My Kung Lao matchup chart

No trolling this is how I seriously feel about Kung Lao.

Baraka 5-5
Cage 4-6
Cyber Sub 6-4
Cyrax 3-7
Ermac 4-6
Freddy 6-4
Jade 6-4
Jax 6-4
Kabal 5-5
Kano 6-4
Kenshi 6-4
Kitana 4-6
Liu Kang 5-5
Mileena 5-5
Nightwolf 5-5
Noob 6-4
Quan Chi 5-5
Raiden 6-4
Rain 6-4
Reptile 6-4
Scorpion 6-4
Sektor 5-5
Shang Tsung 6-4
Sheeva 8-2
Sindel 7-3
Skarlet 5-5
Smoke 6-4
Sonya 4-6
Stryker 7-3
Sub Zero 5-5

3-7: Cyrax
4-6: Cage, Ermac, Kitana, Sonya
5-5: Baraka, Kabal, Liu Kang, Mileena, Nightwolf, Quan Chi, Sektor, Skarlet, Subzero
6-4: Cyber Subzero, Freddy, Jade, Jax, Kano, Kenshi, Noob Saibot, Raiden, Rain, Reptile, Scorpion, Shang Tsung, Smoke

The Future of Mortal Kombat

Everyone stop with this "Oh after this tournament I'm not playing anymore" stop putting out this stigma that this game is gonna be done or die because you want to move on to the next game so you are trying to write off MK.

Newsflash Mortal Kombat will live on with or without you and the lower level players will replace the mid level and the mid level may level up and become top players. The cycle will keep going.

MK is going to be at the level of Street Fighter in a few years as far as attendance numbers. It already has the most views on IGN for Evolution Finals having 700,000 + views while the other games only have 200,000+ . And again it won the Golden Joystick award two years in and row and this game came out LAST year and a bunch of games have released since then.

Every time someone challenges this community of players we always rise to the occasion to show up and put on a good show. Oh we got a 64 man cap? No problem and we raised it now we have 96 or so entrants.

When Injustice releases it will breathe even more life into Mortal Kombat and it will be Mortal Kombats equivalent to Street Fighter's Marvel which is a big reason for Street Fighter's success in its homegrown tournament circuit.

Also UMK3 I believe is also going to resurface. I actually am picking this game up so I hope you all do as well.

Looking forward to mashing all of your heads in at the next event(s). It HAS begun and it will never end!

Dead or Alive 5 Entry: Game Balance

Team Ninja is awesome! They are being very open to balancing to improve the game so of course I want to do my part. I will go right into it. I will mostly talk about core things for the game cause I feel the game is good but since I have had more time with the game it gives me a better perspective of what needs to be done overall for improvement.



The Ground Game/Okizeme:

DOA4 I think was a move in the right direction with how forced tech worked in the game. That was actually my favorite part about the game and would love if this can be brought back. As of now in DOA5 if you go for a forced tech combo that can tech before you land the hit but this is there to stop infinites from happening like the Mila infinite.

Now forced tech in my opnion is only needed because of how powerful the wake up kick is. The wake up kick has far too much invincibility, its safe on block, has a lot of push back on block as well as gives you a deep stun on normal hit and on top of that covers a big range.

Why this is a problem? Any time you knock your opponent down your opponent who is now knocked down gets a free 50/50 mid or low mixup that is a deep stun. The only real defense you have vs this if you have recovered fast enough so you can back away, block the get up kick or use a reversal, but when you commit to holding or blocking the get up kick and even backing away the opponent can basically instantly get up and put you in another mix up that is too fast to react to.

I know in some instances the pound 8p+k or 2p/2k depending character can stop a get up kick but it just puts you in the same situation and they get to get up kick again and now you have no choice but to guess and can't even back away. I think this is a big problem. In most games when you knock someone down you have the advantage and now the defender has to take on defense to get up properly by rolling away or blocking then getting away. In SF4 you can do a reversal that is usually unsafe, back dash or just get up and block. In Marvel you better block.

