DoA Guide: Lei-Fang

Posted by: -Radical-

In the third series of Dead or Alive 4 Character guides, the Season One Dead or Alive 4 male player; Aissani "Neji" Meziane talks about using the character Lei-fang. The 19 year old Tai Chi Quan Chinese fighter was introduced into the Dead or Alive series from the start. Lei-Fang originally joined the tournament in order to show that she could stand up for herself, after her life was saved against thugs by Jann Lee.

Lei-Fang is said to be a very technical character, whom has kicks that are great combo starters such as Sanren-Kyaku, though her most common one is the Renkan-Sho-Kinda. She can also be very difficult to counter attack against, due to her vary of attack levels. You can read this interesting guide below, enjoy!

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Introduction

Let's be honest, Lei-fang is not one of the best character of the game, but she's cheap. Indeed, even if some characters are better than her, she's much more easier to play, and she has some stuff easy to memorize, it has nothing to do with Helena. Actually I never understood why she wasn't that played, she's perfect for the beginners, but at the same time she's strong enough to be played at high level .

Good moves Body2Body

- K(K or low K) very fast high kick, gives a very good priority, so fast than can be used at the beginning of a round or as a crusher when you're zoning (= a move that can dodge other moves). Moreover KK is safe (any grabs possible after if you want to hit again) and the low K from K low K is a launcher, so you'll have a free air combo (or a perfect Okizeme, but we'll see later what it is).

- P(P), good high move with a lot of natural follow-up, among whom PP low K (excellent to press + can be followed by another low kick just by pressing K again), PP forward PK (hard to counter and the K launches + can be followed by P, a mid punch useful if it's used smartly because it launches and it can be unpredictable) or PP back PPP (to use very rarely, only if the opponent has no patience).

- Forward P(KP), her fastest mid punch, good priority with a Mid kick follow up and an interesting mind game with P after forward PK (the same than I explained previously for PP forward PKP).

- Down forward P(P), a good mid punch (but very easy to crush, so be careful) with the same follow up than after PP. This move is especially recommended for maintaining the stun and then launch, because the continuation is very hard to forsee.

Goods moves with 1 or 2 steps of distance

- Low back P(P), an incredible mid punch that stuns easily and dodges so many moves so easily, it's very very cheap but so useful, it looks like the famous low back P of Lisa. But use it without moderation but be careful the follow up (P) is punishable.

- Low forward K(P or back P), mid kick safe, lets a distance with the enemy and several times, it gives a very good stun that allows to do the first natural follow up (P), a mid punch that launches but let her back (so be careful you have to be sure the opponent is stun before doing it, if not he blocks and then punishment is guaranteed). Concerning the second follow up (back P), it's a high punch, very hard to use, but very surprising if it's used with skill, and it's safe so you don't take a lot of risk by doing it, except the fact that it can be crushed easily (like all the high moves...)

- Low K+F, the best low move of Lei-Fang, it's a kick that stuns quite deeply but it's easily slow escapable (= sometimes when you're stun, you can recover your guard by doing 360's or Left/right very quickly until you see in the screen that your character is not stun, it's an advanced technique that requires a very good knowledge of the game)

- Forward forward P, a mid punch very good to use for stopping your opponent's attacks. Sometimes it's safe when you just touch lightly the guard (but it's just luck) it's mostly unsafe the rest of time, so it's a free grab if you hit in the blocking guard.

-Forward forward K(K), a correct mid kick, especially interesting for the mind game that you can do with the follow up (the same than with forward PK(P) or low back P(P) )

What is really cheap with Lei-Fang ?

- Her grabs, particularly her OH (Offensive Hold) or catch grab, the fastest of the game that is impossible to see with human eyes. It literally aspirates you so it's so easy to abuse of it and it's understandable: that's C.H.E.A.P . She also has a neutral grab (P+F) in 2 times than can be done against a wall + a 3 times grab with very high damages and that requires a timing not so hard to remember (low + low forward + forward P+F / back P+F / forward forward P+F) + a grab with damages kinda high and a possible Okizeme (low + low back + back P+F) that I particularly appreciate, it's easy to do and it really calm your enemy.

- Her counters, especially Low forward F, her mid parry, it counters ALL the middle moves of the game (mid punch & mid kick) and let the opponent stun, so you just have to let your imagination inspire you to do the most damages possible. More over, Lei-fang has at her disposal special high damages counters for each counter height and for each type of move (punch or kick). They're kinda hard to do but really amazing if you smartly use them to the place of normal counters (for example, if you feel the good rising kick or at the beginning of the round when the opponents mostly do a mid punch or a high punch)

- Her crusher Back forward P, my favorite move with Lei-Fang and one of my favorite of the game, it's a mid punch crusher, it does high damages and you cannot imagine how good it can be against certain characters. Just 1 thing I regret for this move, it's unsafe .

Combos.

Lei-Fang ain't got a lot of choices, you mostly stun with low forward K(P) and forward P(K), here are the air combos you can do with her:

- If the enemy isn't launched high, PPKK or PP forward PK if you see a wall behind him. It's the basic air combo.

- If it's a full critical (that is to say the enemy is launched the most high possible), then you can do either PP low P (F) low forward KP, or PP back PPP if there's a wall behind the opponent.

- If there's a deep descent, do PP low P (F) PPKK. But this last one is very risked, there's nothnig guaranteed, it all depends of how you feel it.

Wake up game.

It's all about Okizeme. An Okizeme is when you hit the enemy while he's up to the floor to keep maintaining the pressure on him with a post tech roll pressing. An Okizeme forces the enemy to do a choice, because you have a lot of possibilities after an Okizeme.

The problem is that Lei-Fang has not one very good Okizeme, she can do K+F OR low K (F) low K OR sometimes low K (F) K+F, but those are not that great.

She also has a Perfect Okizeme (a pressing so perfect than the opponent can't counter or hit before you, just block you have a guaranteed move), but it can only be done after K+F in neutral, after this move you just have to do up forward kick and the you have your perfect Okizeme , low forward P is guaranteed (hits first and cannot be countered, just blocked).

Anyway after an Okizeme or a Perfect Okizeme, it's a 50/50 choice: either you do an OH / catching grab, which is a good idea because Lei-Fang's OH is broken (but be careful, if it's used too much, the enemy will crouch and then he'll have a free hi-counter grab if you still do an OH); or you simply hit with forward forward kick / low forward kick etc... The aim is to condition your enemy so that he won't know if he has to crouch for dodging the OH (but at the same time takes the risk to be hit) , or staying in guard for not being hit (but at the same time takes the risk to be the victim of an OH, very hard to force as I said before). So it's a cruel dilemma.