Pokkén Tournament Labbing

[Tailon]

So I've been playing Pokkén a lot. I main Pikachu, so this post will be focused on him.

I've found a couple of decent combos coming from his Aerial Strong attack as well as some useful stuff at the walls, which I'll detail here.

So first of all, these strings only become true combos when you confirm his standing neutral Y, and they'll call for Pikachu's "Electric Wind God Fist", which is a blue, stronger version of his X interrupt that occurs when you time the X input on the same frame as the second or third hit of his YYYY (Poké Combo 1). Unfortunately it's pretty difficult to explain in text and no videos exist, but the EWGF in Tekken is performed with similar timing, so guides for that may help.

The syntax I will be using is fairly simple, I will use a black dot (•) to indicate the next button in the sequence, and brackets, carats, or the letter "V" and a plus sign to indicate directional inputs. All of these combos will cause a Phase Shift even if the confirm is your first hit in Duel Phase.

First is a string that works anywhere during duel phase. The first string is the true combo version, which confirms from Pikachu's Standing Neutral Y.

Y • Y • Y • X (EWGF) • ^+A (Volt Tackle)

This combo deals 139 Damage to Lucario.

Next is the version with the aerial X, which can be interrupted by a frame perfect Counter or a quick counter like Lucario's Extremespeed or Pikachu's Volt Tackle.

B (Cancel) • X • Y • Y • Y • X (EWGF) • ^+A (Volt Tackle)

This combo is essentially the same, but with the aerial attack, and deals 171 damage to Lucario.

These next combos work only at the walls of the stage, so they're pretty situational, but they're the most powerful combos I've gotten out of Pikachu so far.

The first works without support, the final hit sometimes changes based on the opponent, as it might not hit some Pokemon.

True Combo:

Y • Y • Y • X (EWGF) • <+A (Electro Ball) • ^+A (Volt Tackle) or v+A (Iron Tail)

This combo deals 171 damage to Lucario.

Linked Combo (can be interrupted):

B (Cancel) • X • Y • Y • Y • X (EWGF) • <+A (Electro Ball) • ^+A (Volt Tackle) or v+A (Iron Tail)

This combo deals 211 damage to Lucario.

And finally, the Support Combo, this is essentially the previous two combos with a support included. I will use the Lapras version for the inputs but there will be a list of supports that work with it and the attack they combo into afterwards.

True Combo:

Y • Y • Y • X (EWGF) • <+A (Electro Ball) • Support (Lapras) • v+A (Iron Tail)

This combo deals 191 damage to Lucario.

Linked Combo (can be interrupted):

B (Cancel) • X • Y • Y • Y • X (EWGF) • <+A (Electro Ball) • Support (Lapras) • v+A (Iron Tail)

This combo will do a whopping 231 damage to Lucario.

What follows is a list of functional supports, which finishing attack combos from them, and their damage range. The lower damage value is the True Combo, the higher is the Linked.

The format is as follows
Pokémon • Finisher • True Damage - Linked Damage
Support List:
Emolga • v+A ( Iron Tail) • 174 - 214 (+ Speed Down!)
Snivy • <+A (Electro Ball) • 185 - 225
Lapras • v+A (Iron Tail) • 191 - 231
Cubone • <+A (Electro Ball) • 180 - 220
Rotom • v+A (Iron Tail) • 177 - 217 (+Speed Down!)
Dragonite • ^+A (Volt Tackle) • 185 - 225
Reshiram • N/A • 142 - 182 (-Phase Shift +Attack Down!)
Magneton • v+Y • 146 - 187 (-Phase Shift +Attack Down! +Synergy Burst Weakened!)

That's my entire, gigantic post, please feel free to add your own "lab reports" for your favorite character!

 

[Brendan Savem]

Alrighty, I've had the opportunity to write down some of my own forays into the lab, I'll only be noting a few things, since most of my favourite combos are covered in the games itself. I'll add more later on.

First thing is stringing together two combos that are featured in Machamp's official combo set.

When close to the wall, during duel phase.
<+A • X • X (opponent should be stunned on wall) • > + B • Y+B
This combo deals 212 damage to Lucario

This one is better done early in the phase, as some of these moves can easily end the duel phase prematurely.
> + B • X • v+X • X • > + B • Y • < + A
This combo deals 176 damage to Lucario when bulked

I usually go for defensive or buff oriented supports, especially Whimsicott when dealing with Suicune. There are a few functional supports I know how to take advantage of though.

