ACCENT CORE Potemkin Guide

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Potemkin Introduction

The first thing you should do if you are very new to the game is read the Player's Guide:

http://www.dustloop.com/ggac/index.html

Everything else in this guide assumes you know the basics of the game. If you don't know the basics, just sit down and play the game a bit, read the guide, and pick it up little by little.

The first and most important thing to learn is that you need to be VERY patient as a Potemkin player. There are going to be times when you will have to block for a while, and there may be times where you need to eat hits or long combos. You will often have extreme difficulty getting in on an enemy, or scoring any hits at all. As Potemkin, you need to carefully wait and look for your chance to turn things around, and then once you have, destroy the other player as quickly as possible.

To do this effectively, you should understand how to play Pote in all situations... on Defense, Neutral, and Offense.

Playing on the Defensive

Pote is a huge target, and is slow and immobile and a boat. So one of the most important things you need to know is how to get around these limitations and defend yourself properly.

The first thing to get used to is how huge your hitable box is. Pote is large and tall and things will hit him that don't hit other characters. This is a problem, however you can deal with it.

Get good at Instant Block, and if you can, Slash Back. These two tools will let you punish things you otherwise should not be able

to. Instant Block will be your best friend in a lot of matchups.

Don't, however, forget about Faultless Defense. It's just as important for Pote as it is for everyone else... there are times when

Instant Block will not help you get out of a situation, but where Faultless Defense will!

At higher levels, you will NEED to know how to 1-Frame Jump. Against Eddie in particular, this is absolutely essential to escaping mixups.

Useful Defensive Tools

6P: Great Anti-Air... Pote's hitable box is low to the ground and he can hit enemies all the way to the tip of his fingers.

Scoring a counterhit on this can lead to some ridiculous, round winning combos. The move is upper-body invincible into the active frames, so it's pretty safe and doesn't require phenomenal timing. On block, this move can be jump canceled so you can safely escape or attempt to attack afterwards. Be careful because good players will do their best to bait and punish this move. Since it has a bit of recovery time on wiff, you CAN be hurt for trying to use it.

5P: This move is mostly good because it has a very nice hit-box, and because it's FAST. Against some rushdowns, you can slip a 5P in and stuff the enemy from attempting to poke you. You can typically chain it into a basic combo on hit, or on block you can use it to begin a rushdown. Against enemies in the air, you'll typically want to do 5P S Heat Knuckle, or against ground something like 5P 5K 2S 2D, just as a basic example.

Giganter Shield: A great move to use to beat out incoming attacks. The nice thing about this Super is that it will leave you at massive advantage on block, so it isn't TOO dangerous to use. This also works fairly well on wakeup, but be careful you don't get baited. Most characters have ways they can attack you and not put themselves in a possition to be hit by the shield, so be careful using it against smart players.

Also Learn to roll the motion for the extension (Giganter Bullet), but only hit the button on a successful connect of the Shield.

On block of the shield, use the advantage to start a rushdown. On hit, deal some massive damage.

Backdash: Pote's Backdash is neat, and one of his best defensive tools. It's invincible for a VERY long time, and only has 1F of vulnerable recovery. If you see an attack incoming, you can backdash, recover, and then Pote Buster. This works great against many jumping in attacks, as well as ground attacks that are high level but have moderate recovery (pretty much anything Slayer does). Backdash Pote Buster is an invaluble tool, and you can only really get the hang of it through lots of practice.

Reversal Backdash is incredibly useful as well. Learning to time it properly can be difficult, but very important in the long run.

Keep in mind that as your enemies get better, they will learn how to bait and punish the backdash. You must learn to be very careful, and not too predictable with it.

Backdash is also very useful as a spacing tool. It can help you avoid being crossed up or give you a little extra range to help you time an FDB. It may become useful at times to do more than one backdash in a row. Double Backdash can also help against players who will try to bait and punish a singular backdash.

Slidehead: For whatever reason, Slidehead has massive upper body invincibility during startup, but loses this invincibility when the move is going active. This is useful for beating some moves which Pote can't safely beat otherwise, such as Jam's Burst Rush attacks. You can also go through some fast projectiles with it. It's also possible, although difficult, to use it as Anti-Air.

Note that this won't work against very deep or very fast AA attacks, although it can be a useful alternative to Backdash at times.

