Puss in Boots Combo Archive

[RetroGamersGuru]

This is the thread that will archive and discuss the combo game of Puss in Boots.

[RetroGamersGuru]

This post is intended for beginners, people who want to learn Puss in Boots, and/or people who just want to become aware of his punish game. I should've worked on this type of post of him a long time ago, but better late than never.

Puss in Boots as a character has a limited amount of punishes off of an opening in the current meta of infinites and 0-Slams due to the nature of his moveset. His 0-Slam punishes (and potential ones) all require a ground grab and a wall except for 1 infinite off of shield break/grab mashout stun.

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True Jab Combos (Updated as of 1/23/2017):

His AAB jab combo is true if timed correctly, but it's easy to mess up and allow the opponent to escape and potentially punish you right back. The same thing goes for the ogremented version AAO. The last one that could be true is AOB. ABB is not true at all due to the pause between the second and the multi-hit, but AOB has a slightly faster transition between the second and the multi-hit due to the animations borrowed from AAA (which is true as opposed to AAAA). Further testing is needed to see if the multi-hit itself can't just be beaten by rolling out of it. Again, AAAA and ABB are not true at all.

What's good about AAB and AAO is that they break shields at the end, so he has two true shield break jab combos in his arsenal. AAB also is good for extending the shield break/grab mashout stun infinitely (see the full slam punish thread for more details).

Recap: AAB, AAO, and AAA (lol) are confirmed true.

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Air Grab Options (Updated as of 1/23/2017):

...It's just a neutral reset. It doesn't even confirm Puss's slam on its own since the opponent can mash out of the OTG state and roll through the stun leaving you standing around too long while the opponent runs away, which makes it one of the worst air grabs in the game. The best that you will get from air grab is if you have your Air Dash still and use it in a soup grab, and that still doesn't confirm into a combo, just a 50/50 mixup with another grab or an aerial (see 50/50 and Mixup section). In other words, you'd have to use your Onion Boost (one of the slowest to start up at that) in order to have a decent chance of landing the air dash soup grab other than with a read.

tl;dr  Puss's air grab is bad other than to reset the neutral again or for the air dash soup grab for mixups.

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Ground Grab (GG) Options (Updated as of 1/24/2017):

His Best punishes come from a ground grab like most of the cast.

--Non-Wall GG Punishes--

On the whole stage, he pretty much punish like any other character with 2 Anti-Airs Out of Shield to an Aerial. I have been able to land a Dash Attack after the Anti-Airs a few times, but you have to time the anti-airs very well to have enough time to land a Dash Attack on the falling opponent. So basically his best grab release combo is 2 anti-airs, a dash attack on the falling opponent, and an aerial. Even then, further testing has to be done to see if you can land an Aerial after it (if the opponent can mash out easily, you are better off going for the Aerial immediately instead of trying to include a Dash Attack for damage sake).

Aside from the Anti-Air combo, the only other punish that I can see as worth going for is the grab release to a jab combo or the soup grab AOB jab combo. I would say that the AOB combo would be ideal for the grab release if close to a full slam because you quickly transition to a Slam afterwards due to the nature of mashing the B button. Besides, AOB does the most damage anyways since it pushes you forward for more hits than ABB.

Now, if we are going to be technical here, Puss in Boots can land 3 anti-airs from grab release, but that requires basically TAS timing. Don't try that.

--Wall GG Punishes--

If he is close to the wall, he has a couple of interesting punishes off of it. Before I go into the punishes off the wall, NEVER DO AN AIR THROW! If you do, all you did at was get a neutral reset. Alright, now for the actual wall punishes.

If you are right up against the wall, you can do throw the opponent (uncharged works and is most consistent for the sake of the opponent not mashing out) while facing the wall (perpendicular) and can connect a low wall attack almost immediately afterwards. If you time it correctly, you can connect an air dash as well after the low wall attack. After the low wall attack or the air dash, you can connect with an Aerial to finish the true combo (you can potentially land a High Wall Attack instead of an Aerial, but testing for mashing is needed).

If you are not right up against the wall but are still facing it (perpendicular), you can throw the opponent (still uncharged) and do an Anti-Air almost immediately afterwards. If you are close enough, the combination of the rebound off of the wall and the anti-air knockback sends the opponent higher than usual which allows for 2 more Anti-airs afterwards (position yourself between hits if necessary). If you are not close enough, you can land only 2 Anti-Airs off of the throw onto the wall. After the Anti-Airs, you can connect an Aerial to finish the true combo (further testing on mashing is needed to see if a High Wall Attack instead of an Aerial is still true).

Now, you can combo off the wall with charged throws, but I don't recommend it since it gives the chance for the opponent to mash out.

