[+R] Sol vs. Potemkin

[VR-Raiden]

Use this thread to discuss the vs. Potemkin matchup in +R.

Much info from the the old matchup thread for AC is still relevant. It can be found here: Sol vs Potemkin

I will be editing this first post with information on the matchup soon.

Match Start:

- f.S will CH any of Potemkin's longer reaching pokes, but can be countered with 5P. It also leaves you in a bad spot if they jumped forward over it.

- 2S is a good option. It connects from starting position, and only gets counter poked with f.S. If he does do f.S, hit is too far for Potemkin to convert to anything good off it. If he does Hammer Fall, cancelling to 2D will beat that. He can also Mega Fist Forward to beat 2S, but that is a very risky start for Potemkin.

Neutral:

- Stay far away from Potemkin until you land a good hit or pressure starter. f.S will counter any of his slower long range pokes, and converts to 5H > TR for knockdown. Dash 2D will go under f.S, 5H. Max range 5H can CH him out of pokes if used well. Be wary of his 5H at mid range, it can catch you out of jumps or reckless attempts to close distance.

- Jumping in at Potemkin is a bad idea. His 6P is strong and backdash > Potemkin Busters can catch landing recovery. That being said, IAD j.S is a strong whiff punisher. j.S can hit Potemkin very early in the airdash due to his size. Airdash j.S is good, but only as a whiff punisher or done very unpredictably.

- Slide Head (unblockable tremor) is punishable with RS, BB, and CH 5H if within range. RS is the easiest to do on reaction. Otherwise, you can simply jump or backdash it.

- GF at neutral can catch pokes and is difficult for him to jump over to punish you, but he can flick it, so don't get carried away with it. Hammer Fall can go through a non-FRC'd GF to hit you.

- If a poke gets caught by Hammer Fall super armor, you can cancel to VV, or GV to go under the hitbox. 2D also goes under but is not likely to low profile in time if canceling from something else. f.S cancelled to 2S/5H can hit him if the f.S was caught early during Hammer Fall.

- Anti-airing Potemkin is difficult, his j.S hits very far down and gives him great rewards on hit. 5K will not reliably anti-air it if spaced well. VV always works, but is easily baited. Preemptive j.P is good. Against j.D (the falling butt), you can anti-air VV, but it will clash the first hit unless done very late. You can also jump instant block and land to punish with 5K depending on height.

- Neutral Bandit Bringer is extremely bad on Potemkin, doing it in hopes of catching something is not worth the risk. Potemkin has many ways of punishing it badly on reaction.

Offense:

- Potemkin lacks quick close range pokes, so tick throws are strong. He does however have Potemkin Buster, so don't leave gaps too large. Typically, Potemkin will opt for backdashing and jumping out of pressure over trying counter pokes.

- Be careful using GF predictably in pressure, with a large enough gap Potemkin can Potemkin Buster GF start up. He can also flick it.

- Potemkin's only invulnerable reversal (other than backdash) is Giganter (shield super). Within range, you can easily normal throw, or WT him after the super flash. You can also VV/TR, but those tend to trade.

- Judge Gauntlet(super armor Force Break) has infinite super armor, but can be thrown and loses to overdrives. If it catches a normal, you can either cancel to SVV to catch the punch itself, cancel to TR, or RC and block. It is easily punished on block. Keep in mind that in +R he gained the ability to cancel.

- On safejump oki, use dash 5K OS to hit his reversal backdash. It will catch the backdash recovery as a ground hit, and allows you to block reversal Giganter if he tries that.

- j.S > fuzzy j.S or j.D work on Potemkin, unless he instant blocks the first j.S.

- Close up GF(FRC) on oki will catch reversal backdash.

Defense:

- You have what many others don't in dealing with tick Potemkin Busters: a great DP. You can VV when you smell a Potemkin Buster, but as always be careful since it is highly punishable. Keeping 50 tension in stock for VV(RC) to escape or possibly combo is never a bad idea.

- 5P is a common tick throw set up. Look for delays after his 5P, he can easily mix 5P > Potemkin Buster with 5P > 5K (his 5K hits low).

- Hammer Fall Breaks into anything can be VV'd.

- When blocking a j.S, take his height into account since he can cancel to j.P for extra overheads.

- If you get knocked down, more than likely he is going to do some variation of a sj.S safejump. Don't VV against safejumps, though if you have meter to RC you can use it as an escape. Reversal backdashing can work, but he can OS to punish.

- If you notice Potemkin jumping behind, his j.K and j.H can cross up, you should be able to backdash safely in these situations.

- With quick reactions, you can reversal VV a meaty 6K attempt.

- On block, his 5D is +3, and his Dead Angle is -9.

- Potemkin's 2S will pull you in on block, leading to 2D/Potemkin Buster mixup. If they use 2S predictably in block strings, Slash Back will prevent it from pulling you in. Within range, you can get a free VV after the SB unless he cancels to Judge Gauntlet, Giganter, or RCs. WT after the SB can work as well at very close range and catches Judge Gauntlet.

Punishes (on block/reaction):

- Hammer Fall is -18 on block, easily punishable with dash 5K, 2D, etc. But keep in mind the FRC point is now after active frames so he can FRC after it is blocked.