In Tekken its not as unforgiving as SF or Marvel but you do have options however the get up kick isn't fully invincible. It actually may not even be invincible it might just be really fast but I have seen it go through some moves but with the right timing which isn't at all hard to do you can stop someone from trying to hit you with a get up kick.

You can also block and punish it as well. I feel this would be the best way so it still gives the defender options but the aggressor should be at a better advantage here when they score a knock down. Right now when the defender gets knocked down the wake up situation is 65/35 in their favor when it should be opposite and be more like 70/30 in the attackers favor. Your only options should be to tech roll, get up kick, delay get up kick or lay on the ground until you get forced teched far away from your opponent to reset the position.

Decrease invincibility on wake up kicks, make them punishable on guard ideally -13 but I guess -11 and no push back. Also no more stun on normal hit. Stun on counter hit. Actually I think the low should knock down on counter hit. Of course if a get up kick hits you I think it should be like +1 or 2 on hit.

As matches are now when I knock someone down I don't want to be anywhere near them so I don't have to deal with get up kick shenanigans and it has always been like this in DOA. Its annoying to be on the offense and have to back off cause of a get up kick. If I have the proper timing I think I should be able to beat out a get up kick. As of now the only chars off the top of my head who have good wake up kick defensive is the Ninja's and Hayate lost his because he can't jump over the mid anymore and can't teleport through someones wake up because its gone from the command dash lol. Ayane, Hayabusa and Kasumi can all jump over them and keep pressure no problem.


I am trying to think of other stuff to write about but this is my single biggest complaint lol.

Also down attacks are kind of useless I hit someone with 2p/2k and it allows them to get up kick me. I would say disable get up kicks after it hits and make them have to tech roll but I don't know it might make down attacks too strong they are easy to get. Also pounce attacks they aren't very useful in this game not quite sure what to do with them. You can delay tech and they totally whiff and now you are in a bad situation.


Going to brain storm more and I will post another entry when I do.

Dead or Alive 5 Entry: Enter Hayate part 1

Alright I will just get right into. Hayate I have been looking and searching to see what he has that makes him solid or if he is bad and I have come to a conclusion that he is somewhere in between A and B tier. He is definitely not S though. Hes hella good imo but there are just characters who are better than he is which isn't a problem this is the same position he was in for DOA4 as well. DOA3 he was pretty much top tier though.


Anyway I will get right into why I think he is very good in this game.



Hayate:

Like every DOA game he has a very solid grab game. In this one he is no different. 236 Grab is a 7 frame punisher and he can either go for a stun mixup to eventually lead to critical burst or another 236 grab set up or he can go for a guaranteed 72 pts of damage with 7k. This is very good because 70 pt damaging grabs don't usually come into play unless you are doing a 12 frame grab so this is very strong. For example Hayabusa's izuna grab is 12 frames and 75 pts of damage. However the downside to Hayate's grab is it doesn't scale so if you land 236 grab on hi counter you won't get scaling and it will always be a solid 75 pts.

I recommend that if you go for this grab for hi counter damage you are better off just doing his raijin grab which is 41236 grab and is about 90 pts + it has a high probability of hitting a wall for additional 10 pts or more depending on the environment and doubles as knocking the opponent into the ceiling.

Also his other grabs all use the environment for additional damage even his neutral grab. So that is always a plus.

For keeping people off of you you have 6pk which is a safe knock down and the second hit is a step killer so players who are step happy you can score a knock down for more pressure. If they lay there you can run up and hit a well timed 1p or if you aren't confident with you timing and don't want to get hit by a get up kick you can do 4p+k to force it to whiff then come in with the follow up or cancel it into something else.

Also 4p+k alone is really good for keep out and forcing whiffs as well. Whenever this is on the screen the opponent will either go defensive to try to avoid released charge or they will try to counter hit you out of it which both being just as difficult to do either way. 4p+k is a really good tool for Hayate's keep out.

3p is also really good cause of the range and it has high crush properties in certain frames. On counter hit its a lift stun and the follow up is a sit down stun that gives a guaranteed 33k. You can use 3p to keep people honest if they try to sidestep or attack afterwards you can finish the follow up for a counter hit and get the sit down stun. Vs sidestep you will have to delay though so it catches them during the step.