Reverse Megafist: Unlike Forward Megafist, this move actually has quite good recovery (+4 instead of -4), and causes Stagger on counter hit. The real key here is that both Megafists have foot invincibility on startup. This means that if you are sitting in the corner, and the enemy is going to run at you and do a low hit, you can reversal Reverse Megafist and tag their low hit... possibly allowing you to get a knockdown. Unfortunately like Forward Megafist, this move can be pretty easy to bait and punish. Be careful when using it.

Instant Block: This is very important to Pote. Waiting for mistakes will only get you so far, you need to turn everything the enemy does into a mistake. By IBing, you can put holes in strings that otherwise are not there. Remember, Pote Buster only needs a 2F gap in a string to happen, and Giganter only needs a 1F gap in a string.

One obvious usage of this is blocking Baiken's 3 hit super. IB either of the first two hits and you can connect strait into a free Pote Buster. A second example is IBing Jam's 6H, which will make it very dangerous for her to attempt to link off of.

Finding holes in things with IB is a very important stratagy, and one you'll have to make a lot of use of in higher level play.

Don't expect to be handed a way out of Dizzy's rushdown... expect to have to beat your way out carefully.

2HS: This is an interesting one. On the one hand, it's very slow, and not at all practical most of the time. On the other hand, it has a pretty huge hit box, and the payoff for a successful CH connect can be to win the match, flat out. So, when can you actually USE this move? Well, that's a tricky bit to figure out. It's a lot about prediction... you need to throw this move out way early to hit with it, so throw it when you expect someone to enter into the area it hits. Now, that alone would be pretty risky, and you could do much safer with 6P, or S.f. However, 6HS will tag things higher up and farther behind himself than 6P. They put that FRC point on the move for a reason. It allows you to use the move to predict air dashes and such, but let it be safe if you guess wrong. Of course, it uses tension to do this, so I suggest you NEVER use this move, at all, unless you have the Tension to back it up.

If that sounds like a waste of meter to you, you'd be right. Generally, it's not good to throw your meter away... but with enough practice, you can make people very afraid to attack you at all (which is a good thing). Also, just remember the payoff for connecting with the move can be so ridiculous, that it often pays to take that tension loss for a chance to score the big hit that wins the match.

Also keep in mind that it depends on who you are fighting. Jam generally moves too fast to get hit by the move.. so it's best to stick to 6P. Other characters who are foolish enough to jump/dash in can be tagged by it. Don't expect any miracles from this move, but do remember that it's there and can be very useful on occasion.

Judge Gaunt: Judge Gaunt is Pote's Force Break on the ground. It's frankly not that good, but there are some uses to it.

Keep in mind the following, first of all:

- Not Reversal-able (you can't do this safely on wakeup, you will just get counterhit out of it).

- If you are hit during the move, you will eat the hit and go into an 'I got hit' stance.

- You can only eat a maximum of 8 hits before you will automatically swing. (?)

- The move executes very quickly after you are hit by something.

- The move can't eat supers.

- This move is unsafe as fuck.

So what is Judge Gaunt good for? Basically, a special case use counter attack. Some characters are insanely good at jump canceling or mashing quick hits in (Jam, Dizzy, etc), and this move doesn't work well on them. Some characters like to slow poke you, or otherwise are susceptible to the Judge Gaunt.

Good example might be against Sol. Often times when he puts you into the corner and throws a poke, you can expect a Gunflame or Bandit Revolver to follow. Judge Gaunt will beat either of these options.

NEVER use this move without the Tension to RC it. Not just to combo off it, but to make it safe on block. This move becomes very fast as long as you can get hit while doing it, but it is still insanely punishable.

Don't throw this move out often. This is a 'once-a-match' kind of a move... use it when it'll work and when it'll get you that surprise hit for some big damage.

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Playing at Neutral

Poking is very important in GG, so it's really important for Pote to know how to poke at people. Of equal importance is learning how to 'get in' on an enemy who is attempting to keep you out. As stated earlier, the most important thing there is is to BE PATIENT. There is often no easy way, you'll just have to sit in place, waddling back and forth, until you can score a proper hit or counter what the other person is doing.

