Hwoarang-Winning by Deception.
By Jake Campbell
RocketDodger@hotmail.com

Disclaimer:  All moves and strategies mentioned herein may be used freely
and can be considered the property of the entire tekken community.  All
move names are credited to Namco (home surgery, flying eagle, etc).

Table of contents:
1- Introduction
2- Starting your attack; know when to strike.
3- Inflicting damage; outsmart the opponent and make them pay.



INTRODUCTION:
This is the latest Hwoarang (Bob) faq I have written and it is very 
different
from all the others.  I wrote all the others before I had fought anyone good
enough to win a regional tournament.  After fighting many of them, I realize
that my earlier advice was trash.  I wouldn't write any more except that
somebody has to represent the Tae Kwon Do people out there and no one
besides myself seems to show confidence in Bob as a top tier character.

Think of this faq not as a faq but as a short manual on how to use Hwoarang
at a level powerful enough to stand toe to toe with the Jins, Pauls, and
Steves out there.  After all no faq can make you a winner all the time, only
about half of the time; a fight between the best two players in the world
becomes all luck and guessing anyway.

All the players I know consider Hwoarang a lower tier character on the basis
that his jab takes 10 frames instead of 8.  I concede that this is a big
disadvantage, but you just have to work around it.  If you don't play Bob as
a poke character, you should be ok.  Make up for the lack of speed with his
greater range, more damaging moves, and frame locks.  I seem to be the only
Bob fan out there and if I can get just a few other good players to respect
him my job will be done.


STARTING YOUR ATTACK:
Tekken 4 is about timing like tekken tag was about juggles and okizeme.
Some say tag takes more skill.  Thats fine for me since I have no skill but
I have plenty of reaction speed.  The most important use for this is, of
course, attacking at the right time.  There are two parts to this; the time
and the location.

You must wait to attack until your opponent is either NOT attacking or ABOUT
to attack.  This is obvious. However, nobody attacks with single moves
all the time.  You must wait until you either sense or percieve a lull in
the action before you hit back.  Nothing can compare with experience in this
case, since if you know every character you can predict their combos (except
Hwoarang's).

You must attack from the maximum possible distance, especially with
Hwoarang.  Since he doesn't have the speed of others, stay just out of jab
range but within kick range.  This is hard to do but essential.  Never
execute a commited attack unless you will hit the opponent.  If you attack
and end up in range AFTER you attack, he will have a large opening and you
will pay.  Many players gamble and execute large attacks in the hopes that
you will run into them; just be conservative and patient.

You must select the proper move.  From a distance, even slow kicks can be
effective, especially if they push the opponent back or make them stumble.
If you are caught in close with a speedy opponent, try to duck as much as
possible.  The general rule in tekken4 is when in doubt, duck jab.  No
character has any mid hitting strike faster than 10 frames so be confident;
even if they DO see you ducking, they will be unable to respond if you jab
them instantly.  It is a safe bet that if you can duck under an attack you
can also sidestep it, so you might try that as well.  VERY advanced players
will low-parry a duck jab if they see it coming so if your opponent does
that more than one or two times, change your strategy and duck without the
jab.

A quick dash in can often close enough distance before the opponent can
follow his last move.  Be aware, though; you are open while you move
forward.



INFLICTING DAMAGE:
You must use Hwoarang as he was intended; an offensive machine.  You cannot
be passive or defensive.  Do you think it is a coincidence that Bob is one
of the only characters which lacks any sort of defensive moves?  Of course
not.  It is a message that people fail to see again and again; ATTACK ATTACK
ATTACK.  You must seize every opportunity to interrupt an opponents attack
and go on your own frenzy.  All of the "top tier" characters have mostly
high or mid attacks with low attacks slow enough for a human player to see
coming and block or parry.  Hwoarang has so many low attacks and attacks
that punish ducking players that winning with him will result more from a
lack of mistakes on YOUR part than on the opponents part.

The staple is the flamingo strings and getting into them is the hardest
part about playing Hwoarang.  The fastest way is to use 1,2,kick, but the
enemy can duck the first two hits and if characters have a punch parry they
can use that as well.  If you are having trouble getting into flamingo that
way try using 3,3,3,4 or 3,3,d+3,4 or 4,4,4 or f+3.  Some of these will put
you in right flamingo (not left) so it might be best to read this section
and then come back to this paragraph.  If opponents can time your 3,3,3,4 
and
parry or duck the right kick, try using 3,3,4 instead to throw them off.  
All
of these have varying execution speeds so you need to experiment and learn
when it is advantageous to use each one.

The entire flamingo string, or the "infinite combo" is a very potent weapon
and perhaps the safest and most deadly in the game, based on the fact that 
if
you do it right the only thing the opponent can do is duck-jab for minimum
damage.  I will start by giving you the whole sequence that I use on lesser
players and then describe how I overcome the ways (more skilled) players 
have
used to interrupt my attack, working backwards (as if from the worst
opponent to the best).  To get into left flamingo use f+3 or 1,2,3.  Then,
from left flamingo, follow:

--d+3,4,2,f+3, repeat.

If people block or parry the low left kick, use:

--3,3,4,2,f+3-- use instead of above or vicea versa.

