User:SaveChopper

Overview

Strategy

Combos

Which Dog?

Pom has five distinct dogs she can summon with magic and a sixth she can summon with her super meter, an amount that may seem overwhelming. Here's a quick rundown on their advantages, versatility, and beginner-friendliness.

Bitey (236B)

Bitey is considered by many to be Pom's best and more versatile dog, and a very beginner-friendly dog.

Bitey's underbite (3D) is the fastest of all dog attacks, coming out at 17 frames, and has a very low profile letting it dodge some attacks in neutral. 3D's fast startup also makes it a good defensive tool with sheepherding—he's the only dog fast enough to hit the opponent during [4]6A's invuln period, and with the right timing can make Pom safe or even plus afterward. 3D also hits low, giving Pom high/low mix options unique to the entire roster. With sheepherding and Pom's air mobility this can be turned into four-way setplay.

Overbite (6D) is slower, lacks a low profile, and hits mid, making it directly worse in neutral, defense and oki. The primary advantage 6D has over 3D is MUCH higher damage on hit and block and longer hitstun. 6D is a great combo tool and provides better reward if it does open up the opponent.

There are no matchups where Bitey struggles in relative to the other dogs. Grounded rushdown characters like Arizona, Paprika and Shanty are especially disrupted by bitey. A Tianhuo player who stays in the air as often as possible might be able to avoid it in neutral, and getting Bitey in position might be hard against Velvet, but still excels on offense and defense in those matchups.

Big Mama (236C)

Not a very beginner-friendly summon but a powerful one in the right hands. Mama has a very large hurtbox and is the only dog made vulnerable when rallied, making it a risk to move her into position, and can be killed in a single combo if you let the opponent do so, leaving you with no dogs and no magic for a precious few seconds. This combined with her very slow attack speed, as well as the 3.1 patch disabling her if Pom ever blocks, make her a higher risk to use than anything else Pom can spend her magic on. However, the armor on her attacks and her counter can make challenging her very dangerous for the opponent, and Pom can leverage that for strong neutral control and pressure.

Big Mama's bark (6D) is a counter active on frame 1, and the only dog attack as of 3.1 to not be disabled when Pom blocks. It is the centerpiece of Mama's kit, compensating for her weaknesses and punishing the opponent severely for poking at the wrong time or trying to mash against Mama's approaches. The move can be used as a reversal, though its input means Pom is vulnerable to lows, and after it's triggered Mama enters an autoguard state where she blocks all attacks, turning her into an invulnerable wall against zoners. Pom can use this to approach or scare the opponent into not attacking so Pom can run some light pressure.

Big Mama's bite (3D) is multihit, frame 55 strike with one hit of armor and high chip damage, useful in pressure situations capable of locking the opponent down in conjunction with Pom's attacks. The move has a large gap between its first and second hit that Pom has to cover to prevent Mama from getting mashed against, and Mama will stop attacking if Pom blocks during this gap, making the move not great in neutral. The move also has okizeme potential, giving Pom a left/right mixup, and it can pull the opponent out of the corner for a crossup.

Big Mama's gnaw slam (9D) is an extremely slow and telegraphed command grab with limited neutral utility and no defensive potential, but can be used for a tick throw mix with Pom's lows. Pushblock extending the opponent's blockstun means it doesn't work well in blockstrings, use it with okizeme.

Mama's 6D gives her a niche as an approach tool against zoning from characters like Velvet and Texas, and can give rushdown opponents enough pause for Pom to make a move. 3D can threaten air approaches, and even her rally hurtbox can eat jump-ins, a relevant factor against Tianhuo.

Digging Pup (236A) and Following Digging Pup (214A)

Digging pup has one attack, a slow multihit mid. Digging pup is cheap, costing only one magic and recovering magic almost instantly when it leaves, giving it synergy with Bitey, but doing little outside pressure on its own. Digging pup can make Pom's very unsafe attacks plus and can open up the opportunity to summon another dog or regain magic after bitey leaves the field. The attack also works as a cheap, low-risk meaty. Digging pup also holds a special niche in the matchup with Arizona, a character with a strong grounded approach but no alternative movement options besides magic dash. Pom can use digging pups as a zoning and spacing tool against her, able to summon successive ones quickly to keep up the wall.

Following digging pup behaves identical to the normal summon, but follows Pom without a hurtbox instead of being moved manually. This version can be easier to pilot for new players because of this, but contains multiple severely detrimental bugs that have existed for five years and counting without being patched. To avoid most of these bugs, avoid summoning more than one following digging pup at a time.