Useful Pokes

The first thing you need to keep in mind is that Pote has really good range and a lot of active time on his moves... BUT... they are slow. So, it's important to throw your moves early and before the enemy does anything. If you want to reaction something the enemy is doing, then you aren't really poking. Anyway, let's run down the big ones.

5HS: Great poke, one of his best. It hits a huge range, is active for a long time, is a level 5 attack, keeps them in guard stun, raises guard meter, and can do a lot of damage. This is a good poke to throw out at long range when you think the enemy will try to move forward along the ground. Normally, HS leaves you at some -7SD, so canceling this into instant Hammerfall Break can even that out to more like -1SD, and also give you a bit of free tension.

Also consider using HS > Slidehead. On a Counterhit, HS will combo into Slidehead, which can very well turn the match in your favor. On block, you may occasionally catch people who don't react in time, although this can be very punishable so be careful.

S.f: This poke hits diagonally upwards. You use this similar to how you use 5HS, except against people who you suspect are going to IAD or jump at you. Remember, you need to throw this EARLY, because it is slow. Don't try to reaction an IAD with this, you've got other moves to do that. Cancel this move into Heat Knuckle or HPB on connect for some decent damage.

2D: This move is actually only vulnerable part way up Pote's leg. This makes is a great tool to poke at people at mid-range.

It can also detonate Testament's Traps safely, among other things. While 2K looks similar, it has far less range and has a poorer hitable box in comparison.

6HS: This might sound silly, but this move can tag Backdashes and other things pretty well. Plus, the benefits of a successful connect are great: decent damage, a lot of stun, and a knockdown. Don't throw this out at random, but do occasionally throw this out as okizemi (from far away). Also make sure you charge back from this to cancel/combo into Hammerfall. That takes a bit of practice, but it's worth learning.

Also, it's also possible to cause people to fear this move as pressure. Many people will simple block or FD the attack. If you can manage to cause this fear in someone, the 6HS FRC > Pote Buster is a great tool to have for this time.

This move also now counts as a Level 6 attack, which basically just means it has extra guard stun, which makes it even better as a pressure tool. If the other player is foolish enough to FD this attack, you can freely Slidehead them.

2S: New to Accent Core is the fact that this attack has Vacuum. This means that if this move hits or is blocked, it will draw the enemy in closer to you instead of pushing him away. This is CRAZY good for Potemkin, as it allows him to close the gap, do better combos, and have more tick throw setups. It also staggers on counter hit, and you can combo to a Slide Head if this happens.

This move is very good, learn to love it.

Slidehead: This move hits the entire length of the field and gives you plenty of time to turn the match around. You can use it as a Poke to tag jump recoveries, people trying to throw slow pokes or projectiles, or other obvious times. It works very well against Jam if she foolishly tries to charge up from a distance, or ABA if she attempts to use a Bloodpack.

Once again, be careful with this move. It's baitable and depending on who you are fighting against, very punishable.

Getting In

Characters who try to keep Potemkin out can be a major pain in the ass. This is generally a pretty character specific task, but there are some general purpose tools that can help.

Pokes, Slidehead, etc: See above. Anything that gets you a knockdown is your best bet. Heat Knuckle (no extend) or Slidehead both quickly turn the match around.

F.D.B.: One of Potemkin's best tools against keep-away characters with projectiles (like Venom, Faust, or Ky). A successful FDB reflection gives you a wall that you can safely move in with. On hit, you get a free combo with it. If they attempt to block it on the ground, Slidehead gives you a free unblockable knockdown. If they attempt to block it high up in the air, you can HPB or Heat Knuckle them. If they block it low in the air, you can also occasionally get a free slidehead.

To avoid the reflection, players will try a lot of different things. Some may move back and to the air and throw more projectiles. If they do this, FDB these as well. Some characters (Sol and Ky for example) have moves that will go under the reflection, so be careful of these and try to bait + punish them.

Hammerfall: This move is very useful against some characters. It moves forward quickly and will start good combos on hit with FRC. It can negate one hit so against single projectiles or special attacks it can pass through them and tag the enemy. This move is not a good idea against anyone who can set up a lot of projectiles, or put hits out very quickly. Frankly, this move tends to be best from a closer position where the enemy will not have as much time to do anything about it. If you force a block with this move, use the time to start your offense. On hit, use a simple combo into Heat Knuckle for knockdown, or something more fancy if you have a lot of tension to spare.

