Pokkén Basics Chapter 8 Jumping, Projectiles, Anti Airs
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Chapter 7 was all about Pokkén's ground game, and I'll say it million times I love Pokkén's ground game. The thing is, some characters have superior control of the ground compared to others. Many times this is because they can keep opponents out with projectiles or really good pokes. To get around these, other characters often resort to jumping and using their aerial options to do damage instead. Projectiles, jumping, and anti airs are all related so I'm going to talk about all of them in this chapter.
Projectiles
Projectiles are... well anything that your character throws out at the opponent. There are some nuances to that and some attacks that look like projectiles don't get erased by projectile invincible moves, but that's the general rule. In field phase, most projectiles don't track very well so the best way to avoid them is with side stepping. In duel phase, most projectiles don't go very high, so you can stop them with jumps. Different projectiles have different priority levels, and I've linked a list of them made by Shadowcat. Projectiles keep opponents at a distance, and deal a lot of chip damage. Because there are so many varying animations, there's not a universal way to stop them all. Some can be punished with a CADC, and others leave opponents in hitstop so long, the character using the projectile can punish the CADC instead. Some of them only hit at certain heights, or can be jumped or slid under on reaction. Others are negative on block from close up or completely unsafe. As a general rule, however, walking and blocking is the strongest counter strategy. Check out my video on dealing with projectiles that I've linked. As for utilizing these yourself, they're great for stopping opponents who like to dash and lunge at you constantly, as they'll give you free damage and even a confirm depending on the move.
Projectile Priority list: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/14wbEh4fmmcpMKvpqir_1zieaJxK-Qad6Gxn31X2mvo4/edit#gid=0
Jumping
Jumping is the kneejerk reaction to stopping grounded pokes and projectiles. Jumping is very strong in Pokkén because it avoids lows on frame 1, and it avoids mid lows on frame 5. Most of the best pokes in the game are lows and mid lows, and jumping avoids a ton of projectiles. This allows you to punish their recovery animation as you're coming down. Many characters like Gengar and Decidueye have obnoxious jumping movement options and attack animations that make it almost impossible to keep them out of the air. Even using the universal 8Y anti air, you'll often still get beaten out. The main downside to jumping is that it's committal. Meaning you cannot block in the air and you obviously can't microwalk to avoid danger while in the air. Let's get into how to take advantage of that fact to stop players who are jumping at us.
Anti-Airs
Anti airs are attacks used to stop opponents who have jumped. I have a video on how to properly space yourself to anti air effectively, and I've linked that. I also talk a lot about spacing in my Pokkén Basics Plus course. Some moves are designed to stop jumps, and others are just used as improvised anti airs. 8Ys universally have upper body invincibility. Most of them have invincibility starting frame 5, but others can start on frame 1 like Chandelure and Gengar. Check the frame data to see if you have moves with upper body invincibility that you'd like to use. Otherwise, armored moves can also act as anti-airs like Shadow Mewtwo's Psystrike. But those are character specific for how effective they can be. The faster the move, the more likely it is to be active fast enough to actually punish a jump in. If you hit opponents while they are still in the air, you usually can get a juggle afterwards. Some characters just are bad at controlling the air. Blaziken's 8Y has a really low priority hitbox and will clash and lose with jXs, and other aerial attacks a lot. So instead it has to dedicate to RL X which still has a pretty narrow hitbox on top of it. When fighting a character like that, you'll find it very rewarding to pressure them with lots of jumps. Even if Blaziken tries to use an i15 move like EX Sky Uppercut, it has no upper body invincibility, so it's not protected from your jumping attack's hitbox at all. Remember that you can still use jumps which are usually mid highs, and other highs against most anti air attacks, but it has to be done meaty. Specifically, it has to be done before the opponent's anti air attack reaches its upper body invincible frames.
Projectiles keep opponents out, jumping is used to counteract projectiles, and grounded attacks, while anti airs are meant to control jumps. Master all three of these AND footsies to assert dominance over the ground and the air. Now that we've finished basic spacing concepts, next chapter will be about Basic Offense.
