people play grapplers cause they are the best its that simple

"Axl if they like jorts" "Goldlewis if they like the cops" Fucking died bro lmao

Grapplers are the masters of fear in fgs. They are the best designed to create situations in where the defending player can make mistakes that are very punishing. Literally, the primary defensive mechanic in all fgs, grappler exploit by grabbing. Since blocking can be so bad, players will panic and do anything else. Panic backdashes, jump outs and mashing can get an opponent killed even faster than landing the grab in the first place. And once they are terrified to do anything... *grab*. It's perfect.

Playing a grappler is like having a drunk step dad because you never know if theyre gonna hit you or not

Something you didnt add but makes a big difference to me is that grapplers typically have more effective health. So you have room for a few mistakes while looking for your opportunity. That plus the dopamine hit of getting the grab is why pot is so fun for me.

Also, there's few things in life more satisfying than feeling how afraid the opponent is. I played Alex for a while, and I was amazed on how much people just kept running away and doing shit on wake up just because they were afraid of my grab

The process of setting up frame traps all set for like four rounds and then I finally get to SPD two or three times in a row is better than sex I'm not going to lie

You basically nailed it. Its just a beautiful feedback loop where that dopamine hit of landing a grab is made sweeter by you having to struggle for it against your opponent. Technical skill is never that big an issue which supports the mind games you look forward to in a match.

2:35 Between Goldlewis and Nagoryuki it seems as if ArcSys has set itself the challenge of coming up with physically big characters who look and even move quite a lot like traditional grapplers, but aren't actually grapplers ... 4:06 Given the sheer _amount of money_ there used to be and to some extent still is in Magic: the Gathering, you can bet your life that it has a team of professionals optimising the Skinner box. This is the game that (I'm barely exaggerating) invented the Monetisation Strategy, and was the centre of the hobby-gaming universe back in the early '90s.

“Easy to play not easy to win” is a perfect explanation that applies to a whole different level. Sajam made a video of 6th grader +R tournament and everyone thought Potemkin was top 1 besides their teacher’s main until ‘zoning’ was introduced to the meta. Since that video it makes me double take a few comments I see now and then lol.

Despite having very easy bnb combos , Potemkin has the hardest optimal combos in terms of execution and game awareness to recognize when you can go for them. Few people in the world are doing these combos consistently , a legit mention is FAB of course. His game plan is very easy and the hard thing as @LordKnight said is to get into the situation grapplers like to be.

Favorite type of non-traditional grapplers are the ones from KoF, which are essentially just rushdown with command grabs (Clark, Shermie, Daimon, Ramon, etc.)

i'm old as hell and i've played played gief since SF2, I picked him up at 9 years of age because "he's the biggest dude, he must be the strongest" . i always have to ask my friends in game series I haven't played before "hey, which one is zangief?"

i agree with a lot of what you said, command grabbing people just feels so good. also i love the intimidation the grappler brings to the match

Coming from someone who’s played a decent amount of 3rd Strike I love that Potemkin has Kara cancels. I always thought Akuma’s Kara Demon was one of the sickest things ever in a fighting game and Potemkin can use Kara Buster to get silly range on a grab that does 50% but also Kara Garuda for oki and Kara Back Mega Fist and Heat Knuckle for some longer combos midscreen and in the corner. Also Potemkin’s Japanese VA brought the hype with the voice lines. Landing a raw Heavenly Pot Buster gives me the kind of rush I only thought was possible by taking drugs.

I'd say I play grappler because of my father. He is a big guy, himself, and as I always admired him, I ended up liking big characters a lot.

When lk said " I earned that" I immediately thought of the guard crush video lol

people play grapplers because it's hilarious to obliterate somebody's health bar in only a couple of attacks for making one small mistake, i main trini in battle for the grid because she can take over half a character's health with a full screen command grab into level 2

You nailed it. I def enjoy the challenge of playing with the mobility restrictions, and the patience it takes to set up your grab, and the payoff for that patience. There is nothing like defending against an onslaught watching your big health bar dwindle and then FINALLY they screw up and you got them, and you link your combo into your command grab and the playing field is back to even ...but the momentum has shifted because people lose heart after that sever chunk of health loss in such a few moves. I love it. Plus big guys aren't always the most popular.

There are very few things in a fighting game more satisfying than walking through half a minute of obstacles and then conditioning an opponent to block, and swiping them off of their legs for that KO. One of my favourite match ups of all time is Playing as Gief vs Sagat. Getting through that bullet hell and slowly pushing him into a corner and making him fear me is a vibe I love.

