversal, or the DP.
This move is unique, right? You can't be damaged when doing it, and typically is one of the most powerful moves in a player's arsenal! Surely, this deserves a category on its own!
Well, Invincible Reversals can still be blocked, and blocking them is usually devastating because of how slow they are. And since you're invincible during that state, you can't be grabbed nor attacked. This last aspect is probably what made you think it needs its own category - the fact it beats out two categories, both the grab and the attack - but we still have an option that will lose to a block and win against a grab. It's still an attack.
Inside the three groups there may be some more intricacies, sure, but fundamentally we still have a choice between three large groups which each beat out the other. You can pretty much put any tool in your arsenal inside this chart and it will fit neatly in one of the options.
Now, knowing this truth, you can analyze every situation and tool in your arsenal in a much simpler way to know when to use it appropriately: find something it wins against, find something it loses against, and slot it into a three-group dynamic.
Grab beats block beats attack.
Zoner beats grappler beats rushdown.
Rock beats paper beats scissors.