The cat is out of the bag on which character is coming to Guilty Gear Strive Season Pass 3 next. There were some rumors and supposed leaks, but it turns out Elphelt is really coming back to the game. Arc System Works put on a special trailer at The Game Awards 2023 where not only did they reveal Elphelt for Guilty Gear Strive, but they announced she’s playable as of today. With her arrival comes a new balance update, as well as new moves for some of the characters in the game.

Arc System Works officially launched the trailer for Elphelt Valentine in Guilty Gear Strive during The Game Awards 2023 on December 7, 2023. Elphelt returns from her debut in Guilty Gear Xrd where she was a menace, featuring a wealth of firearms and weaponry to keep her opponents pressured in variety of scenarios. ArcSys has stated that she’ll have many of her mix-up tools intact, though we’ll likely see the full nature of her arsenal in a later Character Guide. Either way, it looks like her grenade and a few of her guns are coming back.

Elphelt was a meta shifter in Guilty Gear Xrd. Her grenade and its delayed explosion allowed her to keep opponents on guard or risk eating a tremendous combo, her shotgun let her break guards and rush in hard to bust up opponents, and her rifle let her circumvent opponent defenses while zoning them out at range. We’ll have to see if she’s as nasty in Strive as she was in Xrd, but she at least looks like she’s going to be fun. Meanwhile, characters like Potemkin got new moves to expand their own arsenals and make them even more versatile in the next patch.

With Elphelt Valentine out in Guilty Gear Strive today, she marks the second character of the Season Pass 3 DLC following Johnny. With two more characters planned for 2024, stay tuned for more Guilty Gear Strive news and updates as we await further details on what’s next for the game.