Patroklos Video Thread

Yeah, I suppose I suggested 3A over 236A(B) simply because it's safer, namely -12 over the other's -16. Of course, there are the cons of it not knocking down, low damage and actually being slower by two frames, but it's still a fair option n my experience.
 

Just a video series i'm putting together to mark my progress, being pretty new to online soul calibur play. First match was my first online, but feel free to judge my poor use of 6BBB. The other two is after I learned what I was doing, though I still need experience against both match-ups. Feedback would be welcome and appreciated guys.
 

Just a video series i'm putting together to mark my progress, being pretty new to online soul calibur play. First match was my first online, but feel free to judge my poor use of 6BBB. The other two is after I learned what I was doing, though I still need experience against both match-ups. Feedback would be welcome and appreciated guys.
I'm in the mood to break shit down, so I shall offer commentaries on each individual round. I have no idea what possessed me to go into this much detail, but I hope you actually find it useful.

VS. Ezio
  • Round 1: Don't forget that you can mash or spin your stick to boost the damage of 66B+G. Ezio nearly making a comeback was partially down to seeming a tad too keen on pressing buttons. Stuff like 66BB and WR BB catches everyone new to the match up, so that's forgivable.
  • Round 2: CE at the end may have been unnecessary meter use. Since you were next to a wall, 236B* would have kept you close enough for a quickish followup like 3B, 2A+B or 236K. Better safe than sorry, though.
  • Round 3: Ezio's BB* caught you multiple times, so be extra sure to look out for it in future. A+B can be followed up with 3B and 236, K if it doesn't hit at max range.
VS. Devil Jin
  • Round 1: Learn to confirm the counter hit if you land 6BB because the third hit is -16 on block, and thus bad if your opponent can punish consistently. It can, however, be delayed for ages, so you have a fairly easy window of opportunity. WR KA can be followed up with moves like 236K or 3B, or even CE if you have the meter and the reaction speed. (You demonstrated you knew the followups in the third match.) Shame about the dropped input after the last launch, but it's a good thing 1K is awesome.
  • Round 2: A fair few missed block/whiff punish opportunities. It is mean of me to say, but I thought your win was simply fortunate.
  • Round 3: Devil Jin's CE is actually -1 on block! Be wary of that. I think you got predictable with throw attempts and paid for it.
  • Round 4: Learn to sidewalk on reaction to DJ's raw flight stance: it beats all of his options if you're fast enough. You're very lucky the CE hit, considering your opponent should not have pressed a button for having that low blocked.
  • A more general note: Devil Jin's i10 A is a pain to deal with, but you'll persevere if you respect it. Also, you seemed to eat a lot of throws. Do you know of the commonly accepted throw break tactic of mashing on either A or B when you hold down G?
VS. Algol
  • Round 1: You were arguably a bit too fond of 1K, but it worked every time on this guy so I won't moan too much.
  • Round 2: Well done for recognising how crazy punishable Algol's 4BA is. You blocked 1A a lot, but it's a shame you didn't punish with 236B at all. You may not have had to deal with Algol's annoying 6BBB if you did.
  • Round 3: Learning to react to Algol's 2B+K will take time as you learn the matchup, so keep at it. That said, amazing clinch at the end.
  • Round 4: Pat's tech crouches are the best. srsly.
Lastly, some overall things that I feel can apply:
  • Regarding 6BBB, just learn to confirm the counter hit, and see if you can get away with tagging them with a delayed last hit. Do remember the last hit is unsafe, so be careful of how much you use it against more experienced players.
  • If you need step killing tools, 3A and 236AB are your fastest options at range.
  • While it's tricky to ensure online, try and learn what you can punish either on block or whiff. Be it with AA, 236B, 3B, 66B etc. your game will improve as you recognise more mistakes or risks your opponent makes you can take advantage of.
I hope you and others benefit from taking any of this textwall on board. While I cannot guarantee I'll be in peculiar enough a mood to type out commentary like this in the near future, I look forward to more from your series. =]
 

Wow, thanks for all that, it certainly WILL help a lot, as you can see i'm not very experienced at online Soul Calibur yet. The Ezio match was terrible, but it is the only Ezio I have fought and was my first match, so I figured it ill be fun to look back on and laugh at how bad I was. Needless to say, I only finish that combo with CE these days if it's a guaranteed win AND I think I might lose the round if I give him a chance. I'm much more defensive now too, so the near comeback in round 1 isn't too much of an issue.