Bless the MTG talk. I came straight from card games into fighting games and there's SO MUCH OVERLAP it's kind of insane. Besides both genres being born in the early 90s and still holding a lot of that early DNA nowadays.

I'd love to see your thoughts on why people play technical characters like Zato, Jacko, Kan'Ra (from KI) etc. Good vid!

To be honest I just like BIG, HUGE, LADS bro, and they tend to be grapplers so I am 9 time out of 10 a grappler main.

I think my main love of big bodies derives from how good it feels to read what your opponent's going to do and use a specialized tool successfully, you get into it with the grab specifically, but it also applies to tools like Hammer Fall/Heat Extend. Being able to call out a very specific option and getting high reward for being right is very satisfying.

because i love the texture that red paint has

5:55 is exactly why I like playing Potemkin. Big, smashy buttons and I think he's fun to play without having to remember all kinds of weird shenanigans or combo routes - and landing a PotBuster feels like a win even if you lose the match imo.

wait we gonna get a video about each archetype? thats gonna be hype!! i love this

Instant subscribe to stuff like this. I love how in recent years the FGC has put in a lot of effort to introduce new players to universal mechanics like notations and terminology. I didn't know TK meant for years

This type of analytical commentary is pretty cool, thanks for the vid :)

Goldlewis if you like the Cops, bruh I spit out my drink 😂

My first fighting game that I played a lot of hours in was SF4. And I liked Abel, because his game plan was simple, and he had high reward. But, it affected my choice of character in other fighting games I played after. As I didn’t command throw often, but I relied on the threat of it to open my opponent up. He was a perfect starting character that defined my fighting game experience ever since.

Good points, including ease of use. Shorter combos is helpful in playing multiple games, & less often than I'd like. I'm fine w/limited or alternate forms of movement over dashing usually. I've been trying to main Leo, but have twice the wins & character level w/Potemkin. Now I'm wondering just to focus on Potemkin or try harder w/Leo. Fun vid.

If you play a grappler even once seriously in a game its so easy to get, I play Millia and shit, but if I'm playing against Sol, and I Normal Throw -> H Disc -> (land)Normal Throw If I see even a single frame of that mans DP get eaten by my second throw or that "REVERSAL" text show, I feel it, I pop tf off a little bit

Man LK I was just expecting a 2-3 minute vid of you talking about what brands and colors of glue and crayons they munch, I respect it

Coming from USF4 Guile and just messing around with the cast (with a defensive oriented play-style), I wanted to learn how to play Laura in SFV. So with her hybrid grappling style and just landing those CGs, I learned to love playing grappler characters, which is why I also main Potemkin in Strive :D

Great video!

Love the analysis. Sick as.

this also touches upon something many grapplers suffer from intrinsically more so than a lot of other archetypes, outside of direct patches or system versions, grapplers lose the most relative strength the most quickly over the course of a game's lifetime.

you nailed it! all of the above for me!

Nailed it on the head here. The challenge of gettin in and getting that cmd grab is what keeps us going

I dig grapplers largely because I have access to huge damage as long as I can read my opponent well. Consider Potemkin's moveset: he's got a response for everything but each of his tools only work best in specific scenarios.

Cool series!

I love grapplers, *when they stay away, in the corner and die fast to mixups and combos. otherwise getting grabbed twice in a row makes me wanna throw my controller.*

My two favorite grapplers are Beowulf from Skullgirls and T. Hawk from SF. You can flex so much with all the Beowulf throws, and T. Hawk just exudes raw power in every grab. And the best part... BOTH CAN FLY

As a Bowser main since Melee. This video spoke to me, haha. I didn’t realize how much that character has influenced my character choice in traditional fighting games. The big hits man, something about it.

I feel a lot of this, as a Tager player the fun of playing fighting games for me isn't doing lots of stuff myself but being able to either make or figure out what my opponent is doing and using that to my advantage usually by throwing/airthrowing them after making them not want to press buttons

as a grappler "main" I think you nailed this one.