Chopper (214B)

Chopper is, to be diplomatic, a very flawed summon with limited strengths and severe weaknesses. Chopper tracks the opponent automatically, an appealing trait for the beginner player, but struggles to accomplish anything.

Chopper's pierce (6D) is an air-to-air. The threat of the move can condition opponents to jump less, though the most airborne character Tianhuo can use her magic options to get above its range while approaching. The move can be used as a combo tool after Pom's launcher, extending the combo without using Pom's ground bounce. 6D also hits Texas standing.

When the opponent is on the ground, chopper's weaknesses really show. Swoop (3D) is one of the slowest overheads in the game, but an overhead nonetheless giving Pom some potential high/low mix. The move has a very limited horizontal range, and the opponent can avoid it by walking, dashing or jumping away from the direction it comes from. It has a very small hurtbox and a very large hitbox, making it easily hit by most moves in the game, even the average 2A.

Old footage of Pom will show players using the summon very often, but cumulative nerfs to chopper and to Pom's dogs as a whole have eroded its high points and amplified its problems to the point that some Pom players will say to never summon the dog.

Best Uses of Meter?

Pom's bread-and-butter meter tool is her level 1 super, Stampede. The attack leaves Pom extremely plus on block, letting her summon a dog and/or set up a mix, can be looped in combos for high damage, and can be used as a panic option after a very unsafe button or her Sheep Herding. Many characters have at least one tool that can punish the move raw and some can punish it from a blockstring gap, and everyone can throw it on reaction to the super flash up close, but the move remains one of the most vital tools in Pom's kit and shapes her game plan. Some Pom players exclusively use their meter on Stampede due to its strengths and the weaknesses of her other options.

Pom's level 2 summon is Big Papa. Big Papa has three moves, all strikes that can be blocked mid. 3D is a slowish strike, a very large gap, and a second strike, and can be used for high-damage combos or to bolster Big Mama's lockdown. 6D is an ultra-slow strike with infinite armor, but falls flat because all the opponent needs to do is make Pom block to disable it, and 9D is a mid with extremely low damage, a high JD increase and which uses Pom's one stagger per combo, serving no real purpose besides comboing into Big Mama's 9D. Big Papa can only be used four times, a use is consumed if he stops due to Pom blocking, Pom's other dogs cannot attack without also commanding Big Papa and taking away one of his uses, and he can be comboed away like all of Pom's other dogs, weaknesses that compound into a very flawed super.

Pom's level 3 super is a move that exists. Spend all your meter, which Pom may not be able to build up in a match, on a counter that takes 13 frames to become active, which you lose said meter if hit before it's active, which loses to throws, which loses to armor breaking moves like certain supers, which has two full seconds of recovery where Pom can be counterhit, which when triggered has a large gap with slowdown before the flash where the opponent can act unless it's triggered by a close-range grounded strike, which has a 1f gap or larger after the flash, which can be air blocked, and which can be counterhit after the active frames if dodged. If it's triggered and it hits, Pom is left +0 at a very special range where her own 5A cannot hit but every other character's 5A can, putting her at effective disadvantage. You can use this move if you want to.

Cross Canter, the universal defensive tool that costs half a bar of super, can get the opponent off Pom. Like all CCs, it leaves Pom +0 on hit and very, very minus on block. It's not a horrible option for getting the opponent off you but Pom doesn't have great tools to follow up on it. Sheep Herding into her level 1 super provides more reward and only slightly more risk, but cannot be done during a gapless blockstring so there is a niche for Cross Canter.

Neutral

Important Normals

• 5B: Decent poke with almost no hurtbox extension, making it Pom's best disjoint.

• 2B: Move has low profile on frame 5, a better one on frame 8, and is jump cancellable on hit. Can duck under certain normals in neutral and serves as an anti-air even when Pom has charge. Be wary of its frame 1 hurtbox extension.

• 5C: Long-range poke with strong pushback that can be used to get dogs onto the field safely. When cancelled into a summon it becomes Pom's only safe blockstring ender without dogs or super. Terrible on whiff.

• 2C: Pom's only long-reaching low normal and her only hard knockdown. Her best ender for okizeme and resets, she can cancel it into a summon or Sheep Herding and remain very plus. Also terrible on whiff, as well as on block.

• j.B: Multihit overhead, very important for pressure. Instant Air Dash j.B is Pom's fastest overhead option, a strong approach tool, and a tool to keep on the opponent after being pushblocked.

