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General Tactics
Gotenks is a jack of all trades, but he particularly excels in pressure. While he is no slouch in neutral with whiff-cancelling special moves, ways around Ki Blasts with 214X, multi Ki Blasts, and a beam, he really wants to be up close and personal. He has several plus on block moves at his disposal, with the most prominent being 236H. Once he cracks his opponent open, whether it be with meter or assists, is when the real party starts. His notorious Ghost Oki is suffocating in the corner, as his opponent is forced to deal with it no matter what they do. If done correctly, Gotenks can ignore the soft knockdown RPS while regaining assists and momentum. New to Season 3.5 are high damage rejump combos, which fixes Gotenks' only real weakness: his lack of damage. His assists and overall strength lend him to work anywhere on a team, as he is able to maintain pressure solo as well as being able to regenerate assists.
Team positioning
Point
Gotenks has the mix-ups to contend with some of the best point characters. Assists help boost his damage, but he doesn't need them for pressure if he has meter. This means you can usually burn assists for more meter gain and damage in order to set up Ghost oki. Putting Gotenks point means you won't be getting much out of his amazing assists, but damage increase from assists is justification enough.
Mid
Gotenks is good with meter to burn. Because of 236H, he can take the trade of one less assist for more meter with no problem. Having more meter to play with also offsets the potential meter gain loss of not having assist extensions. This position also allows for your point character to take advantage of his assist. Being down one assist means his damage output will suffer a little, but his pressure is still among the best of any other mid.
Anchor
Solo Gotenks is not recommended but is definitely still playable. He can play without assists, but his pressure gets noticeably more linear and predictable. His staggers aren't the best as his only safe normals are 5L, 2L, 5LL, and 5S. Most of his combos will not be meter positive if started from Ghost oki or Level 3, which hurts his comeback ability in the long run. Having Limit Break means his rejump combos do far more damage, but it's not a good enough reason to play him solo. Only consider this if your other characters need his assists.
Picking Teammates
Gotenks has at least one assist that helps the entire cast. Assist A works well with characters like SSJ and Base Vegeta, as well as characters that need tracking assists for combos like Vegito. It's high blockstun and tracking helps it be a rare combo and blockstring assist. Assist B is better for characters like Bardock who push opponents out of the tracking range of Galactic Doughnut midscreen. Assist C is a beam, which will help pretty much anyone in the entire cast. Gotenks himself can use almost any assist. The main places for assists in blockstrings are after moves like 5LLL and 214X/236X. In terms of combos, any assist that easily enables a sliding knockdown from j.DR is helpful for him.
Blockstrings
- (5LL/2LL) > 2M > 5M > 5H > 214L/236L
Gotenks has a lot of options in his blockstrings. 5[H], 214S, 236M, and 236H are all plus on block, but 236H is the only one without a gap. Use them sparingly.
- ... > 236L
With 236L being -2, Gotenks can backdash out of pressure to safety. If your opponent presses something big, there's also a whiff punish opportunity with 2M. Take caution as 2M will not normally reach after a backdash. Combine this with an assist for easy mixups.
- ... > 236M
236M is plus, but it carries more risks. Against standing tall characters, all the hits will connect. On anyone else, standing or crouching, some of the hits at the top of the arc will whiff, leaving you vulnerable to 2H. It's a good trick to pull out every now and then, but not something to be relied on.
- 5L > 5LL > 5LLL > 66j.L/2M
With assists, Gotenks' autocombo becomes a mixup tool. It's not the ferocious mixup machine it once was, but it's still good when covered by Ghosts.
Gotenks mostly uses his 5L, 2L, and 5LL for stagger pressure. He can also use 5M and 2M, but those require more conditioning as they're punishable on block by most of the cast. You'll have to frame trap from them more often than not in order to get away with using them. In exchange for having poor mediums, Gotenks has several ways to reset pressure. 214S, while slow, is +5 on block and exceptional in the corner. 5[H] is also slow but it can be charged halfway as a fake, and is +1 on full charge. Lastly, 236H is fast and also plus on block while only costing a half bar and being gapless.
Okizeme
Ghost Oki
| Combo | Position | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| ... > j.LL2H > jc.LLL > land > backdash > 236H+S | Corner | More damage, but vanishable. |
| ... > j.LL2H > 7jc.H > land > 236H+S | Corner | Less damage, inescapable. |
Ghost Oki allows Gotenks to fight the knockdown system and continue pressure solo. After using 236H+S, the first ghost you want to let go is H ghost after an IAD j.H. Next, route into 5LLL and release L ghost. To cover the mixup, release M ghost after 5LLL. After the mixup is hit or blocked, you can use S ghost to either combo into air Dragon Rush or sustain pressure again while your assists come back.
You can also choose to use the ghosts meaty by using Negative Edge (in which you hold down button(s) during the super, and as soon as you are actionable, you release the button(s). The ghosts will release, but you will not do any inputs, allowing you to see what your opponent is doing and if they got hit by the ghosts), often done by using H+S during the superflash and then going right into it. You can then go into the solo 5LLL 50/50 with the M ghost.
Up to date (Season 3) Ghost Oki guide by THECOOLKID93 https://youtu.be/2Y61aI4h170
Tips and Tricks
Fighting Gotenks
- Watch what he does on oki. The non-jump back j.H route is escapable with vanish every time.
- Gotenks has a beam and Ki Blasts, but his air Ki Blast has relatively high recovery.
- All of Gotenks' plus frame options except for 214S can be backdashed out of midscreen. You don't have to let him be plus.