Infinite Justice: Patroklos SCV Guide

Data-Mining and You

One of the concepts I've stumbled upon playing in the glamorous world of online tournaments is data-mining. Bibulus once mentioned this in commentary at Winter Brawl, comparing one's health bar in the early stages of a set to a resource that can be spent to learn more about the opponent.

In this case, we'll be talking about a series of tools to use in open play: Throws, 1K, and 1B. (Shouts out to Fuzion for espousing the virtues of 1B a month ago.)

Throws

In tournament play, people block. Seriously. People don't want to lose and so they block. The first thing you should do- before anything else- is run in and throw. Total noob move, but you have to do it until you know that the other guy is going to smack you for running in on him.

The thing about Pat's throws that make them different from others is that given a neutral state (no ukemi on B throw- this happens more often than you think!), all of them leave the opponent right next to his feet. Not two character spaces away, not across the arena- they are right at his feet.

Let's say, for example, you run up and throw your opponent. He gets back up guarding, and you throw him again. You've just done 80-100 damage in a matter of seconds- that is nothing to scoff at. (I have done A+Gx3 at EVO, I do believe the crowd was quite pleased with this.)

The resulting okizeme situation from landing throws gives you a good start to your offense. Of course, all this goes away when your opponent starts breaking them.

1K

Run-up throw isn't working. Your opponent is skilled at breaking throws- so this leaves you with run-up 1K.

1K does 20 damage and leaves you at +2. The thing that is special about 1K is not just kicking the other guy in the shins- with advantage on your side, you get to see what your opponent does next.

After 1K on hit, there are a number of responses that can come from the opponent, however because you are +2 you should be able to beat most of them. Here is a list of possible situations after hitting 1K.

AA and BB - should beat most retaliation cleanly. Landing these gives you an opportunity to step in and throw, go for another 1K, or whatever you like.
2A - Some characters have fast AAs that can counter your attacks. 2A can put a stop to this without too much risk. If you have a harder read on your opponent, a big TC move (3A, 236AB, B+K) works spectacularly, especially so if you have meter for B+K, CE, which is Astaroth levels of broke.
66B - The equalizer. Backstep will beat almost all of the responses on the list except for this one- you need to use this often to provoke alternative responses from the opponent.
44A - If they like to step after getting hit with 1K (especially to punish 66B), buffering 44A is a good idea. Low disadvantage on block (-2), CH combos extendable with meter. The only drawback is that it's slow so you need to save this for when you know they will step.
1K - When the other guy finally settles down and starts blocking, this is when you hit him with 1K again and reset the situation.
Nothing - Sometimes it's best to do... absolutely nothing and just let the advantage dissipate. Watch what the opponent does and make a mental note of it later- you might be able to hard-counter him if he falls into a pattern.

Now note that this is all point-blank. The situation changes if you hit 1K from max range as even 66B can get backstepped- you will have to run forward to continue pressure, or allow a reset to happen.


Run-up 1K makes a pretty good replacement for run-up throw... Until it starts getting blocked.

1B

You're pressuring the opponent, you go to kick them in the shin and... they block. And then they hit you really, really hard. Ouch, not cool.

What you need to do now is 1B. 1B is too slow for general use- if you use 1B wantonly you'll often get CH. However, if your opponent is looking to punish 1K, this introduces the few frames of hesitation needed for 1B to connect.

If 1B hits, you combo off of it. Simple and clean, do what you do. If 1B is blocked, however, that's where the fun begins.

1B does guard damage and leaves you at +0- basically a reset. Faster characters can beat you while slower characters you can outspeed. The thing about 1B is that you want to do nothing instead of mash like 1K, and try to hard counter a response from your opponent.

Backstep 3B, 66B, 44A, GI, etc. etc. Watch carefully and convert this situation into damage.

Should your opponent stay guarding, run up and 1B again. He'll get caught expecting 1K, or get reset.
Should he try to interrupt this, you can BB/2A him, or guard and save that data for a hard counter later.

Some opponents will try to step 1B- in which case, you should have used 1K as it catches step. 1K covers 1B and 1B covers 1K. Whenever your opponent starts holding on to that guard button these two little buddies need to come out.

Let's say that your opponent's natural response is to backdash out of this mixup- well, to counter that, you 66B, bam, 77 damage plus oki. You should be spamming 66B liberally anyway, and this covers the full trifecta- 66B, 1K, 1B. And that, my friends, is really all you need. (Well, I guess, unless you count money money money.)
 
I'm making the switch from Leixia to Pat, and this is going to be really helpful. Thank you!
 
It's just OK. Pat's backstep is not as good as Pyrrha's or Nightmare's so you can't use 2K as a whiff punish trap (well you can, but not consistently to the point where it's a bread-and-butter strategy).

It's good as a "jab" to break your opponent's rhythm, but you're at disadvantage and can't do much. I guess you could CE, that's risky, though.

I don't like the short range. I don't like that Pat is using Ken's low forward instead of Ryu's low forward.
I'd rather use 1K if I had the choice.
 
It's just OK. Pat's backstep is not as good as Pyrrha's or Nightmare's so you can't use 2K as a whiff punish trap (well you can, but not consistently to the point where it's a bread-and-butter strategy).

It's good as a "jab" to break your opponent's rhythm, but you're at disadvantage and can't do much. I guess you could CE, that's risky, though.

I don't like the short range. I don't like that Pat is using Ken's low forward instead of Ryu's low forward.
I'd rather use 1K if I had the choice.
Its not great but I would be lying if I didn't say that its not a mindfucker.
 
Quick random comment, this guide inspired me to pick up Patroklos and I just want to say thank you for all this wonderful work you have posted. You have ended my sixth and final character crisis.
 
After looking through this, I feel more knowledge about Patroklos. But what peaks my curiosity, is how to pull off the multiple hits in his 66 or 44 B+G (I think that's it.)
 
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