Totally agree, I really like to play grapplers because they are straightforward and have a lot of tools that are simple to understand but can still let you express creatively. Like I'm that guy who could do a rock paper scissors tournament the whole day and have a ton of fun, because I like the mental game and letting my mind focus on that rather than hard conversion/combos or fast movement. Still right now I'm playing KY in guilty gear, both because kizzie is really cool playing it, and because I feel like if I wanna play any other character/game KY is probably the best character to teach me fighting games foundamentals, whiff punish, effective ranges, zoning, anti airing etc

I think the part I enjoy about playing Pot the most is the conditioning. At higher level you can't just walk up to people and grab them. So little by little you get them used to certain conditions (for example meaty cS as they wake up). After eating that 3 times in a round because they tried to avoid a Pot Buster when they are low on health they have a tendency to block when put in the same situation. That's when you command grab them. You're slowly pushing them to make a mistake.

the salem reference in the description LOL

2:23 Me as a Ramlethal + Giovanna player: Yes, always respect the true men of culture 6:33 .. wait

I love the high damage per hit, high health, not reliant on complex combos or setup, and making my opponent afraid. The only cons are restricted movement and being hated, which are fine to me. lol

King got me into playing grappling characters

crazy to see how my two favorite hobbies of fighting games and magic intersect

6:38 - The _shaaaaaaade!_ ⚰️

I play Ram for the little monsters that hold the swords and the swords themselfs xd

Even though I don't play grapplers i think they are the coolest characters to watch in a match. The moments when they get the grab are just so hype and the neutral game is also super tense and interesting.

Pro timmy theory: locate biggest damage move in the game and play that character. Thats how i got to grapplers and paul phoenix

'Well ackshually', we can also grab startup frames of grounded attacks, in Strive even DPs are throwable. So it's not limited to blocking.

"If you don't like to be zoned, be one of them" - Z Broly

For me, I play grapplers for a number of reasons, the biggest probably has to be the reward I get from working to reach it. On another end, I also play them because I've always played/liked tank-style characters in media, ie Heavy in tf2, Reinhardt in overwatch, and things like that. Hulk was also my favorite marvel character growing up. When I got into fighting games, it just felt natural I guess lol. I also always liked underdogs, when I got into 3s, my first fighting game, besides Sean, Alex felt like the ultimate underdog for me in both lore and gameplay, I liked characters that kinda filled that niche I guess. To add, they're also a really good lesson on patience, characters like them who are usually slow have to spend time looking for opportunities to get that win condition, and as you mentioned, that feeling of finally getting that condition feels really nice.

I played Bison in SF5 for a bit (I haven't played it for toooo long). Then I got my first fightstick and wanted to try out the grappler archetype cause I felt I was never able to really pull off 360's reliably on pad. So I went to the traditional pick of Zangief. And I just had a lot of fun with it. Took me a hell of a while to adjust and learn the style though. But the fear factors just feels good. SPD's just feel good. Punishing someone trying to escape spd's feels good. Calling out the jumps with an air grab, just, feels, good.

Glad to see everyone is starting to recognize us as people

The real dopamine hit of traditional grapplers is landing the air SPD.

video on why do people play the one shot character next?

dude love the comparison to mtg archetypes

3:19 does any other character make the screen shake on a whiffed poke?

6:33 I'd like to point out that I play Ram bc lady of color with big swords and a killer fit. Her gameplay also just speaks to me.

I think I'm a grappler main in denial(either that & either hybrid grappler/ beserker archetype). Not the biggest fan of zoners, or low damage characters. Their damage output gives a me chance to be able to comeback in a round. It's an awesome feeling getting the right read on an opponent too.

As a child, it did start off with ooh big strong character and that's never subsided but the ease on the execution really helps me with my big clumsy hands so I can really focus on the game itself that and honestly I'm built like a grappler but I quite like anyone big bodied

This is also why I love I-No in strive You can just land that big command grab super It feels so good haha

I started playing grapplers (Pot) in Xrd cus of my background as a charge player in street fighter, Leo was taken in my group of friends and I can't stand May so Pot was just the natural choice. The only issue I have is that Potemkin is like the perfect character for me. It's been difficult playing grapplers in other games cus I felt like I was missing something. The 2 grapplers that has succeeded in winning me over are Q from 3rd Strike and Big Band from Skullgirls

I just wanted to have a chill night in sf6 not taking anything seriously and decided to try modern zangief just for fun, and oh boy, grapplers are so freaking fun to do big damage with

Dizzy and Ferry players also play Ramlethal

Cuz its fun, dayum.

"Zangief, what is good in life?" "SPDing my enemies, and reading their salty lamentations on reddit"

I want to hear more player type explanations because I have no idea what kind of player I am.

8:30 LK Has finally reached peak mix deviant and can now only get off from neutral.

