Pokkén Tournament Approach options as Mewtwo? (Duel Phase)

[Deaga]

Hey there! I've been playing Mewtwo for a few days now and it's been a blast. However, I'm having some trouble approaching with him. Does anyone have suggestions on good approach options? So far, what I've been trying is:

1- Midair Strong Move (X in the air). Can go into a Down X.X > Down A.A.A combo which is pretty damaging if it hits. It also causes a fair ammount of block stun in case they shield, so it's more or less safe on that end. Will get beaten by anti-air or counters, though.

2- Mixups with Hyper Beam > Teleport > DO SOMETHING.

3- Psycho Cut. It's pretty cool that the Dojo Combos show that you can cancel the second hit by pressing R (pretty sure the move list doesn't do that) so if they block the first hit, you can cancel the second one and for a grab. Can't really do anything out of this, though. But it's nice to close a match if they're on low HP.

I find that I generally am very "jump happy" on this game... Normal walking speed on duel phase seems so slow and I get impatient. >.< Is just walking up to people and doing SOMETHING valid too?

 

[IsmaR]

Barrier offers pretty good mix ups, moreso than Hyper Beam cancelling, IMO. Has less start up for cancelling into Teleport.

Confusion is very fast and works well with Barrier's pseudo-counter properties.

Telekinesis is among the easiest command grab to follow up works great against opponents that like to sit in shield/use counterattacks.

Drain Punch has deceptive range (only gets better if you use it when in Burst), is decently fast/safe and heals your recoverable HP.

The only downside is any of these will cost some of your Synergy Gauge.

 

[DoctorRotom]

I've been using Fire Punch a lot recently. It appears to have armor properties, but I'm not exactly sure.

 

[meleebrawler]

I've been using Fire Punch a lot recently. It appears to have armor properties, but I'm not exactly sure.

It's a counter move, and actually connects properly if used as such outside of a combo, but overusing it can get you grabbed or drain your synergy gauge.

 

[DoctorRotom]

It's a counter move, and actually connects properly if used as such outside of a combo, but overusing it can get you grabbed or drain your synergy gauge.

Ah, that makes sense now. Thanks for clearing that up, brother. I'm not having much trouble building meter at all, so I'll watch for the grab. My old lady isn't home right now to test with me, so at what point can we be grabbed out of it? During startup I'm assuming, but is it also unsafe on shield?

 

[meleebrawler]

Ah, that makes sense now. Thanks for clearing that up, brother. I'm not having much trouble building meter at all, so I'll watch for the grab. My old lady isn't home right now to test with me, so at what point can we be grabbed out of it? During startup I'm assuming, but is it also unsafe on shield?

It's pretty much always the startup of counters that's vulnerable to grabs and counter-piercing. Fire Punch by itself is safe on shield, but Ice Punch is not, which can be a problem since landing a non-critical Fire Punch outside a juggle allows the opponent to block the Ice Punch.

Think of it as Fei Long from Street Fighter's Rekka Ken dash punch; you can pressure a blocking opponent with just the first hit.