8p+k is great up close vs string happy players because you can SS inbetween and get a stun then lead into a grab or a stun sequence into a launcher or extend it for critical burst. Don't over abuse this though it is -9 on block so very punishable.

9p is a safe high that is quite fast at 14 frames and can catch people trying to run up doing mids from a certain range. It also has a follow up that can be charged for + frames and that actually has a lot of range. You can whiff the first hit and charge the second and it will probably reach your opponent in mid range and its tricky to sidestep too.

3k is (i know ive been saying very good a lot but damn hes got a lot of juice) is a safe mid and its + on hit and stuns on counter hit and crouching. Has a lot of range and sets up a lot for hayate. Its linear though so you will have to cover it with a move like 1p to stop people from stepping.

Alright guys I will post more in the part 2 for Hayate stay tuned!

Lets be serious here entry of the week: Scrubs cry games die

If you haven't realized by the title of this blog entry but I will be talking about the cries of players who want balancing because they aren't competent enough to step up and figure out ways around specific strategies.


Now before I get into the main topic I want to give you all a history lesson. 2 communities have been torn apart on a competitive front and hurt the game because of players complaining for nerfs to characters or game mechanics in general.

I am looking at you Soul Calibur and Mortal Kombat. Now when both of these games were released they were very healthy competitively but as time went on players complained and cried for nerfs thus taking the entire competitive population down a big notch. MK which drew 100 at majors on a consistent basis now draws about 60 and Soul Calibur is barely around anymore. A lot of fighting game players from other communities stopped playing because of this reason.

It is annoying as a fighting game player who goes to tournaments on a frequent basis and plays multiple games to have to keep up on multiple patches for fighting games thus having to study even more. Its like studying subjects in school and every month you are handed a new book for your subject with changes made. For example 2+2 is no longer 4 it is now 5. Quite ridiculous right?

Anyway these games don't have a big enough community of competitive players like the Capcom fighting game community so a patch here and there won't hurt them as much because they will play whatever Capcom fleshes out. However for games like MK, SC, DOA if you change something it can hurt overall tournament attendance because it may or may not break the game. Lets be serious here when something is patched out or balanced in a Capcom game it is for very good reason and a tactic in general is probably way too good. For example Phoenix in vanilla MVC3 or Sagat/Ryu/Akuma in Vanilla SF4. While these characters are still good in the most recent renditions of their games they aren't as ridiculous as before.

In DOA the big thing is everyone is complaining about Jann Lee's dragon gunner. Now in higher levels of play.....wait first let me say something. I'm pretty sure I am more than qualified to talk about Jann Lee being a Jann Lee main as well as main of other characters in DOA,a DOA veteran and world champion "alright I promise I am done pole jocking myself" I have the rights to speak on what is too good or not in this game.

Anyway on to the cries... Apparently Dragon Gunner is too good! Its a 17 frame unseeable grab that potentially leads into half life if you guess right like 3-4 times after landing it. That's right after I land the dragon gunner I have to guess right 3-4 times to deal any big boy damage to your health bar. Now if you look for the dragon gunner and punish me with a grab you will get a pretty good chunk of life. You can even buffer your most damaging throw and hit me with it or you can just press grab and hit me with your 5 frame grab. Very similar to another game.........Tekken.

Grabs in tekken are 12 frames but almost every top level player can break grabs on reaction....... So what you are telling me is this 17 frame offensive hold you can't press the grab button when you read, anticipate and see this? You know you can also duck it too and rise up and hit me with your most damaging grab on Hi Counter Throw while I am in my recovery frames? Have any of you at all tried this? Smh

Also Jann Lee isn't a rush down character. He actually isn't that good when it comes to approaching his opponents he is more of a defensive character that basically punishes you for trying to rush him down. When you force Jann Lee to come to you is when his holes tend to get exploited. He also has a lot of trouble fighting against characters who are adept at being evasive and can high crush his jabs thus stopping him from being able to slugfest and force into stun from p6p or counter hit 6p, 6k, sidestep punches and his mid punch and high kick holds.