In XRD, my first thought for a main was May, because Alestorm was my favorite band at the time and I had to represent pirate metal, even though Pot's demon eyes and knight helm was immediately tempting. It wasn't till I started going through the character tutorials that I discovered that the only characters where said combos clicked with me were Kum first, but even moreso, Potemkin. When Strive came out, I decided it was the game I was going to be the grappler. I've strayed once, but no other characters really click - Testament is not a 4 star ease of use, by any means. I'm not good at winning with anyone - Pot's only gotten me to floor 6 twice after Testament demoted me to 4, and I should be 7 soon sticking to Pot. Only character that I could be tempted by again is probably Kum - filling the screen with those massive Kum shots was a neat mechanic - but she's an unlikely include.

The reason I like playing grapplers (mainly the traditional grapplers) is be cause it's hard to get in close and hit that grab, but when you do get in and hit that grab all your hard work finally pays off.

I wish everyone made grapplers like SNK does - guys that have grappling as a big part of their kit but aren't gimped in their movement options. Blue Mary, Ramon, hell even Skullgirl's Beowulf. Fantastic characters with fun options that don't get reduced down to "get in and blow the enemy up after struggling against the stream."

I like to think of goldlewis as a grappler and his command grab is forcing you to take 15 behemoth typhoons of chip in a pressure sequence

When’s the why do people play setplay characters video

I mean, I played General RAAM in KI cause he was simple, damaging, and fear inducing. It was very fun to just grab someone over and over again.

As a Kanji player, I don't hit the command grab because I know they're blocking, it's because they pressed literally any button (OR blocked) Which I guess explains why they had to make him bad at everything else.

6:34 I feel attacked lmao

When you land that big command grab and you feel your opponents moral shattering.

I play Potemkin because I have good execution and frame data knowledge but not the best gamesense at times. Grapplers often let me make a few more mistakes and live while I eye up the opponent's offense and try to get big damage in their gaps. Of course the aesthetic is fun, as is the feeling of being in the opponent's head. Similar to why I played Chie in Persona 4 arena.

I honestly play it for big/fast normals that isn't gated by abysmal movement speed. coming out ahead in trades is also a good feeling. Probably why Hugo feels more fun than Zangief for me at least and I suspect that's why people like Big Yellow like playing Abigail, Hugo, and Abel too.

On that first point, how the character you pick reflects something about you. I think it's true. I really wanted to learn how to play Anji because that guy is a just positive vibe central

In theory if the game has low throw invul window using command throw will beat fuzzy mash as well.

I'm brand new to traditional fighting games and I'm having such a hard time wrapping my brain around anything

Does Pot Buster lose if you press a button? The number of times I've gotten punished by trying to beat it with a move gave me the impression that it's fast enough to not be stuffable and your only real option is to jump or not be there. Admittedly, a significant portion of those were just me playing on autopilot (jab on wakeup, mistimed meaty from bad habits, etc), but I still want to know, given proper timing, can PB lose to a button?

I play grapplers. I find it the easiest way to psychologically torture my opponent, that’s why

What's the outro track to this video called?

i just can't explain how good it feels to land a fully heated Grab super on bullet and drag opponent across the screen in the 15 second cutscene when spinning the stick like a madman

every day that passes lks mic gets lower i swear

I play grapples because i saw FAB doing fast stuff with a slow character and I was like. I believe now

pot's kinda got that semi-low skill floor, pretty high skill ceiling sort of dealio which is why i like the character a lot you can come out with a simple gameplan, simple execution and do pretty well but if you want to put the time in for some of the mechanically demanding stuff, you get to cash out even more to the point where the threat of a command grab is about even with if not less than the alternative (i.e: kara utility/ kBMF loops in his current interation)

I started playing grapplers as a counter pick to a sibling who played high execution characters in third strike. I didn't practice as much and didn't like to grind out combos in training mode. I found pulling off new combos in actual fights made me a worse player most of the time because I felt like to win I needed to pull it off. So I picked a grappler who basically had to hit the other person 4-6 times and get a stun then win. It allowed me to learn how to break people's offense and defend against their oppressive gimmicks. It taught me how to make use of spacing and oki situations as it's basically the only way I could win with a character that really wasn't as good as most of the cast. These lessons can be transferred to basically any 2d fighting game. I basically play all characters like a grappler now. It's also probably why I get to a mid-high level fairly quickly in any fighting game I pick up. Just do good enough damage and look out of ways to control the other person.