Gauge Adjustment

Gauge adjustment (GA) is a technique used to maintain a player’s gauge at maximum (charged).

Why is it done?

When a player’s gauge reaches maximum, it remains that way for approximately 5 in-game minutes. After 5 minutes of being charged, the player’s gauge will reset back to halfway.

~5 minutes later ->

The purpose of GA is essentially to reset those 5 minutes. For instance, if Aphrodi’s gauge has been at maximum for 3 minutes, doing gauge adjustment with him will allow him to be charged for another 5 minutes. As such, Aphrodi is charged and ready to use a hissatsu technique for 8 minutes instead of the usual 5 minutes.

Since GA extends the duration a player is charged, it is important to do it in order to prepare when a player will be needed to use a hissatsu technique.

An example would be doing GA with Torb while you have the ball. Because you have the ball, there is no need for Torb to act as a defender. However, you might lose the ball and your opponent attacks 4 minutes later. If you did not adjust Torb’s gauge while he had the ball, there is a possibility that he is uncharged and unable to use a DF hissatsu as your opponent attacks. This would leave your defense vulnerable to the enemy offensive. But if you had adjusted his gauge, he would likely still be charged and thus you are better able to defend.

Another example would be for chain shooters such as Canon.

In order to perform a chain with Canon, you must first have possession of the ball. If your Canon is charged but your opponent has the ball, there is a chance that Canon will become uncharged by the time you have the ball, thus wasting an opportunity to score.

Gauge adjustment can prevent this from happening by extending the duration your Canon is charged. So when you have the ball and start a chain, Canon is still ready to use God Cannon and perform a chain shoot.

How is it done?

In general, there are two ways to do gauge adjustment and it depends on whether the player has a DF or OF hissatsu (or both).

If a player has a DF hissatsu, GA can be done when you do NOT have possession of the ball. You open the circle first, as if to use a DF hissatsu, and then quickly close it again.

However, if you open and close manually, your player will lose a decent amount of their gauge and will take more time to become charged again.

As such, this motion can be done faster by switching to a different player, instead of manually closing the circle. Switching players automatically closes the circle.

switch players ->

This is useful because the player will comparatively lose very little of their gauge, and they will become charged again almost instantly if you do it very quickly.

You can also choose to take longer to switch to a different player, and as such this technique is usually a better alternative than manually closing the circle as it can serve the same function.

Deciding the speed of your DF GAs depends on what your strategy is. It can range from near instantaneous to a second long.

If you expect to use that player very soon (e.g. you believe you will get the ball very quickly and transition into a chain shot with Canon) in the future, the quick GA may be the better option to ensure your player is already charged.

Similarly, if you think you will not get the ball anytime soon, it may be better to let your player lose more of their gauge so that they are charged further in the future, instead of having their gauge reset to halfway.

If the player has an OF hissatsu, GA can be done when that same player has the ball.

Similar to manual DF GAs, you open the circle first (can only be done when you have the ball, obviously), and then quickly close it again.

This method also suffers/benefits from the loss of a considerable amount of the player’s gauge, so a quicker method exists as well.

However, instead of switching to a different player, this one is done differently. While having the ball, pass it to another player. But just before the ball is passed, open the circle. When the ball is passed and leaves your player, the opened circle will automatically close.

NOTE: this method but with a DF hissatsu can also be done under certain, situational scenarios.

Deciding between normal and fast OF GAs follows the same thought process as with DF GAs, although OF GAs are more commonly used with defenders.

Players with both DF and OF hissatsu are able to do GA with both methods.

Competitive importance

As we can see, GA is important in competitive play. Which method is more important depends on the position of the player.

For attacking players (e.g. chain shooters, dribblers), DF GAs are much more important. This is because while you have the ball, you mostly want to use your charged players to use their OF/SH hissatsus. Uncharging via OF GAs contradicts that.

On the contrary, while you do not have the ball, you are only able to use DF hissatsus (excluding the GK) and not offensive hissatsus. As a result, DF GAing your attackers allows them to be charged when you have the ball.

Because of this, the ability to uncharge with a DF hissatsu is considered a substantial benefit for attackers, especially for chain shooters. Canon’s access to Block Circus which allows him to GA when the opponent has the ball gives him a huge advantage over most other chainers (Fideo and Gouenji do not have DF hissatsus, for example).

The most powerful dribblers all have the ability to uncharge with DF hissatsus, with the exception of Mark Kruger.

For defensive players, the opposite applies. However, the ability to uncharge with an OF hissatsu is not as important for defenders as it is for attackers’ ability to uncharge with a DF hissatsu. As such, whether or not a defender has access to an OF hissatsu does not contribute to their overall strength as much.