The most important factor on using moves on neutral is whether they're safe or punishable. There are two ways in which a move can be safe or unsafe: on shield and on whiff.
Most safe moves are safe due to their endlag being cancelled. In these cases, the options after the move are limited to what it cancels into. Moves can cancel into:
Dash - the safest cancel, as the character has the mixup to dash forward or back
Jump - has good mixups, as it can be canceled into a dash forward or an aerial, with various timings, or not be canceled
Another move - moves can be linked together in blockstrings until the character hits with an actual safe move, but not every string is safe on shield, as some leave enough time between hits for punishes
Ghost Step Cancels
Moves that are not safe, such as projectiles, can be canceled into ghost step on reaction when the opponent doesn't get hit and is in position to punish. For this reason, it is more viable to use riskier options when you have resources to ghost step, especially if you have more resources than the opponent.
There are various ways to move around in this game, each with different safety, speed and utility.
Running as Movement
Most important movement option, as there is no commitment involved and no resources spent. Dashing back and forth, known as dash dancing, is one of the most common ways to bait an option from the opponent, which can easily be punished. Dash dancing is also a great approach option when mixed with grabs, safe moves and dash reads.
Jumping as Movement
Jumps are specially useful for characters with good aerials, as it is extremely versatile in moving and spacing. Jumps can be cancelled into air dash, aerial normal, aerial special, aerial super or double jump. Air dash and double jump can only be canceled into aerials, so the latter is not as good of a mixup as the first jump.
Jump is also an important option in platform stages, being the main mean of vertical movement for most characters. After reaching the height of the platform, you can cancel your jump to land more safely.
Dashing as Movement
Dashes are generally the fastest movement option, used to quickly close distance and to dodge attacks such as projectiles, and to cancel moves. It is invulnerable while moving, but has endlag, making it punishable on read.
Safe moves as Movement
A lot of characters have moves that are particularly useful for movement, such as dashes with hitboxes. These can be very strong tools, especially when they are combo starters, but even safe moves can be punished by projectiles or bigger hitboxes, for example, so they shouldn't be overused.
Resource management is the single factor that determines the outcome of most interactions.
There are three resources you have to consider at all times:
Assist - the simplest of the three, since it is isolated from the other two. The assist gauge is only usable when full, so you only have to consider whether the assist is available or not.
At the beggining of a match, meter is not available right away. For this reason, assists frequently determine the flow of round one, and should be used cautiously as to not waste them, but not so much that you let the opponent get meter before you use your assist. You should also be even more aware of the opponent's assist than in the rest of the game, as they can be devastating if they hit.
There are many ways in which assists can influence interactions, so the counterplay depends on the type of assists that are being used. However, in general, it's helpful to play safer when the opponent has their assist on deck and to look for setups when you have your assist fully charged.
Another thing worth noting is how the charging time of assists can influence the pacing of the game. In matchups that depend heavily on assists, it is a good strategy to play a more defensive or even campy game while the assist gauge charges, and on the other hand, if your opponent is dependant on the assist, you should pressure them harder while their charges.
Meter - the meter gauge works similarly to most fighting games, charging in most interactions and being spent on supers. It is prevalent in macrointeractions and its most distinct aspect is the possibilities it opens with ghost steps and combo breakers.
As combo breakers are the last resort to avoid big damage, it is unwise to have less than one bar of meter charged. The extra damage from finishing combos with supers is hardly ever as important as the possibility to avoid taking an entire combo, so using supers is more of a better idea when you have at least two bars.
It is almost always preferrable to use a ghost step before getting hit than having to use a combo breaker, as it spends much less meter and stamina and frequently puts you on a better position to punish the opponent. In many situations where the hitbox is too big to dodge with a ghost step, ghost jumping is a good alternative.
One of the main benefits of having spammable safe moves is that most moves charge a bit of meter even on whiff. Because of this, a lot of characters benefit from moving around throwing pressure hitboxes, to either hit, charge meter on whiff or hit a shield, which are all good outcomes when using the right moves at the right time.
Stamina - perhaps the most complex resource in the game, it is prevalent in microinteractions and generally spent on quick decisions and reactions. The stamina gauge comes and goes quickly, and learning how to never run out of it while in need is a pillar of this game's defense.
The one option that consumes the most stamina in the majority of interactions is ghost stepping. This occurs because the easiest and most guaranteed answer to a ghost step is to also ghost step. However, if both players have full (or almost full) stamina and ghost step, the second player to do it is in a much better spot for pressure: if the first player ghost steps again, the second can do the same and keep the edge; if the first player dashes, the second player can try to punish it as the first player will have zero stamina left; if the first player tries to attack, the second can avoid and punish it in the appropriate way. So the interaction turns into a rock-paper-scissors scenario where the second player to ghost step has way stronger options.