In addition, you should almost never move in with this move without at least 25% tension to cancel it. If you are bad at the FRC, you should have 50% ready in case you get the RC.

People also LOVE to burst when they get hit with this move. A safe tactic is using c.S as a follow up on hit, because this normal will bait bursts safely.

Walk Forward: Sounds obvious, but just walk forward. You'll build a bit of meter doing so, and you can always backdash or jump back if you feel uncomfortable. But it helps avoid Negative Penalty, and you can combine this with fast pokes to make a slow forward progression.

Jumping around: Very simply, the absolute last thing you want to do with Potemkin at Neutral is JUMP IN. Potemkin's air attacks are frankly not that good, and his jump is very slow and reaction-able. Jumping in will get you KILLED at neutral.

That being said, jumping around is useful at times. Never superjump, always regular jump so that you have your second jump to use.

A common tactic I use is to jump forward, then double jump back, or neutral. Either way stops you from moving forward. If the enemy tries to throw a projectile to hit you after your single jump, you can use either of these to avoid the projectile but not be force to jump in. If the enemy does nothing, you can safely land from your single jump and continue moving forward.

DO NOT jump around and spam attacks like j.H. This attack has a huge hittable box and you'll get hit by something for jumping.

Occasionally you might be able to tag a poke with a j.S for a bounce, but don't go spamming it around.

Against many characters you just don't want to jump at all, such as Axl. Learn the matchups and you should better understand where and when jumping is OKAY to do.

TODO: Start of the Match Tactics

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Playing on Offense

It's incredibly important that if you get on Offense, you STAY on Offense. Learn your mixups, learn how to deal with Bursts + DAAs, don't let the enemy get away once you are in on them. Each time you score a hit, make sure you leave yourself open to do another mixup.

Potemkin Buster

There's a lot of misconceptions about this move, so I'll try and clear them up.

First thing, this is a 4F command throw. It is often listed incorrectly as a 5F move. It has 2F of vulnerable startup, which means it is IMPOSSIBLE to reversal this move safely. It then has 1F invulnerable startup, followed by 1F active time. This is very important to know, because it means that you only require a 2F timing hole in any attack string in order to be able to throw out of it.

Second, this move has a lot of range. Learning the range of it perfectly is one of the most important things you can do while learning Potemkin. In addition to the move's normal range, it is important to know that the enemy's throwable hitbox is different depending on what they are doing. Because of this, it is possible to "throw limbs" and other things, where you seem to grab the person out of a move from a large distance. Most of the time, you can't plan for stuff like this to happen... just don't be too surprised when it does.

Tick Throws

The first and most important thing you need to learn is how to setup for a good tick throw. The idea is that you want the other person to suspect another blockable attack is coming, and then throw them because they didn't move. This seems pretty obvious, but convincing someone good to do this is a tricky matter. First of all, you need to know what makes a good tick throw.

When someone is leaving guard stun, they have 5F where they are invincible to throws (and leaving hitstun, they have 6F instead).

This of course means that it is never possible to get a guaranteed throw on someone, short of throwing someone during Stagger or punishing a move. It also means that you need to time your tick throws to hit at about 6-7F after they recover. Obviously, the tighter you get it, the better you will do.

Second, certain moves can be ticked out of better than others. Ideally, since the Pote Buster is a 4F move, you want that last frame to connect on the 6F of the enemy's recovery. To do that, you need to start your throw around -3 SD... that is to say, 3 frames after the enemy has recovered from guard stun.

Knowing this, any move with -3SD or better should be a good tick throw setup, right? Not quite. The problem is that the tick throw is only one part of the mixup. If the enemy will just backdash every time you go for a throw, then your tick throw is worthless... so we need something else.

Low/Throw Mixup

To convince the enemy they shouldn't try to backdash, you need to let them TRY and backdash, but stop them. What you need to know is that attempting to jump or backdash is a motion that requires you to release from the down direction... meaning you cannot be low blocking while attempting to backdash. Okay, this means that our natural counter to people trying to jump/backdash out is a low hit before they leave guardstun.