If you guys would stop trying to go punch for punch with Jann Lee you wouldn't have as many problems as you are having which of course goes back to your own player experience and skill. This is where you have to put an adequate amount of time into the game to get to that level. Instead of complaining you should be in the lab trying to get more accustomed to how you are supposed to play the game instead spending all of your time trying to get some cheese for your whine.

I am making this post to of course help the new up and coming DOA players to realize the errors of their ways so that we can have a healthy competitive scene instead of a bunch of players whining and complaining about whatever tactic that is giving them a hard time.


The only issues with this game is how buggy the ground game is which is being fixed in the patch. Its the same reason Mila can infinite you on the ground as well as Tina getting an inconsistent amount of continuous ground grabs after a knock down.

After that and some small tweaking like Ayane being +7 after 66kk4 and Hayabusa's 3f+k being a tracking move for example I think everything will be fine. The game is very well made and I hope all of you put a lot of time into getting good in this game and end up being worthy opponents in the future.

I don't want this game to get killed because players end up complaining so much the make the game very bland and boring thus taking any interest the game had away, so please players level up.

Now for no reason here is a video of a woman getting uppercutted for acting out on a bus:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kmdx08VFGmw

DOA5 Hayate Early Impressions

Hayate

I am very much soul searching with this character. I feel like hes good some days but other days I feel like he needs some buffs. His redeeming factor is how strong he is when his opponents back is to the wall. Also he still retains a 8p which high crushes in the proper frames and its difficult to attack him afterwards cause of the follow up which is very much unsafe but he finally has 8pk which is -5 now but you can hit him out of it but if you have them afraid of 8p8k you can do that instead of free cancel for a back turned mixup.

Also 33kk is -2 on guard now so you can use that as an effective counter poke which has weird timing to sidestep because you can very much just do 33k and land and go for more pressure. He has 1k which is a instant high crush so characters like Sarah with annoying strings like 6p4k that are + on block but hits high you can block it then do 1k and get advantage back and follow up with a throw or 6pk if they decide to hit a button.

6pk is really good cause if they sidestep the punch the kick is fast enough to knock them down then you can go for oki. If they don't tech immediately you can do 8p+k to pounce on them. If they tech immediately you can wind dash p+k to hit them out of all of their options when they tech or you can do the punch if they decide to block. You can also do dash up 33k, 6p, 66p, 2f+k or 9p. Also 9p is really good if they tech roll backwards and they try to hold mid and you hit them with 9p since the follow up to it is a 2in1.
My current top 10 moves with Hayate

6pk

p strings

33kk

66p

9p

33k

3f+k

8p

2p+k

1k

notable 236p

In this game Hayate has to be played pretty risky because everything is basically a raijin or a flip over grab set up. I am trying to get more used to doing the flip over grab since its +10 and forces the opponent to have to slow escape or you can just do 6pk for a free knock down for more pressure. Still working on Hayate. I wish he still had his DOA4 4f+k/h+k and 236k being a +5 guard break. I suggested this to Shimbori and he agreed 236k being like DOA4 would be fair especially since its easier to sidestep now and now if you block it its only -5. Also 4p will probably end up being his mid punch tracking move in the patch. I hope it stuns on normal hit lol.

Seasons Beatings Ascension

This past weekend I participate in Seasons Beatings Ascension and it was a really great and well ran event. I cannot express enough how happy I am that Team Ninja flew out to my home state Ohio to show support to the fighting game community and watch us all battle it out in the newly release Dead or Alive 5. DOA is very close to my heart because without this game I wouldn't exist as a player in the tournament circuit so to go from starting so many years ago and never have even thought I would even meet them to them coming to my state to support our biggest major event in our state means a great deal to me.

Talking to Shimbori-san, Peter and Tom was just a great experience in itself. Its very great to talk the team and they know exactly everything about their game and you can discuss not only strategies but anything about the game in general. And I know DOA almost as well as the back of my hand actually I probably know DOA better than the back of my hand lol.

