Potemkin
This page covers advanced topics which require competitive expertise to confirm.Content here can be considered incomplete until expertise is given.
This page is missing significant information.You can help by editing it.
General Tactics
Defense
Good defense is Potemkin's most reliable asset. Damage and fear comes naturally, but bad defense can't be made up for. Learn to Instant Block and Slashback, and use these tools as often as you can. Learn blockstrings for other characters and figure out their weak points where you can Instant Block or Slashback > Potemkin Buster to turn the tables on their pressure. Don't forget about Faultless Defense, either. Sometimes FD will get you out of a situation that IB won't.
Potemkin is huge, and he has huge Guts, but don't delude yourself into thinking this makes you safe. If you play smart and avoid putting yourself in bad situations, you can stay on top of the match and open up more opportunities to unleash your ridiculous damage potential.
Movement
Potemkin is slow, but don't let that scare you from moving forward. It builds tension, keeps your opponent in range of your normals, and it's just plain scary. If you get a Slide Head at long range, walking forward can build more tension than Hammerfall, though obviously it won't get you as close. If you go to the air, avoid Super Jumping. Regular jumps get you about as far forward, and you can hold on to your double jump to avoid attacks or adjust to your opponent's positioning.
Mixup
Any normal HFB'd (outside 5D)into an RPS between a pressure extension, heat, or buster serves as Potemkin's main way of forcing mixes. Keep in mind that all of pot's normals outside 2S, and H normals are minus after instant HFB on block, meaning they are naturally weak to abare. However, you can beat preemptive abare by going into hammerfall instead of canceling it.
Always Be Charging
Potemkin's ABCs, Always Be Charging. This means to always be holding back so Hammerfall is prepared. This is incredibly important, as it turns Potemkin from a basic grappler into, well, Potemkin. Without this, you are losing out on massive amounts of damage and your pressure is significantly weaker.
- Any neutral input should be input along with a back input. For example, 5P becomes 4P, and 2K becomes 1K.
- Hold back while doing ANYTHING that does not require you to be holding forward, such as during a Potemkin Buster animation, or after Slide Head.
- If you hold back immediately after inputting a 6H or 6K, you'll have Hammer Fall charged in time to cancel into it which combos at close range.
Blockstrings
Potemkin's blockstrings are mostly short, due to his normals pushing out the opponent rather fast along with not having a run. This is all fine however, as Potemkin is rather quick to the mixup and doesn't lose anything for this. Your goal is to frametrap, catch jumpouts, and instill fear in the opponent as much as possible so they'll get bustered. Remember, it's the fear of Potemkin Buster that truly makes it so powerful, not the grab alone. Don't get greedy and attempt the grab every time.
Okizeme
Potemkin's okizeme is one of his best strongsuits, his options on knockdown may not be as many as other characters, but what he lacks in relative quantity, he makes up in quality. Potemkins okizeme fluctuates between safejumps, 5K, 6K, raw buster, and tick throw setups for buster with mostly 5P.
j.S is the preferred normal for safejumps as it hits deep enough to counterhit people trying to 6P
Safejumps:
| Starter | Setup | Position | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 632146P | Short walk then superjump | Anywhere | |
| j.632146D | Short walk then superjump | Anywhere | |
| 2D | Cancel to Hammerfall Brake then short walk and jump | Anywhere | |
| Air hit j.D | Short walk then jump | Anywhere | Timing can vary based on the height j.D connects at |
| 623H | Short walk then jump | Anywhere | Doesn't grant a hard knockdown at the end of long combos, so if you still want to safejump, modify your ender |
| 623H > 63214H | Immediate superjump | Corner | Doesn't work against most reversals at the end of long combos, so if you still want to safejump, modify your ender |
Make sure to change your timings for different characters!
If you dont have the time for a safejump set up, or dont feel confident in being able to do so, or even just dont want to lab them, dont fret; Potemkins options on oki are still fairly potent. Your main options without safejumps are using hammerfall to close the gap if need be, and mixing with either 5K/6K, or 5P as a tick throw setup.
Meaties:
Potemkins options for meaties are pretty straight forward you'll either be doing meaty 5K, or meaty flick (63214S)
- Meaties can usually be set up with 5P > whatever option your going for. For example: (on the opponents wakeup) whiff 5P > 63214S.
- Meaty flick is usually only reserved for reading a reversal projectile, particularly reversal supers. There really isn't much benefit at all in going for it outside of that, its still very practical to go for it if you can though, particularly against characters that have reversal supers that are projectiles like I-no's super Longing Desperation
GuardAllStartup7+2Recovery10Advantage+1.
- Meaty flick is usually only reserved for reading a reversal projectile, particularly reversal supers. There really isn't much benefit at all in going for it outside of that, its still very practical to go for it if you can though, particularly against characters that have reversal supers that are projectiles like I-no's super Longing Desperation
Tips and Tricks
2S on Block into a Potemkin Buster once your opponent is close enough is a tricky (if not risky) maneuver that can trip up your opponent more often than not, especially since there's a good chance that they've underestimated the grab range of Potemkin Buster. Whilst the opponent is in blockstun they have little other means of getting out and are VERY much trapped in every sense of the word. Abuse this as often as you can once you've scared the opponent into respecting your normals.
When attempting to perform the f.S > 2S > 623H link after Potemkin Buster on Sol, Order-Sol, Slayer, or Anji, hold 9 while inputting f.S to cover a missed attempt and jump forward for slightly better okizeme rather than totally whiffing. This works because f.S needs to be performed on the first frame possible, which will take precedence over a jump input.
Fighting Potemkin
Take advantage of his weaknesses.
As mentioned on the Matchup section of the wiki; Potemkin has a tendency to struggle against characters characters that:
- Have much stronger mobility options than he does
- Strong neutral pokes
- Strong Defensive options
- Can afford to play at long range
Finding out what your character can do to take advantage of pots weaknesses is crucial in dealing with potemkin. He's one of the best characters in the game at demolishing players who dont have a concrete plan, and he's DEFINITELY going to make you aware of that.
Pay attention to habbits.
Potemkin players, just like pretty much everybody else, are prone to forming habbits in their gameplay. If you notice habbits while playing, its almost always good to capitalize on them as much as possible.
Patience.
A lot of potemkin players, especially at low level, love to play as belligerently as possible. Using their strong but commital options to bully their way to victory and play as many clip worthy matches as possible. If you're going up against a player who's going ham, the best thing to do in a lot of instances is play patiently, expect them to go for really risky plays/callouts (may of which wont probably work), figure out their habbits as mentioned earlier, and expect them to use Judge Gauntlet VERY OFTEN.
Potemkin