To make use of this, we first need to put the enemy in guard stun. From a close position, let's start with P. It's a fast move and leaves them in only a little guard stun, so it is difficult to see. It's also only -1SD, which is good for throwing off of. More importantly, it cancels into K and 2K, which are both low hits. If the enemy suspects a throw and tries to backdash, we should try and throw our low hit as late as possible, so that it connects just as they begin their attempt. Hitting the low on +1 SD from the P is the best, because it gives them the most time to think they should get out, but not actually the chance to get out. Therefore, just that easily, we have our mixup:

P K S 2S 2D

or

P, Potemkin Buster

Alternatively, you can simply wait and 2K the enemy out of the recovery of their backdash. However, that leaves them airborne and free to escape you... which is not what you want. They might also decide to jump, 1-Frame Jump, or throw you.

Now let me explain why setups like Megafist > PB are NOT a good tick throw setup. The problem with this setup is that Forward Megafist is a -4 SD move... that means that you are recovering 4 frames after the enemy is. At best, your Pote Buster will connect at -8 SD... which is 2F later than we want it to be. Second and far more importantly, we cannot cancel the Megafist into a low hit.

If we try and low hit someone after a blocked Megafist, we've got to wait 7F before that 2K hits. That means you will be at -11SD... the enemy would have 11F to do whatever they want to you... including backdash away to safety, or nailing you with a DP.

While this may be a similar gamble to a normal tick throw, giving the enemy that much extra time makes your tick throws far less effective.

Besides that, people of any decent skill already knock about this obvious setup and how weak it is, so they will simple not let you do it.

j.S Okizemi

Knowing how to get someone into a tick throw situation is just as important as the tick throw itself. The most simple (and most effective against many characters) setup is the super jump slash.

The setup for this setup is any Pote Buster. This will leave you at a perfect range to do this. The idea is that you want to super jump at the enemy, and throw a j.S at them right before you hit the ground. What you need to do is tag the first 1-3F of their recovery, and then hit the ground. Hitting the ground causes you to recover instantly from your move, allowing you to do whatever you want. The advantage of this setup is that it is impossible to DP Potemkin while he is doing it, as he will recover before the DP goes active. Any DP attempt from Sol/Ky will equal a free Pote Buster when they come back down.

Knowing this, the enemy has less options. They can block the hit, or attempt to backdash out. Either option is okay, but you will need to have quick reflexes to capitalize on them.

To beat out a backdash, simply identify that your sj.S did not connect. Wait for the enemy to land from the backdash, and PB them as they land. This can be more or less difficult depending on how good the other player's backdash is... but I'm fairly sure nobody can get the distance enough to escape the throw if you throw the j.S at the closest possible point.

If they decide to block, you then have your setup. You can do your tick throw mixup however you want from there.

Of course, you can setup this from many other situations, such as off a Heat Knuckle or a Slidehead you can't combo off. j.S is a very good tool for mixing up with. Furthermore, it is also possible to just j.H for the same purpose. j.H will leave them in more guardstun, but it will also push you back further, which might make mixups more difficult.

In fact, nearly every character can use identical jumping attack Okizemi as this, just with different normals and different setups. In fact, you can use this same style of Okizemi in a whole lot of different fighting games too!

Break Buster, Hammerfall Setups

The Break Buster is just a fancy name for doing Hammerfall Break > Pote Buster. It's simple, but when done right, moves you forward to get a bit more range on the throw. A simple use of this is doing:

P K S Hammerfall Break, Buster

Likewise you can do this from REALLY far away by doing:

H Hammerfall Break, Buster

or

6H Hammerfall Break, Buster

Note that none of these setups are particularly safe or solid, however they very well can be effective for a number of reasons.

Another interesting setup with Hammerfall is to use the Hammerfall FRC. This leaves you at massive advantage on block, and the Hammerfall will occationally tag people and give you a good combo anyway. When you FRC the move, you gain +18 SD, which is a ton of time to walk forward. Knowing these things, you can use a Hammerfall FRC as a setup for a tick throw. You can do something like this:

Hammerfall FRC, Walk Forward, Buster

Hammerfall FRC, Walk Forward, 2K 2D

The natural enemy to this setup is Faultless Defense. When someone does this, you get pushed back a bit too far to make it into throw range before they recover in time. The setup can also be pretty obvious, but with tight timing and good mind games, you can make it hit.