I am really happy with the general interest in DOA5. During the finals there were golf claps and people had no trouble following along with what was going on in the matches. If someone sidestepped and it was a good read I would hear someone go "nice!" and whenever someone hit a power blow the crowd would cheer. It was a very heart warming experience for me. Very pleased with the reaction to the game. I think the negative stigma that DOA has is starting to dwindle away. Looking very much forward to the future of the game and all the new faces that will be getting into the game.

I also want to give a shout out to godlike-productions and console combat for running the best Seasons Beatings to date. Please keep it going guys! Also I hope everyone tunes into console combat for their weekly and monthly streams. You can follow them on their twitch channel @ twitch.tv/console_combat and also you can follow them both on twitter @gdlkent for godlike-productions and @console_combat.

Great job to everyone who entered the tournament and helped make this event great. Shout out to Ryujin, NinjaCW and Sloppy55000 for making top 4! Good job to Mystik and DrDogg on the mic as usual they did a great job as always.

My next events will be MLG Dallas and Absolute Battle/Dead or Alive in Dallas so please tune into the streams or better yet make it out to the event because these events can't be great without you guys so please try your best to make it out!

I will be streaming DOA this week so be sure to tune in if you want to learn more and level up. My channel is twitch.tv/perfectlegend and you can follow me on twitter @perfectlegend.
Well guys till next time!

Dead or Alive 5: quick snippet

I will post a long post on what I think of the game but I just want to make a quick statement for those getting into the game and of course those who have bashed the game in the past:

This is not the same game you have played. Let me go over key changes that have been made from DOA4 to DOA5.

1. .>>>>Hold damage<<<< this is something EVERYONE complains about well let me tell you the damage has been decreased significantly. DOA4 introduced different hold damage for when you are put into critical stun so when you are stunned your holds will deal less damage but when you are not stunned the damage isn't decreased.

Here are the damage rates for a Hi Counter, Counter and Normal hold outside of stun for Hayabusa's punch hold which is the most damaging hold in DOA4 and DOA5.

- normal 75pts

- counter 93pts

- hi counter 112pts

The difference here is that Hi Counter Hold is in DOA4 it is a 1-4 frame window but in DOA5 it is a 1-2 frame window so you are more than likely going to get a Counter hold from a hold because of the timing difference. So in other words to get hi counter damage you really need to be even more precise. In DOA4 you had a lot more leeway for a Hi Counter Hold.

Now during stun the damage for an izuna is in DOA5.

- normal 60pts

- counter 75pts

- hi counter 90pts

Also keep in mind for you to pull off an Izuna punch hold they have changed the command from single direction to double direction making Izuna an advanced hold. Let me show you the damage on Hayabusa's regular punch holds.

Outside of Critical: 

- normal 50 pts

- counter 62 pts

- hi counter 75 pts

Inside of Critical:

- normal 40 pts 

- counter 50 pts 

- hi counter 60 pts 

This change is too great. When you get held now its basically a slap on the wrist and if they want to deal real damage they have to really time their hold and on top of that make an almost perfect read which is hard with the gameplay speed of DOA. Also the hold recovery has been nerfed while you are in stun as well so even when someone holds at the first possible frame that they can hold you can easily hit them with your most damaging throw. There are also stuns in the game which cannot be escaped via hold and some that can't be escaped via hold or slow escape! Mostly sit down stuns. Example hayabusa's 214P guarantees a 33p.

2, Sidestep: Sidestep is such a game changer in DOA especially since it works just like VF and the fact that there are moves that track as well and a lot of linear moves you can't really abuse any strategies because of that. Also keep in mind most of the tracking moves are either High or Low so they can be high crushed, fuzzy guarded, guarded or defensive held.

For example Hayabusa's 6pk the 2nd hit is high. You can fuzzy guard, do a instant high crush (example hitomi's 1p), guard or Hold the punch. You can't sidestep the kick because it is in fact a tracking attack.

