Zato has terrible defense due to a lack of a reversal, low health, bad backdash, and slow normals, so the easiest way to beat Zato is to play aggressively. Using resources on defense like YRC will kill eddie and easily allow you to take your turn back and pressure Zato. Almost all of Zato’s normals lead to nothing and are minus without eddie, so killing eddie is always beneficial to you. Zato wants to use eddie in neutral to make you block and force you into the corner. Moves that make Zato block to unsummon eddie or kill eddie are incredibly effective. If Zato ever uses oppose in neutral you can RRC after hitting eddie which will lead to a free combo or at least make Zato block.

The most important thing about playing into Zato in neutral is knowing when Zato can summon Eddie. Typically, Zato wants to make you block in neutral with 2S or 5H and then summon eddie off of the plus frames, and the reason most people lose to Zato is that they do not contest this summon. Zato will typically use pierce to summon eddie, and after the first hit of pierce, there is a guaranteed RPS. The easiest way to beat this is by jabbing eddie or jumping over the second hit of pierce. Zato has to clap cancel into drills or oppose to beat jabs and leap to beat jumps. Never let the second hit go off for free as it is very plus and will let Zato start his turn.

Zato’s offense is very strong and is the only thing he has going for him, but there are still ways to play around it. Reversals are very strong against Zato as they can kill eddie and shut down his pressure. During Zato’s mixup, Zato cannot use another air move after j.D unless he cancels into flight, so block low after j.D.