(Duel + Bulk Up) Cubone • A+X • A
This combo deals 155 damage to Lucario

(Duel) Diglett • > + B • Y • ^ + A
This does 79 damage to Lucario.
v+A is possible to end with, but it's hard to time. You need to be doing the midair Y before the opponent is in the air to make sure you're on the ground in time to catch them with this move. The 89 damage might be a decent trade off though. Don't do this if you're bulked up, you'll change phase and send them flying before you finish the punch, dealing only 76 damage.

 

[Tailon]

Well, this thread has sat abandoned for about a year now, but with Pokken Tournament DX announced I've been back in the lab with Pikachu and Lucario and I have some more stuff to share.

This first combo makes use of Pikachu's second Electric Wind God Fist, which is activated by using his >Y by pressing both forward and Y at the same time, the inputs are deceptively simplistic, but in order to get the full potential you have to land both EWGFs, although as long as you land the second, the combo will still succeed. As far as I can tell, these are all True Combos.

Y (EWGF) • >Y (EWGF) • X •X
The most basic, deals 150 damage at mid screen and 206 in the corner

B • X • >Y (EWGF) • >Y (EWGF) • X •X
Adding on Pikachu's bread and butter aerial combo starter brings it up to 179 mid screen and 230 in the corner.

Next are a couple of variations on this combo in Synergy Burst

B • X • >Y • >Y • Synergy Attack
Pretty basic, and significantly easier as forward Y is always an EWGF in Synergy Burst. Doesn't work in the corner as the Synergy Attack will not trigger.

And finally a quick corner combo

B • X • vX • >Y (EWGF) • X • X

This one only works in the corner and deals a whopping 260 damage, which is my current record for a single combo on Pikachu.

Moving on to Lucario, we simply changing up the finish on his Combo Dojo Synergy Burst Combo can bump up the damage slightly with good positioning.

For example
X • X • ^Y • >X (hold) • Synergy Attack
will deal 253 damage from anywhere.

However, simply changing to
X • X • ^Y • >X (hold) • >A
will deal 230 damage from left field, but if you are at the center of a circle field or closer, it will knock the opponent into the walls and deal 260 instead.

X • X • ^Y • >X (hold) • >Y • Y
Yields a similar effect, outdamaging the original combo by just a single point if the opponent hits a wall at 224 and 254 respectively.

These Combos don't seem like much but they're a worthy option if you're near the wall and want to save your Synergy Attack.

I know that a year in this labbing may not be much compared to the pros but it's important to collect this kind of data for reference and fun, I think.

 

[Tailon]

At long last I have gotten my hands on a Switch and Pokken Tournament DX and naturally I've been in the lab, this time with Scizor.

First I have to talk about an important piece of tech which I did not discover, I learned it watching Slippingbug play Scizor in SCR 2017 Grand Finals. It's a fairly simple reset, which allows you to bounce the opponent off of the floor multiple times off of the first hit of an aerial X, it goes like this

Aerial Y • X • R (Hover Glide) • Aerial X • ↩

(In future notation, this sequence will be referred to as Scizor Bounce Reset, SBR)

This allows for some pretty wacky combo extension in the air, since it can be confirmed off of any Aerial Y. Here's an example combo, with two Swords Dance stocks.

Hover Dash (hold >>) • Y • Bullet Punch Close (v<A) • Swords Dance Follow Up (A) • Y • SBR • SBR • Aerial Y • X-Scissor (Aerial A) • Swords Dance Follow Up (A)

And the unlabeled button sequence

Hold >> • Y • v<A • A • Y • SBR • SBR • Aerial Y • Aerial A • A

This deals 157 damage and changes phase.

Another little quirk of Scizor is his Neutral standing X. It juggles in such a way that it can combo into nearly his entire loveseat, including itself, with appropriate timing. This is my favorite result thus far.

X • X • Bullet Punch Mid (vA) • Bug Bite (Y + B)

This combo shifts phase and deals 169 damage.

Of course with a pair of Swords Dances Scizor can extend combos a ways. This one does less damage in the open but is capable of landing a wall smash for an extra 30 damage.

X • X • Bullet Punch Mid (vA) • Swords Dance Follow Up (A) • X-Scissor (Aerial A) • Swords Dance Follow Up (A)

This changes phase and deals 158 damage, 188 with wall splash.

That's all I've got for today, miiiight get into some Croagunk but the character kind of didn't fit my hands when I tried it.