**Paul Phoenix - Gameplay Overview**

Paul is an interesting character because there are two very different types of Paul players online. There is party Paul who will do evasive shoulder after literally every exchange, and there is the other, significantly more dangerous Paul that is willing to block and has game knowledge. This guide will outline some of the more powerful stuff, but a lot of the moves that we will talk about are what party Paul's are going to use. Paul is a character with pretty significant stengths. He has exceptionally strong tracking, damage, punishment, and some of the best panic buttons in the entire game. On top of that, he also has a lot of string and stance mix-ups that can make it very difficult for you to move around against him. He is similar to Law in the sense that his string offense is a really big part of his gameplay. However, unlike Law, Paul's strings either have very little counterplay or require very good timing in order to punish them. Combining that with him having relatively-safe, long-ranged whiff punishment means that he excels at defense while also having the ability to mix you up from 4 different positions at all once! Every time he goes into back sway, he is threatening a backsway mix, forward sway mix, deep dive mix, and full crouch mix. His biggest issues are that his combos are very demanding, he is SIGNIFICANTLY weaker on infinite stages, and that many of his panic buttons are very unsafe. However, his strengths combined with a full throw game (both with a wall-splatting throw and a floor-breaking throw) make me believe that this is the most underrated character in the game.

**Key Strength #1: Great Punishment**

While Paul's 10F punish is pretty horrible, basically the rest of his punishes are extremely powerful, so it's hard to call his punishment anything besides amazing. If you have a bunch of -10 moves with pushback, then he will struggle to punish them, but you're getting hit hard in any other situation. He can launch standing moves at -14 oB while also having a long-ranged whiff punisher in QCB1+2. He can wall splat on 12 and heat engage on 13. From crouch, can he also wall splat on 13 and has a standard 15F launcher.

**Standing Punishment**

10F - 2,3 - 22 damage, +8 oH

12F - B1, 2 - 31 damage, wall splats and knocks down

13F - F2 - 34 damage heat engager and heat-dash launcher

14F - B3 - safe, high launcher

15F - DF2 - standard safe DF2 (can't launch crouch)

Whiff Punishment - QCB1+2 to launch, QCF2 and F4 to heat engage

**Crouching Punishment**

11F - WS4 - 18 damage, +5 oH

13F - WS3, 2 - 37 damage, knocks down and wall splats

14F - FC DF2, 1 (just frame) - 38 damage, knocks down and wall splats

15F - WS2 - standard WS launcher

**Key Strength #2: Very High Damage, Especially with Walls**

Paul's DF2 is one of his lowest damage launchers and he can reliably get 77 from it without any walls or resources. Once you add in walls, basically any launch is going to give Paul 100+ damage very reliably. Then you have to wake up with your back against the wall against Paul, who threatens Demolition Man, a 40 damage unreactable low, or Deathfist, which is lethal if Paul is in heat. He does take a risk with this 50/50, but given that he wins the game if you duck the Deathfist, it's worth the risk. On top of that, Paul's pokes are pretty slow, but they do pretty chunky damage. This means that guessing wrong against Paul is just a bit more punishing compared to other characters, and he can VERY quickly chip away at your health if you aren't blocking correctly.

**Key Strength #3: Top-Tier Tracking**

While Paul does have a weak side like everyone else, trying to evade Paul via lateral movement often feels like a lost cause. For most of the cast, he has great moves that will track to each side making it very difficult to try stepping. SWR is his weakness, but F2 (heat engager that launches in heat), B3 (safe, high, normal-hit launcher), standing 3 (string that lower-level Paul's will use for free pressure), and D1 will reliably track that side. Depending on how Paul generates frames, his DF1 will also track (which is an insanely powerful DF1, we'll talk about it later). While standing 3 isn't a great move in the neutral, the rest of them are totally servicable moves that Paul wants to be using anyway. If you step left to evade these moves, now you are getting hit by his safe DF2, B4 (relatively safe, fast low). While this sounds like a lot of moves are being evaded, the issue is that if Paul uses his DF1B, his DF1 is now +3 oB, and a very good Paul will be able to do another DF1 fast enough that it'll track to both sides. Combining this with the fact that F4 is probably the best homing move in the entire game, and it becomes scary to try and step Paul, especially since he has a good homing move from deep dash and back sway.

**Key Strength #4: Weirdly Strong Evasion**

Paul doesn't look like the type of character that would be super evasive, but trust me, this guy can be very hard to hit if you aren't patient with your buttons. His evasive shoulder is notorious for getting him out of situations that most characters have to hold. His DF2 is notorious for going under jabs. His forward sway high crushes with good timing and deep dive naturally high crushes. Back sway is about twice the distance of a backdash, which can be useful for getting out of situations that would be tough to navigate (for instance, if you block Anna's HMC1, back sway creates a ton of space). This character can be very slippery when he wants to be.

