Lei Wulong: Supercop - a Strategy guide for Tekken Four Version 1 By Glenn (e-mail - glenn@glnf.demon.co.uk) This is my first ever FAQ, so be gentle with me. ..................................................................... -Contents- 1) Legal Matters 2) Version history 3) Author's note 4) Conventions 5) Lei in general 6) Movelist 7) Move Analysis 8) Combos and Juggles 9) Wall work 10) General Strategies - Advantages and Disadvantages - Lying, back turned and standing - Stance switching - Defense - Chickens and Buffers - Spacing 11) Advanced Strategies - Psychology - Poking - Custom strings - Keep-out gameplay - Dominating the game - Wake-up - Stage Tactics 12) VS Character Strategy 13) Miscillanious 14) Summary 15) Credits ..................................................................... ================= 1) LEGAL MATTERS ================= This strategy guide is meant to be a free for all the Tekken players worldwide and you may freely distribute this document without any changes so long as it is for personal use. Basically this whole text document is (C) 2001 Glenn Ford. To be brutally honest I don't give a damn if you plagurise the hell out of it, but don't, there's really no point. I've used other peoples stuff, and credited them where I do. The facts in this guide are from everyone, the opinions mine. ..................................................................... ================ VERSION HISTORY ================ 23 October 2001 - V.1. - First version. Character Strats, move analysis, stage strats and juggles clearly incomplete. 07 November 2001 - V.1.2 - First update, converted to TXT, finished move analysis, updated misc. stuff. 16 November 2001 - V.1.3 - Second update, finished standard character VS strats, set out move analysis to include a few basic moves, made some corrections, updates and generally improved things a touch. 21 November 2001 - V.1.4 - Third update, finished time release character strats apart from combot. Also made general updates. 21 December 2001 - V.1.5 - Fourth update, general updates, started wall work second, finished everything else. 24 May 2002 - V.1.6 - Fifth update, still short on state strats and walls. ================= 2) AUTHOR'S NOTE ================= I've been playing Tekken since the original in the arcades and have made Lei a favourite from two until four. I got into Paul during Tag team, but being a PS player as a whole and not liking sticks I'm back on Lei with the advent of Tekken 4, since I still can't reliably do quarter circles with a stick (sad as that is). I'm writing this because the guides I've seen so far have fallen a bit short of the mark, this guide is partly my own ideas, partly facts and partly an amalgamation of tactics from other people (all credited) that I think will cover the bases for newbie Lei players. This is a lead in and should hopefully give people a base to build their own tactics on. I make no excuses for the fact that a lot of this is borrowed from other people, what I want to do is make a FAQ that ties together all the possible Lei information out there, mine or other peoples, despite the above I don't really care if this gets ripped off so long as we get a great FAQ out the end of it, just don't try to sell it, and at least credit me. What I mean by this is that I'll almost certainly canablise any Lei FAQs I find shorter than this one, and I hope than any longer will contain everything in this one. My intent isn't to be recognised as a Tekken authority, but to produce an immaculate FAQ. All of this has been tripple checked on the PS2 version of Tag-Tekken with hit analysis and everything on for technical matters and tested in the heat of battle for usefulness. Ninety percent of it has been tried on the arcade machine Tekken 4, but not all of it. So if you spot anything wrong, please let me know right away. I will review it if I get comments, but I hope this to be fairly good when its done anyway. ..................................................................... =============== 3) CONVENTIONS =============== The general conventions that we use, for the sake of anyone who doesn't know. -commands- f - tap forward F - hold forward b - tap back B - hold back u - tap up U - hold up d - tap down D - hold down d/f - tap down+forward D/F - hold down+forward d/b - tap down+back D/B - hold down+back u/f - tap up+forward U/F - hold up+forward u/b - tap up+back U/B - hold up+back QCF - quarter circle forward (d,d/f,f) QCB - quarter circle back (d,d/b,b) HCF - half circle forward (b,d/b,d,d/f,f) HCB - half circle back (f,d/f,d,d/b,b) Button Layout--> (1) (2) (3) (4) 1 = left punch 2 = right punch 3 = left kick 4 = right kick -Abbreviations- These are used in the FAQ, though I occasionally use the full terms. + - Moves must be done together , - Moves must be done right after the other ~ - Moves must be done IMMEDIATELY after the other _ - Or (When used between two moves, they are interchangeable) > - Move following the > has the option of being slightly delayed N - Neutral, return stick to central position # - Hold movement before the '#' until the end of string or until N FC - Do move during full crouched position RN - While running (f,F#) CH - Major Counterhit (Hitting your opponent during their move execution) [] - Brackets surrounding an item indicate an optional output () - Parenthesis indicates moves grouped together {} - Curved brackets indicate buttons needed to break a throw . - Pause 1/3 a second between button presses (Tenstring timings only) GS - Guard Stun FC - Full crouch SS - Sidestep BT - Back turned CH - Counter hit FU,FT - Knock down, on back, feet towards FU,FA - Play dead, on back, feet away FD,FT - Face down, feet towards FD,FA - Slide, face down, feet away SK - Snake Stance PS - Panther Stance TS - Tiger Stance CS - Crane Stance DR - Dragon Stance PI - Pheonix Illusion DS - Drunken Stance RC - Recovers Crouching -Terms- A few odd phrases I use you may not know: 'Wake up game' also known as 'Okizeme' I call it Wake up because that's what I learnt it as and I can't always remember how to spell Okizeme. Basically, attacking someone while they can neither defend or retaliate, on the floor, defenseless. 'Juggle' hitting someone when they can neither defend or retaliate, in mid air, defenseless. 'Eating' taking it on the chin, or shin, or whatever. Basically neither blocking a move nor taking it on counterhit. Sometimes done intentionally, if a position could lead to a low damaging low kick or a mid hitting juggle starter, most people will 'eat' the low kick. 'Punk' also known as Pimping, when someone slaps you out of a move, most often a roll, in some way that makes you step back and feel that punch. 'Turtle' Someone who blocks constantly, often ducking into the bargain and often a Reversal master. 'Pitbull' Opposite of a Turtle, attacks you none stop. 'Masher' you can hear the buttons clattering, he might as well have his eyes closed as he ham-fistedly slams into the buttons. Gives Eddy/Christie (Capoaria) a bad name, kill him now. A word, good Capoaria players tend to be very quiet, Masher Capoaria's like to trash talk you for some reason. Hurt them all. 'Little Jimmy' Someone who knows about three moves because he's not played before, certainly not in the Arcade, he can't do quarter circles with a stick, why aren't the buttons linked? That didn't use to happen in Tekken 3 did it? Not really his fault. Best to go easy on these sorts because they will learn eventually, and they should be encouraged to do so. 'Scrub' Masher/Little Jimmy catch all. Someone you know you can beat before you even touch the buttons. 'Custom String' a set of pokes, attacks, throws, stance changes and such that smoothly link together with pauses and range changes that confuse and batter your opponent. 'Points' in various places I'll refer to juggles or moves doing points of damage, or amounts. Each move does an amount of damage in points, the damage points a character has. On average a character can take around a hundred points of damage. 'Wiff' miss, fall short or go over someone's head. A move that never even connects is a wiffed move. -Hit ranges- l - Low hit L - Low hit also striking ground m - Mid hit M - Mid hit also striking ground h - High hit ! - unblockable G - ground hit ................................................................... ================== 4) LEI IN GENERAL ================== Lei is probably one of the most varied and all round able fighters in Tekken. He's often seen as a gimmick fighter with the stance changes and his lying or back turned fighter, but with the growing number of fighters with strange stances through to Tekken four this is dying off. From Tekken Tag and moreso in Tekken four all the fighers are however able and powerful to a high level, without exception, the secret is no longer to picking the right person, but to understanding who you pick. To this end, Lei can cover