Combo breakers, specially substitutions, are also something to keep in mind. If a character doesn't have full stamina and does a substitution, they will be left with no stamina, unable to dash and shield, in an extremely vulnerable state. To abuse this, the attacker can cancel their move on reaction into a ghost step and proceed to pressure the opponent. Even if the character does have full stamina before the substitution, they will be left with zero stamina, which only gives them access to one more action that requires stamina, so the same proccess can be executed.
Shielding is also important to be mindful about. Sometimes it's better to ghost step away after getting hit on shield than to take a full blockstring, as some setups can even instantly break a full shield. Shielding is generally not a very strong option in this game, but it's still extremely important in various situations, so it's good to know your out of shield options and when to use them.
For these reasons it is important to be mindful of stamina consumption when dashing. In most scenarios it is not advisable to use multiple dashes in succession, with two dashes generally being enough, if even necessary.
Zoning tools are generally not spammable, due to strong zone-breaking options.
Zoning in BvN consists mainly of three aspects:
Disjoints - usally are the most spammable form of zoning, as many big disjointed moves are relatively safe. The best zoning disjoints are jump canceled aerials, as they allow for movement while the hitbox is out, making it possible to microspace, react to options or simply retreat after whiffing or hitting a shield, but not many characters have big aerials. Grounded disjointed attacks can also be good zoning tools, especially if they have low startup and endlag, as slower moves are reactable and much more punishable.
Projectiles - most of these are moves with longer durations. This means they're easily punishable by zone-breaking tools and are more useful as setups and for coverage than as actual zoning tools. A few characters also have aerial projectiles, which are generally safer.
Lock-Ons - some of these are jump or even dash cancellable, which makes them much safer than most projectiles. The others, however, tend to be laggier than projectiles and leave the character wide open if the opponent dodges them, making them subpar for zoning.
Zone-Breaking
What makes zoning so dangerous to use in neutral is the variety of zone-breaking options available in the game. A big portion of the assists are helpful versus zoning, particularly the faster ones that specialize in whiff punishing. Many characters have options in their moveset not to depend on assits though, and these are the main types of such tools:
Armor - one of the best ways to deal with safe disjoints is by armoring through the hitboxes. Against faster move this might have to be done on read, but on slow moves it can be done on reaction.
Disjoints - hitboxes can beat out projectiles, and disjointed moves excel at that, as they allow the character to cancel the projectiles and even hit the opponent without getting hit.
Lock-Ons and Teleports - both of these work similarly and can be used to punish laggy moves that make the opponent stand still, but each excels in different situations: lock-ons are great to punish hitboxes that cover the opponent and teleports let you dodge attacks while dodging moves such as projectiles or big disjoints.
Knockdowns are generally the end of combo strings, but it's possible to keep up the pressure.
Combo finshers and most projectiles, besides many other moves, do knockdowns. While a character is in knockdown animation, they are invulnerable until they getup. Getups have invulnerability all the way until the character can move, which means you can dash or use other frame 1 options right as you getup.
Okizeme
Because of the frame 1 invulnerability on dashes, okizeme are not too prevalent for most characters. There are some good coverage setups, specially with assists, which some characters can benefit a lot from, but generally the best option is to go for a read on whether the opponent will dash forward, dash back, shield or attack.
Intentionally dropping combos can sometimes lead to even more damage and waste of enemy resources.
Juggling in BvN is the act of punishing an airborne opponent before they land. The main factor that makes juggling viable is the much more limited array of movement options that characters have in the air, specially that they cannot dash back, just forward, and can only dash once. Not using a guaranteed follow-up when the opponent is in hitstun in the air can sometimes create scnearios where there's enough time to punish air dashes, which are the most common escape option for the majority of characters. This creates a 50-50 of covering the dash or the position they're in, but that can be heavily skewed in the juggler's favor by using big hitboxes, quick and safe moves or assists to try and cover both landing options, thus starting a fresh combo.
It's also possible, although much harder and less common, to reset combos on grounded opponents, which is done on dash cancels or moves with low endlag. If you read that your opponent is trying to dash away from you and you have a dash cancellable move, you can try to guess to which direction they'll dash and go there before them, giving you enough time to cover their dash. If you read that your opponent is trying to shield (or doing nothing) during your combo, you can drop your combo after hitting a move with low endlag and go straight for a grab or safe shield pressure. If you read they're trying to attack, you can drop the combo with a dash cancel and deal with their move in the best possible way, which will depend on the situation, but this is the hardest way to reset, as there are way too many options to account for.
The corner is a volatile position, where some setups work great and some don't work at all.