If people interrupt f+3 with a jab use a right jab of your own instead:

--3,3,4,2,2,f+3-- or use more right jabs but DON'T push them out of range.

OR you can sidestep after you come out of flamingo and do anything:

--3,3,4,2,u or d-- ends combo RESTART.

If they duck your f+3 use a medium hitting counterpart:

--3,3,4,2,d/f+3,4-- ends combo  RESTART.

If they duck the right jabs use a right sidekick or duck jab instead:

--3,3,4,2,d/f+4~F-- hold F to keep Bob's right leg in right flamingo.

--3,3,4,2,d+1-- ends combo RESTART.

If they stand there blocking you can also do a low right sidekick:

--3,3,4,d+4-- ends combo RESTART.

If they duck the right flamingo punch, do any of the following, depending on
the reaction time it takes them to duck, from slowest to fastest.

--3,3,4,d/f+4,d+3,4,3-- ax kick launcher and juggle.
--3,3,4,1,TEN HIT STRINGS-- many variations which I will not go into here.
--3,3,4,b+3-- heel lance launching kick.
--3,3,4,wait,4-- right sidekick will stun if counter-hit, follow with 
d/b+3+4
--3,3,4,4-- right roundhouse will hit even some of the fastest duckers.
--all of the above end the combo, RESTART.

If they are fast enough to duck under the high right kick in the sequence,
you simply must use d+3,4 instead of 3,3,4 out of left flamingo, since the
right kick is guaranteed after the low left hits.  The beauty is this:  if
they try to low parry your d+3, then you can always use 3,3,4 instead and
nail them while ducking!

If they are fast enough to jab you right after you go into left flamningo
following 1,2,3, use instead (again from slowest to fastest):

--1,2,3,2, TEN HIT STRINGS.

--1,2,f+3-- instead of holding his left leg Bob shoots out a sidekick that
	    cannont be interrupted.

You can see from the above that any move an opponent makes to interrupt you
can be beaten if you anticipate it.  Most of the above moves are a safe way
to end the combo as well so even if they are blocked, you will not be open
for retaliation.  If a move above is not followed by RESTART it means that
you CAN and SHOULD continue on with more strings immediately since the
opponent will have a frame disadvantage that prevents them from retaliating.

Besides interruption, you need to worry about being caught and parried.

If they repeatedly parry your moves:

--Hold the moves and strike AFTER they parry or go low as often as possible.

If they repeatedly catch your moves:

--Follow the parry suggestions in addition to consciously expecting a catch
  on certain moves and buffering for a chicken.  The most often caught
  strike is the right flamingo punch so hold down 2 (buffer it) after the
  punch and chicken the catch (f+2+4).

If they sidestep:

--Keep the combo going, Bob tracks well and you will only miss one move.
  Generally each combo move locks the opponent long enough that sidestepping
  is not possible anyway so this isn't much of a problem.

The whole goal is to teach the opponent that any move they will make to end
your string will fail most of the time and thus prevent them from attempting
it next time.  If you do it right, even an expert opponent will become a
statue as he sits there trying to decide what to do next, and this is where
you want him; fat for the infinite combo kill.

Besides the above, extra options during the combo include changing stance
from right flamingo to left flamingo (3+4) instead of putting your foot 
down,
or back-dashing while in right foot forward stance.  This backdash is
faster and more distancing than the normal one and will put you out of jab
range.  You can then do whatever you want, including 3~4,b+3 or f+2,2, both
of which are good launchers.  (keep in mind that the fastest way to go from
right foot forward back to conventional fighting stance is NOT 3+4 but 
rather
a quick duck)

Finally, at any time when your foot is on the ground, you can throw.  In
left foot forward always use f+2+3 since it requires both punches to break
and from right foot forward use 2+4.

Remember that starting the flamingo is always your goal with Bob; if you
ever find yourself in any of the positions above even though you didn't get
there the way I describe, you can just mix and match.  For example, after
a tsunami kick (2,2 while rising) you are in right foot forward and can
usually jab (2) before they do anything, then start up the combo!



FINAL THOUGHTS:
The staple juggle follows b+3 and is 3~4,1,2,3,4.  Other launchers can be
followed with various juggles--look on the net for them.  Hwoarang actually
has a wider assortment of juggles than anyone else.

Duck jab followed by tsunami kick is an incredible weapon that no other
character can match; use it as often as possible.

Practice all the strings against the computer over and over, even if it is
blocking them, to become as fast as possible.  You can link Bob's moves at
an incredible rate which only becomes apparent when you see the computer use
Hwoarang with its (occasional) bursts of skill.  Remember that the 
difference
between executing moves back to back and just standing there after the first
one is a single frame.  If you can nail button presses exactly on that
frame, anyone will be hard pressed to beat you.

Using the strings to win requires that you first bring the opponent to
expect certain moves at certain locations during your combos then changing
them to punish him when he thinks he has you made.  This may require time
and effort and a few losses, since the first time he ducks a kick you will
get hit by him; just make sure the next time he ducks that you are kicking
mid!  This is the essence of advanced matches and Hwoarang can do it more
effectively than any other character.

Last, please don't judge a character's strengths and weaknesses by the
people who play them.  Just because most experts win with other characters
doesn't mean that Bob is inherently weaker than them.