3. High crushes have been toned down significantly no longer does Helena's p+k or Hayabusa's 3p+k crush instantly it takes time for these attacks to get into their crushing frames. Instead you have to use 2f+k type sweeps to duck highs and you don't have to worry about your mid's getting ducked as much either because of this change making a lot of characters more viable and players will have to really know their options instead of cancelling out 1-2 options with one read. This game is very solid. Nothing is more rewarding then properly crouching an attack or sidestepping one to stop someones offense or stay on offense.

4. Wall game is really good you can no longer hold off of the wall so when someone is wall splatted you get a free combo but not a free launcher and then a combo so they balanced it out well.

5. There are only 2 get up kicks in this game like DOA2 and DOA3. No more high get up kick just mid and low. However they made the mid get up kick hit kind of on a high/mid hit box level so its more difficult to jump over the mid get up kick which is good too and they also decreased the range on get up kicks as well.

6. Training mode is so good! It tells you the frame data of every attack and every situation. Record mode is perfect and lets you record for really long and it also allows you to set the computer to hold the fastest out of a critical stun or slow escape the fastest or the slowest.

This game in my honest opinion is the best fighting game to have released in the past 10 years (ironically DOA3.1 was released 10 years ago.)

I hope you all get into it and play it because you will enjoy it! I will be posting tutorials, match videos etc so make sure you stay tuned and follow me on twitter/facebook/youtube/twitch.

twitter: @perfectlegend
facebook: facebook.com/perfectlegend
youtube: youtube.com/perfectlegend
twitchtv: twitch.tv/perfectlegend

Also make sure you go to Freestepdodge.com for all the latest on Dead or Alive news!

Pre release DOA5 thoughts

My thoughts on Dead or Alive 5 so far is that this game is stacking up to be very good. I haven't played any of the new builds for the game but the things that I have seen and have heard in particular, is very promising. I hear critical burst was toned down and have no idea why I hope it reverts back to what it was.

Actually let’s talk about Critical Burst so we can all be on the same page:

- Critical burst is a new feature in the game where it rewards you for extending the stun to maximum threshold and then breaking that threshold with a critical burst attack which allows you a free attack afterwards.

- I think this is a good feature because now it’s an actual reward for out thinking your opponent in a long sequence of attacks. Since it takes a good sequence to achieve this, it shouldn't be that easy vs. a higher level player so when it does happen you feel good that you out thought your opponent.

- Before in past DOA games if you did this you wouldn't get any extra reward besides a higher launch height. I feel this is a much better reward. However I do feel this won't change the fundamental game of DOA too much it will still be the same so that is good as well it just adds an extra element a long with the critical staggers that don't let you hold immediately and the ones that don't let you hold at all.

DOA has always been won more from how much a player and a character doesn't need to use the stun to win because there is still that randomness element in there. I say this even with knowing the hold active frames have been reduced. This means that they are shorter and the damage is even less than before now.

For example: Hayate has always been about knocking you into environmental hazards and working pressure from knockdowns. In DOA3, working from frame traps with his elbow. Based from the videos they seem to have captured his frame traps well and based on the demo he still has sick wake up pressure.

Another example though Jann Lee is dangerous when he puts you in a stun and dangerous when you are anywhere near a wall. When Jann Lee stuns you it is very hard to get away from him and that brought his old dragon gunner and mid punch/high kick hold properties back allowing him to get guaranteed damage to knock you into environment. From what I see all of the stages are more closed in this time around so I can't wait to abuse people at the wall. Sorry guys.

Also I would like everyone to go into DOA5 with an open mind. Yes some of your DOA habits should transfer but others shouldn't. I think all of you need to work on having a better spacing game this time around especially with having a Virtua Fighter like sidestep and on top of that the 8 way is better as well. So if you try to run in and cannon drill me with Ayane I will just 8 way it regularly then get a full combo in your back.

I hope everyone is able to make Season's Beatings: Ascension in Cleveland, OH on the weekend of the games release in September!

To coincide with the games release I will be running a stream playing the game against fellow veteran players and I will be posting tutorial, combo and match videos on my YouTube page, so stay tuned.

You can follow me on twitter: @perfectlegend
Subscribe to my YouTube page: youtube.com/perfectlegend
My stream channel is: twitch.tv/perfectlegend

Thanks guys!