You can furthor extend these ideas by doing things like:

Hammerfall FRC, Hammerfall Break, Buster

As a result of this, you can effectively mix up between doing Hammerfall FRC, Hammerfall Break Buster, and normal hits. Also keep in mind that if you want to try and poke low after a Hammerfall FRC, you can always be charging up for another Hammerfall.

One weakness to this Mixup is that it generally is very full of holes. Hammerfall FRC > Hammerfall FRC usually has a decent sized hole in it where the enemy possible could act. This CAN be a good thing, many people are prone to try and break out of the Hammerfall rushdown by jumping or backdashing... either one of which can be tagged by another Hammerfall. Landing that FRC leads to a free 25-50% health combo and a setup into more mixups, which is really why it can be very useful.

High/Low Mixup

High/Low is still a practical mixup for Potemkin, although its usage is very situational.

My favorite usage of this is off a super jump in... I like to use it on occasion as an alternative mixup to throw people off. What you can do is:

Pote Buster, sj.HS |> 6K 2HS Heat/HPB

The jumping move is canceled onto the ground, so you have the enemy in a lot of guard stun for the 6K. Plus, if it is blocked, you can cancel the 2HS into a Megafist, Slide Head, Giganter, FDB, or whatever else you want.

You can also use the 6K after a blocked Hammerfall FRC. However if they FD, you will run into distance troubles. You might also try using 6K as Okizemi, but this isn't particularly safe so be very careful about it.

Unfortunately Pote's Dust is very reactionable. In general I don't recommend ever using it, as doing so general means you are losing a chance to do a better mixup. Still, you may land it on occation, and the damage you get from it is pretty decent.

The Wiff Buster

This is a pretty cool mixup, and can be used on a number of characters (Jam is a really good target for this one).

The idea behind this one is to knock the enemy down, and then throw an attack that just barely misses them while they are waking up. When they see the move coming, they may be afraid and try to block it. When no block happens, you throw them.

The best candidate for this mixup is 5P, but you can use 5K and 2K as well. 5K has the benefit of being active a long time, and thus difficult to tell whether it will wiff or not. 2K is good because it has a lot of range and is a low level attack. You can use this to bait out reversal attacks from some characters.

Now, 5P is the best for this for a few reasons. First, 5P is fast and short. This means it is very difficult to see to begin with, which is important to a good mixup. Second, it's a Lv1 attack, which means even if they FD it, there is very little pushback (and you can likely still PB them even if they block it with an FD). Third and most important is that it is a natural counter to backdash.

What makes it a counter for backdash? 5P has the special property of being able to cancel itself even if it whiffs. 5P can cancel into 5K, 6P or 2K. This means that if they reversal backdash the 5K, you can cancel right into the 2K and catch them on their way back. So your mixup can look a lot like this:

5P (wiff) > Buster

5P (wiff) > 2K

Okay, so when can you set this up? Well, this actually doesn't tend to setup so well off a PB > Super Jump setup. Depending on the character, it can leave you close enough to be thrown on wakeup, not a good place to be. To correct this, you need to Super Jump as soon as possible and then walk back a tiny bit before throwing the P.

The best setup is any time you get a knockdown and you are close to the enemy. Corner knockdowns are the best for this (because their backdash will move them nowhere).

Anyway, this is just another good mixup to use. Keep switching up between all mixups and you will have people guessing all day.

Missed Hit FRC Mixups

These are some pretty standard mixups Pote can use with some tension. Normally 6HS is a good move for tagging back dashes and comboing into Hammerfall FRC. However, the FRC on 6HS is there for a reason. Essentially you can mixup like this:

6HS Hammerfall FRC > etc.

6HS FRC PB

The trick to getting the PB to come out is basically to input the motion like this:

6HS, 632146 [PKS] ]P[

Essentially, hit all buttons for the FRC but only release P. This causes the negetive edge to pick up the Pote Buster motion.

Besides this, you can use this mixup in similar situations with 2HS. For example if the enemy FDs you can do this:

sj.HS |> 6K 2HS (wiff) FRC PB

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Slidehead Unblockables

Slidehead is a magical kind of thing. It's unblockable, and can hit people out of guard stun or Stagger. This means there are setups for it which are inescapable, and others which are damn near inescapable. And because you can combo off Slidehead, you can do some pretty scary things with it.