**Key Weakness #1: Very High Execution**

Paul is a character who weaker players are going to have to get their damage by fishing a lot more with Demolition Man (Paul's hellsweep). If you have the execution for his combos, he has some of the hardest hitting combos in the game, especially if you get wall. With that being said, I'd like to think I have pretty good execution (I typically go for very high execution combos on my mains), and I have a very difficult time doing his stronger combos. While my execution isn't top tier or anything, worse players are going to struggle with actually killing people with Paul since there is so much damage being locked behind execution. Not only that, stuff like DF1 loops are VERY difficult to do, and not being able to do them means your pressure is much worse and much more dangerous.

**Key Weakness #2: Relatively Sluggish**

While Paul does have some fast moves, many of his good ones are very slow, usually clocking in at around 20 frames or slower. This can make it very difficult for Paul to hit faster-paced players as it just takes so long for any of his moves to come out. As strong as his DF1 is (especially in the hands of a good player), it coming out at 14F does matter against faster players. While people typically press much less in apex tiers of ranked meaning that Paul's sluggishness is largely irrelevant, it becomes a much bigger issue at lower levels where people refuse to block.

**Key Weakness #3: Overreliance on Walls**

While Paul can get very good damage without walls, if he can't get you to a wall, he doesn't have broken damage and gives up a lot of pressure. This is because his wall combo is exceptionally damaging, especially when he is in heat. Beyond that, his wall oki with heat dash deathfist, demolition man, and QCB3 to resplat you if you press are very scary. He does have a knowledge check if he doesn't get wall, but this knowledge check is MUCH weaker against characters with G clefs (Dragunov, Anna, Bears, Lili, Law, Lars, etc.). If you don't know this knowledge check, you will be taking between 92 and 159 damage depending on how badly you messed up.

**Key Weakness #4: Risky Offense**

Paul has a similar problem to Eddy where, if you know what's going on, Paul takes a decent amount of risk with many of his moves. He can play very safe if he wants to (and if the Paul player has good enough execution), but he can suffer from range issues and many of his evasive moves and panic buttons have terrible frames on block. Combining that with Demolition man being so strong at the wall, any time it gets ducked, Paul players are dying for it. 

**Sway Transitions**

QCB or B3+4 (Manual Transition)

3, 2B (+4 oB, +14 oH)

DF1B (+3 oB, +9 oH)

WS1, 2B (+1 oB, +14 oH)

**Sway Options**

1 - i21 mid that is 0 oB and knocks down (notably, does not wall splat). Also, it's a CH launcher.

2 - i15 safe, mid heat engager and heat dash launcher. -9 oB.

1+2 - i16 mid launcher. -14 oB.

3, 2 Series - 3, 2 is an i18 low, mid string that is not a natural. It is a CH launcher, though. If they stop at 3, 2, it is -10 oB. They can then add the 1 option for a high with significant pushback, essentially resetting to neutral or they can use the 4 option for a knockdown mid that is -13 oB and forces crouch. Both of these options wall splat, so be careful if your back is against the wall.

4 - i15 homing, high that is +1 oB, knocks down and wall splats on normal hit. Also, it's a CH launcher.

**Sway Counterplay**

Unironically, crouch jab beats literally everything if Paul presses on immediate timing. The issue here is that a Paul who delays his button press will evade your crouch jab and be able to launch you with 1+2. At lower ranks, I wouldn't worry too much about this. If he does WS1, 2B in particular, you can contest with a 13F mid, so he will get CH if he does anything, just be aware of the range of your moves, as delayed button creates quite a bit of space. Finally, this stance is generally weak to SWR. However, Paul can Sway Cancel into any of his normal moves. This means that a good Paul can DF1 Sway Cancel DF1 and this is homing against everyone except Lili, Alisa, and Zafina. Crouch jab still beats this, however.

**Crouch Dash (CD) Transitions**

QCF (Manual Transition)

1+2 Charge F (this crouch dash realigns so if you let him CD you have to guess, but it is technically launch on read)

**CD Options**

1 - i16 Safe, high launcher. -4 oB.

2 - i13 Deathfist. -17 oB with pushback. This move has 0 tracking and is launchable by basically the entire cast at point blank range. At tip range, only Fahk and AK can punish it.

1+2 - i32 launching low that is only -12 oB. This is EXTREMELY telegraphed. He can cancel it into FC, but if you hopkick this on response, you beat both options.

3 - i18 high-crushing low that is -14 oB. On CH, this gaurantees a demolition man for 51 damage.

3+4 - i19 safe, jumping knee that is -9 oB. On hit, gaurantees deathfist for 58 damage. Also, it's a CH launcher. 

**CD Counterplay**

Paul isn't really going into CD to run a traditional stance mix-up. Rather, each button from his CD serves a different purpose. Deathfist and CD1 are good whiff punishers. CD3 is a good low poke if you are anticipating a high. CD3+4 is a good mid check if you are anticipating a low. With that being said, if you are anticipating a CD move, SWR will beat all of them unless he is doing 1+2 charge cancel. This will realign the crouch dash to make everything track much better.

