GGML/Potemkin

From Dustloop Wiki

Overview

Potemkin is god awful. Just look at the images and say "it sucks" to yourself for almost every single thing here and you have Potemkin. Potemkin's normals are horribly slow, he can't dash, he can't infinite despite having a charge, said charge is also sluggish, he lacks any future moves such as F.D.B or Hammerfall to assist him in approaching zoners or pressuring, he's gigantic, and he has twelve frames of prejump (jump startup) which renders him glued to the ground and thus susceptible to all kinds of malarkey in this game such as the near-universal CC infinites.

None of Potemkin's strengths are real. High damage normals don't matter due to the abundance of infinites in this game. Potemkin Buster has good range and comes out instantly, but the opponent can tech immediately after being hit thus rendering any follow-up pressure impossible. Even then, this begs the question of "how did Potemkin get close and grab someone in the first place?". The most practical place to use Buster is defensively, which is splendid since Potemkin will either be opened up instantly or alternatively get zoned all day rendering the strength moot. His super is an almost fullscreen megapunch that's air unblockable, a rare trait in GGML, but he'll never get to use it any way so who cares?

Don't play him. You won't have fun, and you certainly won't win.
Potemkin
GGML Potemkin Portrait.png
Defense
180%Raw Value: 18
Jump Startup
12f
Backdash
22f
Meter Gain Mod
50%Raw Value: 5
Charge Time
80f
Forward Walk Speed
60%Raw Value: 460
Backward Walk Speed
44%Raw Value: 256
Dizzy Resistance
120%Raw Value: 36
Fastest Attack
2HGGML Potemkin 2H.pngGuardAllStartup6Recovery6Advantage-27 (6F)
Potemkin BusterGGML Potemkin potBuster.pngGuardThrowStartup1RecoveryN/AAdvantageN/A (1F)
Reversals
Potemkin BusterGGML Potemkin potBuster.pngGuardThrowStartup1RecoveryN/AAdvantageN/A (1F)

 Potemkin gets on his hands and knees and prays that his opponent will run at him so he can buster for 35 damage.

Pros
Cons
  • Can't Be Pressured Up Close: Has genuinely solid guard cancel options, with Buster acting as an instant reversal and Mega Fist evading most attacks.
  • FMF: Forward Mega Fist is downright busted and on any other character would probably be unfair. It high profiles frame 1, has an absurd disjoint, covers a decent distance, and unlike future iterations, is plus on hit and sometimes block. FMF alone makes many otherwise impossible MUs playable and it's a legit strategy to spam it.
  • Can't Infinite: While he can charge, an inability to dash makes performing infinites impossible.
  • Can't Approach: Potemkin has horribly slow movement, jump startup, and frame data. Additionally Pot lacks the tools to approach in Missing Link. He doesn't have Hammerfall or Flick and Slidehead is techable. Mega Fist is plus and big but doesn't go far enough to be reliable.
  • Can't Harness His Strengths: Potemkin's best moves are held back by the fact that he can't get in to apply them. Potemkin Buster may be amazing, but using it depends on the opponent willingly entering his effective range, because he has no good way to get into range on his own terms.
  • Can't Reasonably Charge: It takes Potemkin a woefully long 80 frames to increase the level of Graviton Stamp, which makes them very impractical to access. Level 3 Graviton Stamp may be the best version of the move by far, but you'll never realistically ever get the charge needed to use it, so it doesn't matter.
  • Can't Keep Up Pressure: Pot Buster does not lead to continued pressure thanks to all knockdowns being techable.
  • Can't Quickly Build Meter: Potemkin is tied for second worst meter gain in the game which means he will likely only be able to access his super while in Desperation state.
  • Can't.
Note: Potemkin is tied with  Justice for highest defense in the game at 18. This would be awesome, except he's super immobile and people are going to infinite you if they get in anyways.

Unique Mechanics

Desperation Chip
When Potemkin is below half health and has a full Chaos meter, his H normals deal a small amount of chip damage.

