Jean Pierre Polnareff

**PLAYSTYLE**

930HP

Poke, pick, prod and interrupt the opponent with long range normals, then punish mistakes hard.

Polnareff is a character that relies on his strong neutral game to suppress the opponent and interrupt their advances. Once he gets an idea of how they react, he takes the opportunity to punish them with damaging, meter efficient combos. His main Mode is S-ON, which gives access to fast normals with ridiculous range, and a command overhead. These normals are ideal for punishment and keep-out. S-OFF provides some decent normals, as well as some interesting, yet situational moves. These include a dive kick, projectile, and a strange zoning rekka.

His main special in S-ON is 623A, which can be used for safety (L), combos (M) and wall carry/combos (H). This move can be used as an anti-air against shallow jumps. Another interesting move is 421A, which is a leaping crossup move -- a big payoff move as reward for a good read that leads to a full combo.

Polnareff’s great neutral and meter efficient combos are obvious strengths when fighting him, however he requires a good amount of precision and skill to utilize his tools fully. For instance, he has no real anti-air, but instead relies on a flowchart of ‘okay’ options for every stage of the jump, that requires quick reactions to pick the right one. His normals are all very useful, but have a specific use and need the right judgement call to use effectively. In addition to this, many of Polnareff’s interesting moves are not only situational, but require a PC to convert into good damage. This means that Polnareff needs careful meter management to both make the most of his moves, and have meter left for damaging combos. On defense, Polnareff struggles up-close, especially on wake-up as he has no ‘get off me moves’. This means if Polnareff makes a mistake, he struggles to re-establish himself.

**PROS**

* Excellent neutral on S-ON using his fast, long-range normals.
* Good damage, especially considering how meter efficient his combos are.
* If played at ideal range, he can lock out the opponent fully.
* HHA is an after image install allowing him to go on a full offensive.
* If played smartly, is very safe.

**CONS**

* No real reliable anti-air.
* Has to rely solely on basic defense systems on wake-up.
* Struggles at close range.
* S-ON is very tall, overheads need faster reactions to block.
* Many of his specials are very situational.
* Requires 1 bar of meter to convert many options into worthwhile damage.
* One of the many casualties of renaming. Any trace of the name "**Polnareff**" being visible in the NA and EU versions of the game is removed.

### Combos

#### **Bread n' Butters**

Stand Off

5L>5M>5H>6M>421+L/M (122 damage)
5L>5M>5H>6M>236+A>6+H (129 damage)
5L>5M>5H>6M>214+A (142 damage)

Stand On

5L>5M>5H>623+M (99 damage)
5L>5M>5H>623+H (109 damage)
5L>5M>5H>236+A (112 damage)

1-bar(ish) Combos

(S)2L>5L>5M>5H>6M>236+A>PC>S>LMH>236+A (217 damage)
(S)5L>5L>5M>5H>623+M>SR>j.H>2L>5L>5M>5H>6M>236+A>PC>S>5L>5M>5H>236+A (276 damage)

Combos into HHA/GHA

(S) j.H>5L>5M>5H>623+M>SR>j.H>2L>5L>5M>5H>6M>214+A>PC>GHA (544 damage)

(S)421+A>5M>5H>623+M>SR>j.H>2L>5L>5M>5H>6M>214+A>PC>GHA (549 damage)