Current State of Atom

[Cursa]

So now that Atom's place in the game has had P-L-E-N-T-Y of time to have developed a spot in the game due to him having had like 0 relevant changes since release I'd like to re-introduce some discussion about this char.

He has had good major representation through the control of Grr and has been showing good results with him. People have claimed that his trait/D3 are broken, others claim he is balanced. I think he has some quite strong weaknesses and I'm not too sure I would put him on the tippy top of top tiers but he's definitely close.

So, anyway, what are people's thoughts on Atom? Whether he needs changes, discussion of his strong tools and his weaknesses, his state in comparison to other characters in the game etc. I think it's been plenty of time, but was necessary due to how his gameplan was pretty indifferent(?) I guess, in terms of whether he was actually good or not.

So onwards, yeet.

 

[Cursa]

grab tech during trait should put him in recovery.

tbh if this was a thing I'd probably just never go for the grab again because it would never be worth it and it's like rarely an option for me to begin with

cause who needs grabs when you have guaranteed 50/50s

 

[Cursa]

A nerf to trait's duration or cooldown wouldn't be out of the question for me.

I'd leave everything else alone if he actually needs nerfs. D3 is his whole neutral so I sure hope that doesn't ever get nerfed

 

[Crusty]

If pushblock was simply the block button like igau, he’d be significantly easier to deal with imo.

 

[Cursa]

If pushblock was simply the block button like igau, he’d be significantly easier to deal with imo.

Heavily agree tbh, if you could consistently pushblock trait then he'd be in a similar place to where trait's like Atro's and Bman's are where they're really scary if you're out of meter or choose not to use your meter.

I don't know how this would be implemented but you are 100% right.

 

[M2Dave]

tbh if this was a thing I'd probably just never go for the grab again because it would never be worth it and it's like rarely an option for me to begin with.

cause who needs grabs when you have guaranteed 50/50s

If your opponent simply blocks by holding down, the mix ups are limited without throws. The overhead does 10% of damage, has no follow ups, and can always be checked by d+1s because Atom is not able to cancel the overhead into any other trait attack. Ironically, throwing plays an integral part of Atom's trait mix up as connecting or escaping the throw transitions Atom safely to neutral. Adding recovery frames after a throw escape would have a significant negative impact on the trait and its mix ups.

As seen in tournament, high level players who are familiar with the Atom match successfully defend the trait and its mix ups. Of course, the guessing game is still in Atom's favor, which is why the trait is one of the best ones in the game, yet claiming there are "guaranteed 50/50 mix ups" is a bit of an exaggeration to say the least.

Do you know who has "guaranteed 50/50 mix ups" with trait? Zod, who has a legitimate 50/50 mix up anywhere on the screen that leads to 40% combos and set ups from a trait you could not parry or reflect. Atom has nothing alike.

 

[Cursa]

If your opponent simply blocks by holding down, the mix ups are limited without throws. The overhead does 10% of damage, has no follow ups, and can always be checked by d+1s because Atom is not able to cancel the overhead into any other trait attack. Ironically, throwing plays an integral part of Atom's trait mix up as connecting or escaping the throw transitions Atom safely to neutral. Adding recovery frames after a throw escape would have a significant negative impact on the trait and its mix ups.

As seen in tournament, high level players who are familiar with the Atom match successfully defend the trait and its mix ups. Of course, the guessing game is still in Atom's favor, which is why the trait is one of the best ones in the game, yet claiming there are "guaranteed 50/50 mix ups" is a bit of an exaggeration to say the least.

Do you know who has "guaranteed 50/50 mix ups" with trait? Zod, who has a legitimate 50/50 mix up anywhere on the screen that leads to 40% combos and set ups from a trait you could not parry or reflect. Atom has nothing alike.

It was meant to be an overexaggeration, but in a lot of situations it does feel really hopeless and that Atom has a lot of options to prevent you from poking out, or even punishing you for doing so. Throw gets 12% (IIRC), you have to be on the ground for it, whereas you can cancel the overhead while midair and force crossups, does about 10% as mentioned.

As soon as you get hit by that first hit in Atom trait it's a 50/50 between overhead or low basically unless you manage to pushblock or are able to do a godlike fuzzy since he needs to be on the ground to do the low but it's still quick af and I've literally never seen anyone do it ever.

Tbh my comment was a joke because the change mentioned would completely ruin the throw option for Atom and it is a strong part of his trait gameplan but it is not the glue that holds it together

 

[Cursa]

And all of that isn't even accounting for the fact that if you don't have a quick poke to interrupt his trait when/if he decided to go for something tricky to begin with you basically have to guess or make a hard as fuck read on his movement before he closes in on you.

They're definitely not guaranteed mixups but it's the closest thing you can get to it in the game. Not to mention all while also increasing his mobility ten-fold, reducing his htibox dramatically, therefore improving his counter zoning immensely, and fixing his issue of having poor reaching normal because he now has half screen plus on block mids that lead into mixups.

Idk if it needs nerfs but it's a nutty trait. If anything of him does need nerfs it would be the trait imo, everything else about him is pretty fine given his weaknesses

 

[TarkatanDentist]

I honestly feel like Atom is fair. Very annoying... but still fair. In that respect he's kind of like Starfire, even though on the surface they play nothing alike.

 

[Marinjuana]

I think he's a really cool character that is both fun to use and fun to watch. I think the game(or all games for that matter) would be more interesting if we had more unique characters like him. Can't really think of another FG character quite like him.

I think he's balanced, like sure, getting a perfect on him will be near impossible but that doesn't really matter for balance. You're gonna take some chip, you're gonna have to hold trait mixups, but I think most characters can overcome his gameplan if they play well. He's kind of like Brainiac too where he seems really solid overall but he has some questionable matchups.

 

[Cursa]

I think he's a really cool character that is both fun to use and fun to watch. I think the game(or all games for that matter) would be more interesting if we had more unique characters like him. Can't really think of another FG character quite like him.

I think he's balanced, like sure, getting a perfect on him will be near impossible but that doesn't really matter for balance. You're gonna take some chip, you're gonna have to hold trait mixups, but I think most characters can overcome his gameplan if they play well. He's kind of like Brainiac too where he seems really solid overall but he has some questionable matchups.

I put him in the same category as Darkseid where he seems to have some crazy ass tools at face value but if you abuse his weaknesses properly then his gameplan really falls apart.

The difference between the two being that Atom has trait to make up for his otherwise ass buttons whereas Darkseid kinda has to make do with his trait.

 

[Cursa]

What are peeps thoughts on stomp and his D3?

I think they're both fine tbh, stomp up close is a bill, as I'm sure most people know, but D3 obviously is pretty stronk.

I think D3 is alright since his other buttons are pretty heckin bad.

 

[dribirut]

The only change id give if any would be a slight tweak to the teleport. The normal one is so damn hard to punish because of the difference in timing from the ex one

 

[Yer_Da]

Atom is probably top 10 or just outside it but any nerf would remove him from the game, in my opinion.

He's annoying and really good but I'd like to see more people lab the matchup. I've personally played some really good players that say they know the MU but it's extremely apparent they don't.