Slidehead Unblockable Hit

An interesting property of Slidehead is that there are actually two parts that hit. The first is a physical hit, which is blockable and only hits where Potemkin is. The second comes very shortly after, which is actually unblockable. If the physical hit connects in any way, the unblockable hit will not come out.

It's possible to use Slidehead as Okizemi with good timing. If you time it properly, the unblockable hit will connect on the frame the enemy wakes up, forcing him to do something. Backdashing will beat this, as will reversal-able moves with foot invincibility, or otherwise anything that counts as the other person not being on the ground. Jumping will not beat this setup.

You can actually exploit this further, however. As Okizemi, with very careful timing, you can do your slidehead at point blank such that your physical hit will miss as they are still waking up, but then the unblockable hit will connect just as they are waking up.

This can be very surprising, as many players will simply try to block the physical hit, and instead get hit by the unblockable. Do note, however, that this is very unsafe and punishable, so don't make it your staple tactic.

Giganter Unblockable Loop

A very nice tool to have. On a close knockdown (like off a Heat Knuckle), Potemkin can time a Giganter Shield as okizemi in such a way that he can force Slidehead to be unblockable. This allows him to combo into ANOTHER slide head, which builds tension, which allows him to do ANOTHER unblockable. This can be done 3-4 times or so depending on how much meter Potemkin had to begin with. A basic setup looks as follows:

Heat Knuckle... Giganter, Slidehead, Hammerfall Break, K 2S Heat Knuckle ... Repeat

The timing is really the difficult part. First, you want to time your Giganter as earlier as possible while the enemy is knocked down, without hitting them OTG. Then, you want to time your Slide Head so it is coming out just a little after the Giganter is blocked... this is so the enemy is pushed back so the physical hit will NOT connect, and the unblockable part will.

The combo into Heat Knuckle can change on different characters. Some (such as Ky) you can score an extra hit by doing: K S 2S Heat.

[Koozebanian Fazoob]

ETC

Stupid Potemkin Tricks

There are a lot of nifty things Potemkin can do that are kind of gimmicky but will catch people in a pinch.

The Walk Buster: This is a neat trick that is actually quite useful. Moves actually have a bit of time when they sit in buffer waiting for a button press to activate them. Because of this, it is possible to input the motion for Pote Buster, but instead of hitting the button, hold foward. You can actually walk forward a little way before hitting P for the throw. This is just another way to get a tiny bit of extra range on the throw.

Backdash Buster: When the enemy is waking up, stand (or land) as close to them as possible (in throw range is best). Then right as they are waking up, back dash. You can bait out of a lot of reversal supers, DPs, and throws this way.

Hop Buster: If you are randomly jumping at the person and not in danger of getting hit, throw a j.K out. When this is blocked, double jump forward. Then, just land from your jump and throw. This seriously works. I don't know why. Alternatively you can j.K then just land and do 2K if you want, but that's not as much fun.

ATG Buster: j.P is a fast move with little guard stun. The neat thing is you can gattling to it from j.S, which lets you do a neat Air-To-Ground mixup with it. Essentially if you can force a block of j.S from a decent height, gattling to j.P, then land and Pote Buster. It's quite fast and be quite surprising at times.

Additionally, if you can catch someone air-to-air with a j.S, you can throw multiple j.P on the way down, to force them to block and land in front of you, perfect for throwing.

Jumpy Buster: When you manage to get close to the enemy, 6P them to force them to guard. Then immediately jump cancel into a j.D. The effect will be to instantly be falling down in the air. You can then land and PB them. Alternatively it may be possible to hold forward on the stick to actually connect with the j.D instead, or instead hop into a j.K and proceed from there.

Helicopter: Jump forward into an immediate j.P as an air poke. If you connect (because they tried to IAD or something), cancel to j.K, then Air Potemkin Buster. If you miss, j.P recovers very fast, so you can jump back, or do a j.S on the way down. This tactic can work against some characters and players, but it's not particularly effective or safe.

[Henaki]

IMO the mixup guide is pretty outdated, you should really add anti-escape mechanisms (BD, Jump out, reversals), the power of 6K, and proper offensive strings, and burst baiting tactics.

[HeatEXTEND]

and burst baiting tactics.

First CH of the round, BAIT THE BURST ! :3