Normals

How to Read Frame Data
Damage
A quantification of how a character's health bar is reduced when they are hit.
Guard
The act of defending against incoming attacks. Guarding either negates the damage from an attack entirely or reduces it to minor chip damage.
Low
Guarded against while crouching
Mid
Guarded against in either the crouching or standing state, but not while airborne
High
Guarded against in the standing state
All
Guarded against while crouching, standing, or while airborne
Throw
Cannot be guarded against, but only applies to grounded opponents
Unblockable
Cannot be guarded against
Startup
The time before an attack is active including the first active frame. For example, an attack with 10F startup means the attack will do nothing for 9 frames, then hit the opponent on the 10th frame.
Active
The active frames of an attack refers to the amount of time an attack can hit the opponent.
Recovery
The recovery of an attack refers to the amount of time an attacker must wait before they may perform another action, even blocking.
On-Block
A measure of frame advantage when the opponent blocks an attack. Positive values indicate that the attacker can act first. Negative values indicate that the defender can act first.
On-Hit
A measure of frame advantage when the opponent is hit by an attack. Positive values indicate that the attacker can act first. Negative values indicate that the defender can act first.
Invuln
Short for InvulnerabilityA state where a character cannot be hit. A common component of reversal moves.

5P

5P
Damage Guard Startup Active Recovery On-Block On-Hit Invuln
7 All 10 4 16 -12 -5 none

Horrible jab. 10 frames of startup and ridiculously unsafe on block, requiring a gatling or special cancel to prevent your imminent and violent death. You won't be getting any pressure even with a CC either thanks to Potemkin's inability to dash. The range at least isn't awful, but why would you ever use this over 2S if you want to poke? Or just at all?

Gatling Options: 5P, 2P, 6P, 5K, 2K, c.S, f.S, 2S, 5H, 2H

5K

5K
Damage Guard Startup Active Recovery On-Block On-Hit Invuln
5 Low 14 6 16 -12 -1 none

Low kick. Even more horrible than 5P. The startup is even worse, and the rest of 5K's epic frame data doesn't do it any favors either. Potemkin can't let almost any of his normals rock on block or hit in fear of death, and that's no exception here.

  • Air Unblockable for no reason
Gatling Options: 5P, 2P, 6P, 5K, 2K, c.S, f.S, 2S, 5H, 2H

c.S

c.S
Damage Guard Startup Active Recovery On-Block On-Hit Invuln
15 All 12 15 0 +1 +12 none

This button is a sin, and not in a good way. The first hitbox is a tiny box behind him on frame 12, and then it does not hit in front of him until frame 18. Only use is it's total lack of recovery, making it useful for Pot Busters.

  • Check out those hitboxes. You waited 18 frames for that.
Gatling Options: f.S, 2S, 5H, 2H

f.S

f.S
Damage Guard Startup Active Recovery On-Block On-Hit Invuln
16 All 12 12 17 -18 -8 none

Outclassed by 2S in every way. Not sure why you'd use this, outside of maybe going for a silly anti-air with the first hitbox.

Gatling Options: None

5H

5H
Damage Guard Startup Active Recovery On-Block On-Hit Invuln
29 All 22 14 7 -11 +6 none

Huge, high damage normal. Unfortunately it's incredibly slow to start up, albeit with plenty of active frames and not too much recovery. The hurtbox extends before the hitbox is active, making it very vulnerable to being counterpoked even if the opponent isn't really trying to. This results in it not being very useful to hit opponents out of attempts at zoning and it can fail to control neutral space in general due to this. 2S is generally better, but only by a bit.

This'd be the only good option to utilize Potemkin's unique HS normal chip damage mechanic, but even if you somehow manage to stay at full meter for a long time, all the previous notes on why it's still a mediocre at best normal anywhere you could put it still apply and stifle this heavily.

  • When Potemkin is below 50% HP and has Max meter, this normal deals chip damage.
Gatling Options: 2H

Fierce Strike

6P
Damage Guard Startup Active Recovery On-Block On-Hit Invuln
9x2 All 12 6,6 13 -11 -4 none

If you're from +R, you probably saw the image and said "hell yeah I have an overhead again!"

  • Not an overhead, despite the animation

Unhelpful move in general. Mostly exclusively comes out as a Potemkin Buster misinput, though if someone's out of range for PB and you guard cancel into it anyways, you'll get a whiffed 6P instead. This is bad, so opt to option select with Instant Kill (632146P+K) to catch jumps and make sure you don't whiff this embarrassingly. Not a useful poke or anti-air, press 2H.