**Deep Dash Transitions**

DF from Sway or CD, DF3+4 (Manual Transition)

F1+2DF (0 oB, +5 oH)

F1+2 Charge DF (+4 oB)

UF2DF (+2 oB)

**Deep Dash Options**

1 - i17 homing, high launcher that is -1 oB. 

2 Series - this has the same enders as the Sway 3, 2 strings. If you think the high is coming, you can duck. The mid is -13 oB and forces crouch. Both will wall splat.

4 - i17 hatchet kick. Gives guaranteed follow-up on CH. Otherwise, -13 oB.

3+4 - i18 backflip that does 32 damage for some reason. This move is just funny; I don't think it has any real utility. However, this can hit you twice if your back is against the wall for 39 damage, so it is one of his strongest single hit moves. 

He also has access to all of his FC and WS moves

WS1, 2B - i15 mid, mid with no counterplay. +1 oB.

FC DF2 Series - this is addressed later in the guide, but this is an option-selectable string.

**Deep Dash Counterplay**

After F1+2 with no charge, SWL is technically very good here as it evades a lot of things. However, you will obviously get tagged by the homing high launcher, which is enough of a deterrent for you to stand still and take a guess. His only low from this stance is a hatchet kick, but hatchet kicks are pretty good, so I would only duck on a hard read.  On any frames better than this, you have to guess, unfortunately. If Paul transitions from Sway or from CD, the entire stance is homing. Good luck.

**String Defense & Moves to Look Out For**

1, 4 - common round ender. high/low string that doesn't jail. Look to low parry this, especially if your HP is low.

3, 2 - This is normally a combo filler, but some Paul players will use it in the neutral. Make sure you are ducking and launching this if they use it.

F1+4 - colloquially known as teleport, this is Paul's evasive shoulder. You can expect this after any situation where you are obviously plus, especially after heat engagers or heat dashes. If you are going to heat engage or heat dash, make sure you use a homing move as your first option. Otherwise, it is -14 oB.

DF1, 1, 2 - this is a safe mid, high, mid string. It is balanced by the fact that you can duck and launch after the second hit. However, his DF1 is also one of his most powerful pressure tools since it can go into sway. This makes ducking this string very hard to do, as choosing to duck this means that you're kind of forcing yourself to not step his sway mix-up. However, if they show you this string more than once, be on the lookout for it so you can launch it.

D1, 2 - Paul's will sometimes charge this in heat as it is a guard break that he can wall splat you with. You can step this to either side on reaction (though going right is generally safer since you want to be stepping Paul to the right, anyway). If he doesn't charge it, it is -17 oB outside of heat with no pushback and -13 oB in heat with pushback. A common flow chart is no charge in heat into teleport.

D1+2 - This is an ultra-fast shoulder that gives 55 damage on CH. If you do block it, it's -18 with basically no pushback.

B2, 1 - This is commonly used as a knowledge check after a tornado. The way the setup works is that Paul with use his strong aerial tailspin, then heat burst, then spike you with B2 and charge the 1. The way out of this setup is to backroll into a jab string. If you have a G-clef, this setup is way worse, as Paul ends up taking a massive risk for going for this. Either way, this is a mix-up, as he can half-charge it to CH launch your jab attempt. Personally, I would always jab the first time and then just block the second time.

FF2 Series - FF2, 1 without the blue spark is a mid, mid that is -12 oB. If he blue sparks it, a much faster high comes out that is -4 oB. Paul also has FF2, 2 which has a launch punishable launching low. There is actually a very cool option select that you can do here. Since none of the follow-ups have any tracking to either side, you want to input a sidewalk using your down button. If the mid or the low comes out, you will sidewalk them. If the high comes out, you will duck it and do a micro-step. This is pretty hard to execute, so another alternative is to hold the down button for a few frames. You will always duck the high, and you can stand up in time to either block the mid or hopkick the low.

WS3, 2 - Paul's WS 13F punish. The second hit is a high if he his late with his punish; duck and launch.

CD 1+2 - While Paul can cancel this into FC, you generally want to try to hopkick this on reaction. If you duck it and Paul cancels into FC and does WS1, 2, you have to guess again, and that is cringe.

Sway 3, 2 Series and Deep Dive 2 Series - These two strings have the same 50/50 at the end of them. You will typically see this 50/50 at the wall where the 2, 1 ender is a high that wall splats, and the 2, 3 ender is a mid that wall splats. Because you can duck and launch the high, the mid becomes much more valuable against people who know the matchup. Not only that, the last two hits are delayable. With that being said, if you do duck the high, he is obviously launch punishable. If you block the mid, it is -13 oB and forces crouch. I personally never duck here, because I don't want to get blown up, but that's just me.

Anti-Paul Guide