As a tip for the situations where you land the ground grab but are not close enough to a wall, you can still go to a wall and drag along the opponent with you, but you can't do it in one grab (because the opponent will mash out). You need to be able to grab release the opponent (shield) and then turn around and grab them again before they can act out of the release animation (a couple of frames after being on the ground again). In other words, you need to do grab release regrabs while moving slowly towards the wall in order to be able to position yourself at the right spacing for a wall combo.

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0-Slam Punishes (Updated as of 1/23/2017):

Alright, in a meta of infinites and 0-Slams, the Puss main has to be aware of the 0-Slam options that the character does have and what they should eventually work towards.

--Full Slam Punish #1--

The first 0-Slam punish that was discovered and confirmed involves Puss's Special Attack. You have to full-charge the special (as of now and has been fully tested) and land 3 hits on the special attack first, and you have to position yourself to where the third hit is close to the end of the move and near the opponent. If you are not near the opponent with the third hit, you end up with a neutral reset. If you are near the opponent but land only two hits of the special (which happens a lot), you will be 1 hit off from a full slam punish (assuming you complete the combo with the following method). If you completed the needed criteria, you will have enough hitstun to land a ground grab. Drag the opponent to the wall if needed, and complete the Throw to Low Wall Attack combo string (finishing with the Aerial in this case) for a Full Slam Punish. For more details, see the "Wall GG Punishes" section.

--Full Slam Punish #2--

The second 0-Slam punish is the same as #1, but this also can be used if you land only 2 hits of the special instead of 3. Now instead of the Wall Attack combo, use the Anti-Air Wall Combo (Finishing with the Aerial in this case) instead. Now I haven't tested how much of the Anti-Air Wall Combo is needed to get a full meter, but the 3 Anti-Air Wall Combo completes 95% of the meter on its own, so you're guaranteed a full slam with that variation and likely with the 2 Anti-Air variation as well. For more details, see the "Wall GG Punishes" section.

--Full Slam Punish #3 (Theoretical)--

It is a variation of #1, but instead of finishing with an aerial, you finish with the High Wall Attack (Must Be Tested For Mashing At The End Though).

--Full Slam Punish #4 (Theoretical)--

It is a variation of #2, but instead of finishing with an aerial, you finish with the High Wall Attack (Must Be Tested For Mashing At The End Though).

--Full Slam Punish #5 (Theoretical)--

Alright, this 0-Slam punish still needs to be tested for mashing at the end as well, but I have landed this before while testing for punishes. This involves only the 3 Anti-Air Wall Combo, but in between 3rd Anti-Air and the Aerial, you land a Dash Attack. The Anti-Airs and positioning have to be timed well to be able to land the Dash Attack. After the Dash Attack, just finish off with an Aerial. For more details, see the "Wall GG Punishes" section.

--Full Slam Punish #6 (Theoretical)--

This is a variation of #5, but instead of finishing with an Aerial, you finish with a High Wall Attack. I highly doubt this is true by comparison, but this should be tested to make sure (Dronkey's infinite is slow as well).

And that wraps up the current full slam punishes. As you can see, most of the punishes are variations of 2-3 combos, so his full slam punishes are limited as of right now and have been tested. Further testing is needed to see if he has anything else or if a couple of punishes are not true (the finishing hits are the ones I'm concerned about).

--Full Slam Punish/Puss's 1 True Infinite #7 (Situational) (All Credit goes to ProviderOfSouls for this punish/infinite)--

This 0-Slam punish depends on the opponent messing up in two particular cases. You either have to break the opponent's shield (using AAB or AAO of course) or you have to mash out of a grab. Puss's true AAB jab combo is a lifesaver in these cases. Once the opponent is stunned like being hit by an apple, you can continuously use the AAB jab combo to extend the stun to fill his slam meter. Once you have enough of the meter filled, you can grab the opponent and finish the meter with his shield canceled grab to anti-air(s) combo for a confirmed slam.

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50/50 and Other Mixups:

Outside of grabs and jabs, an air dash can lead to an aerial (if high enough) or a grab for a mixup. If close to the ground, the air dash to ground grab mixup is fast enough to catch people off guard and can lead to his better punishes. The same thing applies to a High Wall Attack (1 reason to even look into the move along with it doing slightly more damage than the Aerial and along with being used for an Onion Boost (Thank God he is one of the characters that can use this movement option). If you land an Aerial and both players are on the ground, you can mix up between jabs, grabs, or rolling away depending on the opponent's character and your playstyle.

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Alright, this wraps up his punish game as of right now in the meta and what was discovered at the time of writing this. I will update on his punish game as more is discovered and tested in the future.

[redridingshrek]

Really good stuff! Didnt knew half of this!
This made me think about to try out him again

[RetroGamersGuru]

I remembered the grab release to jab combos that you did at your locals a couple of times, so I probably wouldn't have gotten to them as fast otherwise. Lol.

[RetroGamersGuru]

The thread has been updated.