Gatling Options: 5K, 2K, c.S, f.S, 2S, 5H, 2H

2P

2P
Damage Guard Startup Active Recovery On-Block On-Hit Invuln
7 All 9 6 14 -12 -5 none

Strictly better than 5P thanks to its superior startup and better range. Has a bit of a harder time hitting airborne opponents which only really matters if you want to try to swat people down into pressure after a Pot Buster.

Gatling Options: 5P, 2P, 6P, 5K, 2K, c.S, f.S, 2S, 5H, 2H

2K

2K
Damage Guard Startup Active Recovery On-Block On-Hit Invuln
12 Low 15 6 18 -15 -14 none
  • Air Unblockable

Potemkin's classic 2D, but instead of extending forward and then retracting over the course of the animation, he leans backwards to give it actively offensive range. It, through divine confluence, manages to be shorter than 5K somehow. We live in a blessed world.

Also hilariously slow, and while it does give a knockdown, it's instantly techable so you're not getting any pressure after it. Generally outclassed by 2S in every way. Against  NoTechstament, however, 2K can be used for an infinite OTG combo. This is because because Testament cannot tech OTG hits in this state.

Gatling Options: c.S, f.S, 2S, 5H, 2H

2S

2S
Damage Guard Startup Active Recovery On-Block On-Hit Invuln
16 Low 10 19 0 -10 +1 none

Pot's best poke thanks to its large hitbox and decent speed compared to his other big normals. Like most of his normals, it's not disjointed, so it is susceptible to whiff punishes. It's also really important in combos, since most of Pot's combos are usually something like: Starter > 2S > CC, 2S > CC.

It's also actually a low, so you get to skip any reason to ever press 5K and 2K, which is always a plus.

  • Your only actually usable normal
  • Unlike +R, does not vacuumTo pull the opponent towards the attacker, usually on hit or on block. the opponent.
  • Technically active for every frame past startup, giving it 0 recovery frames.
Gatling Options: 2H

2H

2H
Damage Guard Startup Active Recovery On-Block On-Hit Invuln
25 All 6 8(2)10(6)5 6 -27 -8 none

Big and fast anti-air. Good at sniping at aerial opponents, although more often than not it'll clash rather than beating anything. Unfortunately is lacking in any horizontal reach, isn't air unblockable, and launches the opponent high and away, making it unrewarding outside of the decent damage. It's also Potemkin's fastest button at 6F, so you'll need to use this sometimes for abare, although generally Pot Buster and Mega Fist are better for this.

  • When Potemkin is below 50% HP and has Max meter, this normal deals chip damage.
Gatling Options: None

j.P

j.P
Damage Guard Startup Active Recovery On-Block On-Hit Invuln
7 Overhead 10 5 11 none

Would be a decent air-to-air but it's slow. Somehow still tied for his fastest air normal.

Gatling Options: j.P, j.K, j.S, j.H

j.K

j.K
Damage Guard Startup Active Recovery On-Block On-Hit Invuln
5 Overhead 10 10 5 none

Tied for his fastest air normal. Has more active frames than j.P but a worse hitbox.

Gatling Options: j.P, j.S, j.H

j.S

j.S
Damage Guard Startup Active Recovery On-Block On-Hit Invuln
16 Overhead 12 27 6 none

Potemkin's best air normal. Barely slower than j.P and j.K and due to Pot swinging it over his head, the hitbox covers angles above, in front, and below him. It's also incredibly active. On top of that it's slightly disjointed.

This normal is a must use in many matchups to stop the opponent from just air stalling and also to jump in, although jumping with Pot is always a big risk since he has no ways to change his air momentum.

Gatling Options: j.H

j.H

j.H
Damage Guard Startup Active Recovery On-Block On-Hit Invuln
21 Overhead 11 16 11 none

Potemkin's grappler body splash. Has a decent hitbox and is one of the few normals in this game that crosses up consistently, although Potemkin has no ways to set that up. Besides that it's outclassed by j.S in every way.