• j.C: Pom's most immediately appealing button. Very long-range aerial that at different points hits above, below and even behind Pom. Has the potential to dominate neutral but is easily anti-aired due to its large hurtbox extension, use with moderation.

Pom, being a puppet character, does not want to be caught without one. Her jabs are bad and leave her unable to punish or challenge some things that most characters have no trouble doing, and her pressure is linear without dogs due to limited ground buttons that are all jab-punishable on block besides the aforementioned jabs. Pom's only safe ender without a dog or super is to press 5C and then cancel into a dog summon. Her A and B summons leave her -2 and -4 on block respectively, safe enough to avoid a normal jab punish but not safe enough to avoid an IB jab punish, while 236C is -8. 5C has significant pushback on normal block, though, meaning Pom can sometimes safely summon Big Mama despite.

Most of Pom's pokes have significant hurtbox extensions before the move comes out, but 5B has almost none. Pom's 2B is in many cases her fastest attack that can hit, and its low profile that starts on frame 5 and becomes even lower on frame 8 lets her dodge certain pokes from the opponent. 5C is one of the longest pokes in the game and can get a dog on the field safely at range whether the opponent blocks it or not, though it can be both backdashed and jumped over and it has the longest recovery of any ground normal in the game besides a few 3Cs, so do not throw it out willy-nilly. 2C is similar to 5C but can only be made -9 with a summon cancel, a more dangerous button to throw out but her only low with range besides Bitey's 3D, making it important for calling out opponents who jump back or try to dash-block in.

Pom has strong anti-projectile tools. Sheep Herding ([4]6A/B) is fully projectile-invulnerable, even after it becomes strike-vulnerable, forcing the opponent to call it out when used as an approach tool. Bark ([4]6C) is projectile-invulnerable for its startup and active frames, letting it challenge close-range projectile attacks—especially useful against Velvet whose blockstrings require projectile attacks. Barking a projectile also lets Pom cancel it into a summon, giving her a chance to get a dog onto the field against zoning and using the dog to bolster her approach.

While Pom's ground buttons are flawed, her air buttons are all above average. j.A is an important air-to-air due to its speed. j.B is a strong jump-in that can let Pom run offense immediately after if not pushblocked, and performing an instant airdash into j.B is one of Pom's best approach tools at footsies range, albeit not a fast one. j.C is a normal with both fantastic range and a horrifically large hurtbox extension. Many newer Pom players over-use this move, which can be anti-aired fairly easily from far away, but it provides high reward on hit. You can airdash forward after the move is blocked to gain distance, or airdash backward to gain distance, the latter taking you about fullscreen if j.C is pushblocked. Against newer players who aren't comfortable anti-airing you on reaction, j.C can and will win games by itself, but using the tool incorrectly will get Pom killed against a good opponent.

Overall, Pom is not a character who wants to play footsies if she can help it. Some of her grounded buttons have nice assets like 5C's range and 2B's low profile, but their flaws and Pom's linear gameplan make it a riskier game for her than most other characters. Use them to get a summon up at a safe range if possible, and use Pom's air buttons for a more consistent threat. See the overview on dogs to determine which dog is best to summon, but in general bitey provides an immediate and easy-to-use threat, Big Mama can threaten a powerful counter that the opponent is forced to play around while she's up, and digging pup is a fast and cheap filler option.

Offense

Pom's dogs are a crucial part of her offense. Without dogs, Pom has some okay options for mix and pressure: j.B is an overhead for the first hit the opponent blocks and a mid for the remaining hits, but it can be cancelled via airdash or float into itself for a second or even third overhead. Cancelling j.B into j.C causes Pom to fall faster, giving her an opportunity to quickly use her low 5A or 2A or go for a tick throw. This high/low mix will catch some opponents off-guard but can be beaten with pushblock and absolute guard. Pom can also use her float to slow her fall and cross the opponent up before j.B hits, but this has the potential to lose to anti-airs. Instant Air Dash j.B can get Pom back in after being pushblocked, but this leaves a large enough gap for Pom to be anti-aired.

Pom's easiest and most potent dog on offense is Bitey (236B), specifically with Bitey's 3D. 3D hits low, even while Pom is in the air and can use her overheads. Bitey's 3D and the strategies with Pom's j.B above layer over each other nicely—Pom can perform a high then a low, or a low then a high. With float cancels, Pom can make that a high, then high, then low, or a high, then low, then high etc. Crossing the opponent up with float or Sheep Herding expands this into a full four-way mix. A lot of layered mix with Bitey can lose to mashing, however, especially Sheep Herding crossups where Bitey can be hit during the startup of 3D.

