The PC Pokkén Dojo

Alright, cool. I have a question.

I often battle Braixens when playing random battles online... When in Field Phase, they ONLY use their side ranged attack (it looks like five consecutive fireballs, then one big one). This makes them very predictable, but my slow Machamp can't approach for anything. I try shielding like crazy, using my Midair X, or roll-cancelling a counter attack, but Braixen always outruns me... I'm fine once I get into Duel Phase, but sometimes that's not good enough to get a win.

What would you all do in these situations?

Tips for new players (particularly if you're new to fighting games in general):

1) The very first thing you should do when starting up the game for the first time (after creating your avatar) is to go into Practice mode and do all 5 tutorials. The game does a good job here at explaining the controls and important core mechanics, such as the Attack Triangle, in addition to a few general fighting basics (ignore how the last 2 tutorials claim they teach you high level knowledge, it's all actually more basic fighting game stuff, so do them).

2) Pick a main. That one Pokemon you want to spend the most time playing as and the one you want to get best with (the game uses the term "Partner Pokemon" instead of main btw). It's a lot easier to get good if you just focus on one or two characters rather than multiple. If you know from the get-go which Pokemon you want to main, you're good to go. If not, go into Free Training and mess around with the roster and see who's the most appealing to you.

3) Go through the Action Dojo. Here you'll learn all the basic actions, combos, and techniques required for your Pokemon. This is particularly important for the less intuitive characters like say Gardevoir or something. The Combo Dojo is, in my opinion, not necessary at all since it teaches you the fancier/more technical (for this game anyway) and/or situational combos. You'll get by just fine without them really; Pokken very much lacks emphasis on technical stuff and combos. Going through the tutorials and Action Dojo will give you the foundations you need to start improving and succeed.

4) Get lots of experience fighting. All the stuff you learn in training mode is useless if you can't apply it during a real fight, and the only way to do is, well, actually fighting. Jump into Single Battle mode, the Ferrum League, or even online Friendlies to start getting a feel for the game.

5) Don't. Mash. Buttons. It's very common among new players to just walk up and start slamming the same button(s) over and over and over again. Don't do it. You have all these other options, please use them. Button mashing makes you very predictable and easy to defeat.

6) Related to the above, if something is not working, try something else. Another thing I've seen a lot of online is people not trying to do anything different even though what they're trying has failed many times. They'll literally just keep repeating the same pattern and never try to change things up, it's almost like they don't get it's not working and isn't going to work.

Ky0greK1ng said:

Alright, cool. I have a question.

I often battle Braixens when playing random battles online... When in Field Phase, they ONLY use their side ranged attack (it looks like five consecutive fireballs, then one big one). This makes them very predictable, but my slow Machamp can't approach for anything. I try shielding like crazy, using my Midair X, or roll-cancelling a counter attack, but Braixen always outruns me... I'm fine once I get into Duel Phase, but sometimes that's not good enough to get a win.

What would you all do in these situations?

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Hmm, tricky! If you can predict the timing would Machamp be able to jump over them maybe?

Spoonette said:

Hmm, tricky! If you can predict the timing would Machamp be able to jump over them maybe?

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I might be able to. I'll try it out and let you know!

Thanks!

I can't think of anything Machamp specific but what support Pokemon do you tend to roll with? Stuff like Togekiss, Whimsicott, and Cubone can all help out in some way against getting around projectile zoning, at least temporarily.

Nah said:

I can't think of anything Machamp specific but what support Pokemon do you tend to roll with? Stuff like Togekiss, Whimsicott, and Cubone can all help out in some way against getting around projectile zoning, at least temporarily.

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I tend to use either Cresselia or Cubone. I find Cubone's attack doesn't quite reach far enough... Whimsicott sounds perfect! I'll definitely give her a go the next time I face a Braixen.

Ok, so, how are you supposed to fight Sceptile? This is the one MU (besides Mewtwo and Gengar, but those 2 are just slightly borked is all) that consistently gives me problems and I can't figure out what to do.

Nah said:

Ok, so, how are you supposed to fight Sceptile? This is the one MU (besides Mewtwo and Gengar, but those 2 are just slightly borked is all) that consistently gives me problems and I can't figure out what to do.

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Sorry, I haven't visited this thread in a while...

Anyways, about facing Sceptile, I find they play very defensively in field phase, then come in for the kill during duel phase.

I like to take the initiative and charge in guns ablaze during field phase. As long as they're busy tossing projectiles around, I can usually land my quicker attacks. Otherwise, I'll try to bait a powerful move to shield, and then use a bigger attack.

In duel phase, you always need to watch for the ranged grab he has... If you find you're in that danger zone, start jumping or dashing around. If you see Sceptile running up for a combo, I'd shoot a few projectiles, and if your character doesn't have projectiles, I think Fennekin might help. Fortunately, a lot of Sceptile's attacks are slow and punishable. As long as they fail to start up a combo, you've got a free hit in!

I hope this helped somewhat... I have another question myself. Why is it that my burst attack deals less damage after I use a combo? Most times, it'll deal over two hundred damage (I use Machamp). However, if I were to do something like Down X X --> Jump --> Midair Y --> Down X X --> Burst Attack (while the opponent is still airborne) it'll only do around one hundred... Thanks!

Ky0greK1ng said:

Why is it that my burst attack deals less damage after I use a combo? Most times, it'll deal over two hundred damage (I use Machamp). However, if I were to do something like Down X X --> Jump --> Midair Y --> Down X X --> Burst Attack (while the opponent is still airborne) it'll only do around one hundred... Thanks!

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That's how combos work in this game. Subsequent hits do less damage than they would if you just hits them with that move by itself. The decrease in damage gets larger as you keep comboing, so the individual moves at the tail end of a long combo do little. If you did one hit and then did burst attack the BA would do more than in your longer combo, but still less than if you just hit them with it raw.

Nearly every fighting game implements damage scaling by the number of hits you do in a combo to balance out damage on raw attacks vs long combos being too powerful. Special attacks like Bursts tend to have a flat cap on how much they can be reduced by, though I'm not sure if that applies here.

What's an optimal combo for Machamp?

0bs1d1ankn1ght said:

What's an optimal combo for Machamp?

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Ky0greK1ng listed some good combos for Machamp here but other than that I can't be of any help. Ky0greK1ng and Spinosaurus main Machamp though so they might have some tips!