  • When Potemkin is below 50% HP and has Max meter, this normal deals chip damage.
Gatling Options: None

Universal Mechanics

Dust Attack

S+H
Damage Guard Startup Active Recovery On-Block On-Hit Invuln
20 Mid 18 4(2)12 19 -29 +64 none

Painfully slow mid. Potemkin can combo into this by CCing a c.S or 5H, however every single option he has for a dust combo are terrible and usually very minus on hit. In the event a Dust launch occurs either from Velocity Dust or you mistakenly misinputting this normal, you should remain grounded and take the time to charge up Graviton Stamp instead.

  • Whiffs on half the cast crouching.  Potemkin,  Axl,  May,  Testament and  Justice can be hit while neutral crouching. Also whiffs on standing  Kliff seemingly randomly.
  • Connects during crouching hitstun on  Ky and  Baiken.

Throw

6H or 4H
Damage Guard Startup Active Recovery On-Block On-Hit Invuln
25 Throw 1 N/A N/A N/A -14 none
Potemkin's classic throw where he tosses the opponent behind himself. Good at making space from the opponent, which is the worst possible thing Potemkin could do in this game. The potential sideswitch is worse than useless as it's techable and leaves Potemkin notably minus on hit.

Instant Kill

Nuclear Hammer

P+K > 236X
Damage Guard Startup Active Recovery On-Block On-Hit Invuln
FATAL Mid 12 13 23 N/A N/A Above Ankles All

On the worse end for IKs but not the absolute worst. It has good invuln for the entire duration and the hitbox is decent for anti-airs but annoyingly small for anything else. It's also just slow so good luck landing it against a zoning opponent.

Much lamer than Magnum Opera or Infernal Tour.

Specials

Potemkin Buster

632146P
Damage Guard Startup Active Recovery On-Block On-Hit Invuln
32 Throw 1 N/A N/A N/A +8 none

The best command grab in the game, on a character who can only apply it on defense.

GGML Pot buster is a bit weird. The damage isn't great, and getting in close to apply it on offense thanks to the missing tools from his kit. The thing is, it's one of the best defensive tools in the game. It can be used as a guard cancel to instantly grip an opponent who is grounded within PB range out of their block string. Even without guard cancel, its 1 frame startup and inability to whiff makes this command grab incredibly annoying when Potemkin is defending.

Pot Buster can be option selected with Instant Kill to cover against opponents attempting to fuzzy jump against him.

Because it's +8 with the opponent in his face even on a perfect tech, it can actually lead to continued pressure by forcing the opponent to block a 5P or 2S string. This in turn can lead to tick throw pressure, but this all assumes the opponent won't guard cancel or chicken block.

This move would be absurd on any other character, but instead it's on Potemkin.

  • Does not have a whiff animation.
  • Only comes out when within range and the opponent is throwable.
  • Potemkin is +8 against perfect tech on hit, "knocks down" without tech.

Nitro Hook

41236P
Damage Guard Startup Active Recovery On-Block On-Hit Invuln
31 Throw 17 22 0 N/A +2 none

A forwards advancing command-grab that does a low wall-bounce on hit.

This move is mostly redundant because Potemkin Buster fills its role better, but it is one of the few ways to reasonably get a knockdown. It's by no means a guaranteed knockdown, because the opponent can avoid getting knocked down by teching within 2f of hitstop ending, and they can buffer the tech input during hitstop, but it can catch opponents and get his pressure started.

Can reasonably be routed into from any button stronger than P that doesn't launch, however it entirely arbitrarily whiffs on crouching opponents in hitstun, giving Potemkin yet another combo tool that fails to work on anyone who's crouching.

Has 0 recovery on whiff, meaning it's a legit strat to immediately IK if the opponent tries to jump it.

Invincible on guard cancel for some reason but it's much easier to avoid than his other options.

Mega Fist

236P or 214P
Version Damage Guard Startup Active Recovery On-Block On-Hit Invuln
Mega Fist Forward 18 Overhead 20 15 0 +8 0 High Profile All
Mega Fist Backward 18 Overhead 19 15 0 -5 0 High Profile All

One of Potemkin's few good moves in this game and an incredible move in general. It high profiles from frame 1, goes a decent distance, is heavily disjointed, and leads to combos on crouching hit. Unfortunately it doesn't go far enough to rectify Potemkin's speed issues, but that shouldn't stop you from spamming it. Don't bother with Backward in this game.