The corner in fighting games is traditionally a bad spot to be in, as not having space to fade back to can greatly limit a characters' options. However, with frame 1 invunerability on dashes, this is not such an impactful position in BvN, as it is not quite hard to escape. To top this off, some hitboxes, mainly supers and teleports, don't really work properly in the corner, as they either hit past the wall, lock on to the wrong place or their knockback doesn't work properly.
With some characters and supports, however, strong corner traps are possible, especially as okizeme, since now they only have one place to dash to, drastically hindering their mixups. In these setups, sometimes the only option left is to ghost jump, which is very punishable.
Platform are the trickiest aspect of movement, as there aren't many options to traverse vertically and they are overall much less safe.
Since there's no jump height variations, the easiest univeral way to move up a platform is through cancelling your jump with a dash or aerial above the height of the platform.
To go down a platform, characters with good aerials have mixups with aerials and dash, moving left and right and timing. The hard part of getting down from platforms is avoiding anti airs, as many characters have huge and quick anti air hitboxes.
Some characters have vertical moves that can help them get up or down a platform. Those are generally quicker alternatives, which makes them harder to react to and, in some cases, safer.
Some characters have moves that are great for sharking from under or above platforms, which can be heavily abused in stages with high platforms, since they're harder to go up to and down from.
Assists can be impactful in a myriad of ways.
The assist bar is useful in different scenarios depending on the chosen assist, but the one trait that they all have in common is their prevalence in the beggining of the match. Since there's no meter available at the beginning of the match, it is impossible to combo break or ghost step, meaning a hit from an assist, specially combo starters, can heavily influence, or even determine the outcome of round one. Assists are helpful all throughout the game though, as explored in Resource Management, and there are a few archetypes most of them fit into.
Assists that don't start combos, but instead quickly get the game back in your favor.
Get Off Me - assists that generate a quick and massive hitbox, meant to hit the foe away from pressuring you and reset into a good position. Useful out of shield, out of setups, versus projectiles, on teleport reads and on approach reads in general.
Whiff Punish Knockdown - assists that quickly lock on to the opponent wherever they are and attack, meant to punish moves that your character wouldn't be able to deal with otherwise, such as projectiles. Useful versus zoning and camping and some setups.
Damage Dealing - generally slower assists, that do massive damage when hit. Usefull in setups or reads on laggy moves.
Assists that don't do that much damage and don't knockdown, but let you combo off of them.
Setups - slow assists that synergize with specific moves, such as non knockdown lock-ons or shield breakers. Useful in tandem with said moves or to punish very slow whiffed moves.
Whiff Punish Combo - quick assists that lock on to the opponent and can start combos from anywhere on the screen. Better than their knockdown cousins in situations where it's easy to follow up from their hits, such as with teleports to punish projectiles or when the opponent is not too far away and doesn't have any hitbox to block your advance.
Meaties and Okizeme - supports with big and very active hitboxes, generally shield breakers, that are meant to cover space in reads and setups. Useful to cover dashes or approaches and to setup okizeme.
Combo Extensions - assists that excel not in starting, but in extending combos. Useful mid-combos, generally after loops, for additional damage.
Status Assists
Assists with generally underwhelming or no hitboxes, that have secondary effects.
Buffs - Can improve damage output, reduce damage taken or increase speed.
Heals - Recovers some HP, either all at once or over time.
Since most neutral options are relatively safe, coverage frequently needs to be done on read.
Punishing dashes
The main toos for punishing dashes are shield breakers, projectiles and safe moves. Shield breakers are hard risk high reward and projectiles are lower risk and low reward. Safe moves are the most spammable dash coverage tool, but they don't guarantee as much of a rewards as the other two, as they're easier to avoid and let the opponent combo break if necessary.
Punishing safe moves
There are two main ways of dealing with safe moves. Moves with bigger range, such as projectiles or big disjoints, can easily punish safe hitboxes which aren't too big. Moves with armor can be a great counter to safe hitboxes too, as they can go through them to punish.
Dealing with Ghost Steps
As explored in Resource Management, one of the best answers to ghost step is itself. That is the case because ghost steps usually come as a reaction for a move that would hit, which means, if the opponent ghost steps, you are very likely in lag from an attack. However, this brings in a case of rock-paper-scissors, with them having the following options:
Ghost step and punish you - counterplay: ghost step and punish them - worst case scenario: you take the punish and combo break, being at a small resource deficit in the interaction
Ghost step and wait - counterplay: don't ghost step - worst case scenario: you ghost step and both players have no lag, meaning it's a neutral scramble situation
Ghost step and escape - counterplay: ghost step if necessary, cover their escape option - worst case scenario: no punish, neutral is reset
In these three cases, a win in the RPS results in you getting a combo or a big resource advantage, while a lose in the RPS results in a reset to neutral or a small resource deficit while not directly losing the interaction. In other words, having the opponent ghost step first is a very good position to be in, but it doesn't guarantee a punish.