- Mega Fist Forward is -9 on block, easily punishable. FRC causes it to whiff.

- On reaction to Slide Head, you can RS/BB/CH 5H depending on how quickly you react and distance.

- 6H can be GV on reaction, but keep in mind he can FRC.

- After the super flash, Giganter can be normal thrown, or WT. VV and TR will trade.

- Dead Angle is -9 on block.

- Judge Gauntlet is -15 on block, easily punishable. Remember he can choose to cancel it, but the cancel also has recovery.

Combo Notes:

- For ... > 2D > BR(RC)> SW, stick an airdash j.D in before SW (or other method), otherwise it will not Clean Hit.

- In general, j.D can be used much more often in SW loops to increase combo damage.

- From WT, you can use fj.D SW reps for easy big damage (see combo thread).

- Fafnir > Tyrant Rave will knockdown Potemkin. This makes f.S > 5H > Fafnir > Tyrant Rave a great long range confirm for damage and knockdown for 25% Tension.

- Fuzzy j.S > j.H(1) > FB SW combos on Potemkin, allowing for an easy midscreen fuzzy confirm.

- Dustloops are easy on Potemkin.

[Orrax]

A few things I thought might be worth adding:

 

Starting with f.S is good, but it loses to Slide Head, which isn't a good way to start the match. 5H is also good for CHs, but it loses to various starters from Potemkin so it's kind of risky. j.P is also an ok starter and can even beat Heat Knuckle sometimes, but other times it loses to Heat Knuckle and I'm not sure why -- on the whole, it's not bad, but it's inconsistent. The safest way to start the match is probably just to air dash backwards away from Potemkin and set up the spacing game. I usually go for air back dash or 2S, since they're pretty safe and I don't like giving Potemkin an advantage at the start of the match.

 

I've never gotten much mileage out of punishing Slide Head with Riot Stomp, and punishing it with BB is really inconsistent. I usually find the best way to punish Slide Head is to get in quickly before he recovers, leaving Sol at an advantage to go into a mix up or pressure.

 

5K(2) is a good way to beat Hammerfall. If I do run in 5K in this match, I always try to wait for both hits in case Pot does Hammerfall. The other really good way to beat it is to just block it; it's really punishable and Potemkin is forced to burn meter to make it safe. GV also beats Hammerfall cleanly.

 

5K isn't a bad AA, but it has to be done at its max range.

 

Neutral Bandit Bringer is actually not terrible if done very sparingly at its absolute max range. Any other range is a bad, and doing it too frequently is very bad.

 

Jumping or back dashing while on offense can work to bait Pot Buster.

 

On oki, there is no reason to OS Potemkin. Getting caught by Giganter is too risky, and his back dash is slow, so you should be able to react to it with 5K if you're watching for it. That covers all his options, so an OS is unnecessary.

[VR-Raiden]

Thanks for the info! I'll try to work it into the first post soon. But on this...

On oki, there is no reason to OS Potemkin. Getting caught by Giganter is too risky, and his back dash is slow, so you should be able to react to it with 5K if you're watching for it. That covers all his options, so an OS is unnecessary.

I can see reacting to his backdash being doable, but from what I've found from testing/matches, dash 5K OS is totally safe to Giganter. When he gets it out you are dashing and able to block/throw it if in range. Unless I'm missing something there's no harm in using it, unless you are looking too hard for the back dash and mess up pressure when they don't do it. Nothing bad about just reacting of course but I feel like the OS just makes it easier on you outside of having to execute it properly.

[Orrax]

I can see reacting to his backdash being doable, but from what I've found from testing/matches, dash 5K OS is totally safe to Giganter. When he gets it out you are dashing and able to block/throw it if in range. Unless I'm missing something there's no harm in using it, unless you are looking too hard for the back dash and mess up pressure when they don't do it. Nothing bad about just reacting of course but I feel like the OS just makes it easier on you outside of having to execute it properly.

Fair enough; if you can throw Potemkin, then the OS is probably the better choice.

 

That said, getting used to reacting to his back dash is probably a good idea. Sometimes you may want to go for air dash high/ land low mix up against him, and his back dash is slow enough that you still have a moment to act after an air dash (and maybe after a 2K, but I'm not sure). Some Pot players like to back dash to throw off your pressure game (which, imho, is a pretty bad idea), so being able to react accordingly is very helpful.

[VR-Raiden]

Random tip I noticed watching some vids before my last tourney (and it worked the one time it occurred there)

If Potemkin gets a knockdown which doesn't allow a safejump and he's too far out for 5P/5K/6K/Potemkin Buster, an obvious choice for you on wake-up is to backdash. I noticed Potemkins will take that into consideration and commonly do meaty 6H to punish a backdash hard. So in this situation, block and be looking for meaty 6H which you can reversal GV punish (as long as he doesn't FRC).

[VR-Raiden]

Another Potemkin tip. On safejump j.S > OS dash 5K oki, I forgot to try punishing reversal Heavenly Potemkin Buster until today. I had a Potemkin doing that on me at UFGT after I WT his Giganter attempt. Figured out after the Heavenly super flash you can do backwards hj.P > j.H(1) > SW > continue with a SW loop. Pretty nice, so basically safejump dash 5K OS oki makes Potemkin have to block.