As for Jin, I know I got lucky in round 2, and I have learned about trying to punish that damn CE. Also, I didn't know about that throw break method, and am looking forward to being 50% safer from throws in the future. It's gonna help a hell of a lot, because I do eat them all day long. I'm better at punishing now too, with either 236B or AA if they are too quick. Still learning to confirm the 6BBB though. I get trigger happy.

The first round was at the start of my discovery of 1K, so I hope you can forgive me for being a little over-zealous in it's use there. I really had no control over my actions...
I am getting better at punishing I think, at least it seems so with the amount of 236B's I throw out now. Reacting to lows is getting me a lot at the minute, I am learning the animations of the dangerous ones though. To be honest, I think more matchup experience is what I need for those, but people will insist on choosing Nightmare, Mitsurugi and Xiba. :(
That round went over my head, I only got it together at the end and kept my guard up. Thank justice for the aGI.
And yeah, those tech crouches are awesome. Personally, I love the mixups after 66A. Between A+B, B+K and a standardized GI, it works wonders. Helps that the move is so safe while looking highly punishable. It's such a tease!!

Thanks for the great tips. I felt I had to write a wall back just to thank you for your effort, and the throw evasion tip has already made it worth it, for me at least.
 
Teabagging? really???

if NM goes into stance try 236AB, longer/faster TC window means more margin of error. GS A can't aGI 236AB as well.

Don't use 6BBB against NM unless you're absolutely sure. A+B counters it and gives him the space advantage.

Should've hit him with something faster when he A+B'd in the open.

Was that you dropping 66B, 66B+K, (236K) at the end of the third round?

Going for the CE at the ring edge was a good decision.

1A is not the best move to use on A+G wakeup, if you want to go low, 1K or 2A+B are probably better... really, you shouldn't be using 1A in the open at all. Try and save it for ring edges, and hope the pressure prevents your opponent from blocking correctly.

66B, 66B+K, CE does not do a whole lot of damage compared to meterless combo. You need to save it for when you're fighting over the last pixels.

You've probably already learned, but be careful about attacking NM recklessly when he has meter.
 
Teabagging? really???

if NM goes into stance try 236AB, longer/faster TC window means more margin of error. GS A can't aGI 236AB as well.

Don't use 6BBB against NM unless you're absolutely sure. A+B counters it and gives him the space advantage.

Should've hit him with something faster when he A+B'd in the open.

Was that you dropping 66B, 66B+K, (236K) at the end of the third round?

Going for the CE at the ring edge was a good decision.

1A is not the best move to use on A+G wakeup, if you want to go low, 1K or 2A+B are probably better... really, you shouldn't be using 1A in the open at all. Try and save it for ring edges, and hope the pressure prevents your opponent from blocking correctly.

66B, 66B+K, CE does not do a whole lot of damage compared to meterless combo. You need to save it for when you're fighting over the last pixels.

You've probably already learned, but be careful about attacking NM recklessly when he has meter.

Sorry for the teabagging D:

And yes I dropped the 236K at the end of the round.

Thanks :)
 
Sorry for the teabagging D:
Don't get me wrong.

Online, since you are dealing with people you don't know, like strangers on the street, I prefer to show common courtesy and be polite.

At a tournament, where your opponent is sitting next to you, or you happen to be on stream, however-

teabagging and repeatedly taunting is fair game, with bonus points for doing it between rounds or (the best choice) doing it during a match.

If you can run up to a guarding opponent and pull off a full taunt point blank, that's even better.
 
my pat; me vs partisan online casuals. We both know each others matchup pretty well so there are no gimmicks here, just very safe play.
I <3 9K.
I wish I recorded my losses as well, because this pretty much only shows me getting lucky lol.

If anyone can offer feedback, that would be awesome :).
There are some habits I need to break, such as relying on 1K and 66B on wakeup, and spamming 66B til it gets old. As you can see in the video, once Partisan adapted to it, I had no other options and was punished for using it.
 
I watched my match several times already and I already see so many damn mistakes (not stepping second hits of stuff, not punishing with free 236B/accidently doing 3Bs trying, doing unsafe stuff point blank, etc) but can anybody else critique my play? I'm actually coming from a mostly Viola (with a tad side of pyrrha) main so any help with pat is appreciated... I don't think I'm seeing what I need to do in certain instances (how to deal with backdash/backdash step besides 66B and 66A?)

Here is the latest set between me and Genver (mitsu player.) We had played a 40-ish match set before this ft5, if that info matters. This is the second time I played pat against anybody IRL.

I have also an earlier set against a natsu player, but I don't think that one is as good due to it being the first time I tried using pat, and his first time playing against pat so there was alot of gimmicks involved. But if anybody wants to use that to critique, please let me know and I'll post it up as well.
 