Big Mama's 3D can be used as a stagger pressure tool, or to pull the opponent away from the corner for a crossup. 3D has a gap that can be mashed through, requiring Pom to run either a stagger or gapless string to keep Mama safe, but Mama's three uses let Pom lock the opponent down for quite a while. Pom can also leave a gap on purpose and use Mama's 6D to bait the opponent into mashing, granting considerable reward on hit.

Without dogs and without meter, Pom's only safe blockstring ender is 5C into a summon, and even this is not safe if Instant Blocked. Against an opponent trying to IB that button, resetting on a technically unsafe 5B or 5B can give Pom the chance to backdash and get enough space to 5C from a range where she cannot be punished, or Pom can attempt a wider stagger and throw off the opponent's timing. Pom's level 1 super, however, is extremely plus on block and Pom can gaplessly blockstring into it from 5C at close range. Doing this gives Pom the opportunity to summon another dog and get in position to pressure or mix the opponent afterward. It is possible to lock the opponent down with Big Mama's 3D, stall with stagger pressure, go into super from 5C or bark, perform more stagger pressure after the super, and regain the magic needed to summon another dog, including Big Mama who can lock down the opponent even longer.

Okizeme

Pom's 2C is her only hard knockdown, but fortunately a good one. If Pom does not have a dog summoned, 2C into summon can leave her up to +35; this is plus enough to run okizeme by herself, but not plus enough for the newly summoned dog to become controllable. j.B offers an ambiguous left/right mix as well as a high/low mix, as outlined at the start of the Offense section, and can be used as a safejump.

If Pom has a summon, she could follow up on 2C either with another summon while using the first as a meaty (example would be having digging pup, summoning Bitey for mix, and using digging pup as a meaty before Bitey can be controlled), or get better positioning with Sheep Herding. 2C into [4]6A leaves Pom +21, plus enough to perform IAD j.B and counterhit most anti-air attempts. Crossing the opponent up this way can mess up some reversal attempts and remove a charge character's charge. Bitey offers immediate four-way mix after a hard knockdown, while Big Mama's 3D can be used for both ambiguous crossups and double crossups.

Big Mama's 9D is a command grab, albeit one too slow to reliably use in most situations. If set up from a knockdown, however, it can be used with Pom's lows for an unreactable 50/50. Pom can not only make the opponent guess between the low or the throw, but can use a low for a tick throw—and then perform a second low as an alternative. The opponent can pushblock after blocking the low to gain immunity from the grab, but cannot easily do so on reaction, meaning Pom can bait a pushblock and make the opponent whiff, leaving them open to the grab.

Defense

Pom's dogs, formerly a group of defensive menaces that could be used to punish the opponent during blockstring gaps, have been changed to stop attacking when Pom blocks as of patch 3.1. While this was a massive blow to her defense, Pom still possesses tools to get her out of a bad situation, albeit with more risk.

Sheep Herding, Pom's command dash, is strike-invulnerable on frame 1. This can be used with Pom's dogs as a reversal, and Bitey is by far the best dog for it due to 3D's fast speed. [4]6A, the shorter dash with shorter invulnerability, is more easily punished by jabs but offers easier conversions if a dog hits the opponent during it and its quicker recovery can throw off the opponent's punish timing. [4]6B gains more distance, making it harder to punish by characters with shorter buttons, but its longer recovery gives characters with large, fast buttons more time to react and punish. Both should be used to prevent the opponent from getting comfortable. Very important to note, all versions of Sheep Herding are throwable during its startup, making it easy to call out.

Big Mama's 6D, the counter, is the only dog attack to not stop if Pom blocks, making it one of Pom's only consistent defensive options. The opponent must respect the counter by either avoiding triggering it or using setups that let them block it, e.g. safejumps or certain attacks with low enough recovery. Because Pom has to input the attack standing and dog attacks cannot be buffered, it loses as a reversal to meaty lows; Sheep Herding and 6D together get around this issue at the cost of taking away Pom's ability to tech throws.

Pom can cancel Sheep Herding into her Level 1 super. This can be used as a turn steal if the opponent whiffs a button, but most characters have at least one option to punish this and all characters can throw Pom after the flash. Pom also loses her strike invulnerability the first frame the super is input, opening her up to getting counterhit and wasting the meter. If Pom is struck after the flash, any dogs spawned prior to the hit will continue running, potentially giving Pom a trade that she can combo from. It does not always work, but it is a high-risk option that can steal entire rounds.