Mega Fist Forward is Pot's best neutral tool by far. It's incredibly hard to actually hit Pot out of it without getting hit yourself, and even when you do it's an airborne hit, meaning the reward is miniscule. If that weren't enough, it's plus at most ranges and even when it isn't, the threat of Pot Buster makes it difficult to challenge even in the best of scenarios. There's almost no time where using FMF is a bad idea.

Graviton Stamp

623P
Version Damage Guard Startup Active Recovery On-Block On-Hit Invuln
Graviton Stamp 9 All,Unblockable 27 10 21 N/A -18 Low Profile 27~41F
Graviton Stamp Level 2 27,6x2 All,Unblockable 27 29 26 N/A -43 Low Profile 27~70F
Graviton Stamp Level 3 47,17x3 All,Unblockable 27 29 26 N/A -43 Low Profile 27~70F

Unblockable belly-flop whose launch is immediately techable.

It's Slide Head. Yes the move list calls it Graviton Stamp, but in the code it's Slide Head, and everybody knows it's Slide Head. The first hit (belly-flop portion) of the attack is a true blockstring into the unblockable shockwave.

It's massively disadvantaged on hit due to teching, and is very easily avoidable. GGML is already a very jumpy game, so having a move that only really impacts the ground is just making yourself a sitting duck ready to be blasted. Then again, you picked Potemkin, you probably already wanted to lose.

On the occasions where the opponent misses the tech window, which does come up especially against characters with small tech windows, it gives one of the longest knockdowns in the game which allows Pot to get in and actually start some oki. This at least makes it worth using from time to time.


Level 2, in addition to it's usual behavior, fires a projectile similar to  Sol's Gun FlameGGML Sol Badguy Gunflame.pngGuardMidStartup9Recovery31Advantage-17. Level 2 Slide Head can be punished in the same way as Level 1—tech > airdash forwards > air normal > combo.


Level 3 fires an enormous projectile. Accessing this level of Slide Head can be incredibly difficult, bordering on impractical due to Potemkin's abysmal charge time. The blessing of Level 3 is that the projectile is so enormous that it shields Potemkin from harm during his recovery frames.

Slam

6K
Damage Guard Startup Active Recovery On-Block On-Hit Invuln
20 Throw 1 N/A N/A -7 4F Full Invuln at the end

Can be teched and because of his awful movement, Potemkin isn't very good at tech chasing.

So, this is a fun move within the context of gear Historically. In ML, characters have 1 throw that is on both 4H and 6H. In later games, characters could pick between backwards throw (4H) and forwards throw (6H). Potemkin, our resident grappler, was ahead of the time on that concept. 4H and 6H both still give back throw, but this move acts as his forwards throw and thus gives him the choice that would later go on to be standard.

  • Works like a normal gear proximity throw, so it does not have a whiff animation and only comes out when within range

Supers

Gigantic Piston

632146H
Damage Guard Startup Active Recovery On-Block On-Hit Invuln
45,14x5 Mid 26 6(2)30 21 -6 -9 none

Super is Potemkin's main way to counter zoning, except it doesn't consistently work against the best zoning tools.

Due to Potemkin's abysmal meter gain and generally poor ability to land hits, the main way Potemkin will access this move is by entering desperation state from taking a beating. Once Potemkin has reached this 50% health threshold, he will have access to this whenever he could act.

This move goes almost full screen, does good damage, and is air unblockable. Unfortunately it has long startup, isn't disjointed, and can be whiff punished by IKs.

It will destroy projectiles that are of equal or lower level compared to itself. This makes it a way to bypass zoning from moves like  Millia's Hungry BeeGGML Millia Rage 236S-lv1.pngGuardAllStartup30RecoveryAdvantage- and  Ky's Stun EdgeGGML Ky Kiske 236 S H lv1.pngGuardAllStartup15Recovery26Advantage-4, but it will still lose to stronger projectiles like  Millia's Super. Depending on timing and spacing it might either trade with, beat, or fail to reach  Justice's Imperial RayGGML Justice 641236S.pngGuardAllStartup3Recovery0AdvantageVaries.

Colors

Navigation

To edit frame data, edit values in GGML/Potemkin/Data.
Systems Pages