Get used to whiff punishing with 3B (you missed a few opportunities). It has more range than you think, and tagging on CE afterwards can save you.

Remember to work 236K in combos.

Watch the scaling... 3B, 236B BE and 66B, 66B+K, CE are not worth it most of the time, unless your opponent is in the yellow (in which case, go for it).

I can't fault you for not using GI, seemed like Genver's rhythm was pretty staggered.

66A is more for controlling opponent position via force block, it's kind of bad at catching step from range, and I can't tell you how many times I've missed by a hair and left myself wide open. If you can stay close, 236AB catches my backstep all the time.

Be careful when you hit 1K at max range... Up close, it's a brutal frame trap, but at max range, it's backstep bait. If you sense that you're too far, try a step-in, or 66B if you're positive the other guy will backstep.

When you're in the opponent's face, unless you've conditioned them to duck, don't get over-reliant on 66B. Use Pat's other, quicker moves, AA, BB, 4K, etc. to try and get some frame advantage/pressure. If you notice that absolutely nothing is happening at all and you can't get anything started, you need to start 1K rushing (hit 1K twice, step in, hit 1K twice, repeat. if the other guy likes to backdash after the first 1K, hit 1K, step in, hit 1K, step in, etc.)
Usually if you kick people in the shins 3-4 times you'll provoke a punishable reaction from them.

Try and whiff punish with 66B when you can, you were doing step-in 1K or 66A instead... Don't get too predictable with it, but do it when you can, if you're late and it gets blocked, it still does good guard gauge damage and you're at -2 so it's not a bad situation at all.

I can't believe Genver kept getting hit with 1A XD

You're already pretty good for "day 2". I'd recommend more 236AB (but that's subject to personal preference)

The most important part, I think, is that you land more 236K. Then, you can bully people around with your meter, and that can cover any holes you might have in your game at that particular time.
 
If anyone can offer feedback, that would be awesome :)
Well, you didn't lose, so there's not much to point out. :|

1K on wakeup is legitimate, as is 66B on wakeup (66B in particular seems to have a freakish amount of active frames, maybe it's just me.)

Spamming 66B can get you punished, but honestly, if the other person can't deal with it 100%, use it when you can get away with it.

66B block, 66B is a particularly evil "frame trap" that catches a lot of people off-guard...
 
The 1K max range thing makes sense, along with the other things. Still have to get use to using 236K in combos... I have too much shield bash muscle memory from Cassandra I guess. And yeah, he likes to just hold guard sometimes, so I throw 1A because I know he's too busy looking for the mids. Against anybody else I don't usually do it though lol. Thanks drake!
 
Any comments, feedback, suggestion, criticisms are welcome. Hoping to improve my game
Critique train keeps rolling
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I see you using single B. That's slick, I like that.

Good use of 236K. That's what I'm talking about. That oki eats people's lunch.

Remember to use 2A+B instead of 1K when the other guy is in the yellow. Guts is insidious in this game.

Also 3A. Whiff punish with 3A to end the match, that usually works. TC frames + anti-step is a bonus.

Speaking of which, don't finish with 66B, 66B+K, 66A+B, it gets cut by Guts. 236B ender if you need the damage.

Combo off naked 236B BE with 2B+K, unless you prefer running forward for pressure.

Really solid play overall. I enjoyed watching this.

I think all you need is matchup data, and more disrespect for your opponents.






Well that's enough theory fighting for one day...
 
haha thanks for the tips! I've only been playing Pat for like 2 weeks now, so any help is appreciated.
I'll definitely post a vid of me losing, because there are a lot of those, I just haven't gotten around to recording them and uploading them yet :p.
Thanks again
 
Not bad at all Nyawu, really good for your 2nd time. I think you could use A+B a lot more to eat up some of their mids, and 1B of course (I advocate that to everyone). I like how you use 11K (I think thats the low), I don't use it much at all but it seems like it keeps them in good range for more of your offense, nice
 
I apologize ahead of time for my performance with pat. I felt like as the tournament progressed, I keep forgetting more and more things that you guys told me and then by the time I reached Hates I literally reverted to scrub mode (and choked out a couple of rounds.) I even forgot to 236K in combos too. Looking back, I got hella lucky that not many people here knew how to punish him lol. Have alot of homework/bad habits to get rid of for the next ranbat. (I actually need to not do 66A BE anymore. Manta JG'd it, Genver stepped it for free after a bit... gah.)

Vs Qdogg (Algol)

Vs Renzo (Z.W.E.I.)

Vs Redfoot (Xiba)

Vs Manta (Voldo)

Vs Hates (Cervantes)
 
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