probably every single base in fighting to a certain degree. Juggles, wake-up (Okizeme), confusion, sidestepping, poking and throwing are all games where he has some ability. At no point is his game really weak. His single greatest strength is in his ability to chain pressure custom strings almost without pause. Character wise Lei is more like a cross of Hwoarang, with his stance chaining abilities, and Law, with his striking and wake-up game, but a little more. Lei is, in the end, very stylish, and he should be played as such. Most decent players have seen all his stances a thousand times, but when you advance on someone with dragon stance, or stand back in pheonix illusion, even the best will be caught for a second trying to figure out exactly what you're going to do. In a Tekken match half the war is working out what your opponent likes to do from certain set-ups, with Lei you need never repeat the same set-up twice, but at the same time, you can, and train opponents to react to him. This is, of course, what differentiates a good player from a great one, training your opponent, more will be included on that later. The point to Lei here is that you should strive to have enough custom strings to include all his stances at one point or another, if you rely on knowing one or two you will never get the best out of Lei. Lei has the basic poking and striking power to let you get into understanding him a step at a time, but until you get the hold of all his stances and using all of them in a bout you'll never really know him. Some people will consider Lei cheap, he's got nasty string mix-up and you don't have to learn strong juggles to win with him. I won't get too into this, but I think its crap. Personally I think a bar destroying juggle, however hard to do is no less cheap than a well thought out pressure and poking game. I also find a constantly stance switching unpredictable fast thinking opponent training Lei to be as if not more stylish than a massed wave dashing super juggler, but that's just me. There are cheap strats, but in my opinion they don't work. I think there is no such thing as a cheap or cheesy strat that will consistently beat a good player. ..................................................................... ============= 5) MOVELIST ============= Other than some appearance changes these are almost ninety nine percent lifted from Catlord's FAQ. I believe that giving him credit makes doing that okay, if not I'll deleate it all and type it out again for the next version. Catlord's FAQ is just the best for movelists, so I didn't see any point re-doing it. I've also tagged on a few extra facts I thought were useful of my own and corrected one or two minor things. I haven't asked for permission prior to doing any of this, because I didn't think it mattered, but if it did do tell me. As such, and by Catlord's convention, new moves for Tekken 4 are in capitals. General Moves ------------- N Stand Still *Neutral Standing Guard* f_(F#) Step Forward_(Walk Forward) b_(B#) Step Backward_(Walk Backward) *Active Standing Guard* f,f Dash Forwards b,b Dash Backwards D/B CROUCH DOWN D/F# CROUCHING ADVANCE D# FULL CROUCH (FC) *Neutral Low Guard* D/F# Crouching Advance d/f Low Parry *When Attacked by a Low/Special-Mid Hit* (u,N)_(d,N) Short Axis Shifting Sidestep (SS) U#_D# SIDESTEP WALK (1+3)_(b+1+3) POSITION CHANGE - SWITCH {1} f+1+3 POSITION CHANGE - OFFENSIVE SHOVE {1} (u_d)+1+3 POSITION CHANGE - RIGHT OR LEFT SHOVE {1} u/f Low Hop *RC* U/F High Jump *RC* N+3 Landing Mid Gutkick *Stuns* N,3 Landing Low Kick +(1_3_4) Jumping Attack u/f+2 Quick Pounce (1_2_3_4) WALL TECHROLL *When Getting Smashed Into A Wall* (f,f,f)_(f,F) Run B Stop Running 1+2 Flying Cross Chop 3 Flying Side Kick 4 Sliding Leg Sweep N Shoulder, Stomp or Tackle depending on run distance (2,1,2,1,2)_(1,2,1,2,1) Mounted Punches 2 Tackle Dodge *During Tackle Impact* 1+2 Tackle Flip Reversal *During Tackle Fall - Chains into Mounted Punches* 1 Right Punch Block, Kickoff *During Mounted Punch* 2 Left Punch Block, Kickoff *During Mounted Punch* Knockdown Recovery Moves (When On Ground FU,FT) ----------------------------------------------- (1_2_3_4) Tech Roll *Hit as SOON as you hit the ground* f Roll Forwards 3 Rising Low Kick 4 Rising Mid Kick 1+2 Flying Cross Chop b Roll Backwards 3 Rising Low Kick 4 Rising Mid Kick f+1+2 Flying Cross Chop 1_(d+1) Roll Out_(Roll In) N Stand Up D# Stay Lying Down 3 Rising Low Kick 4 Rising Mid Kick f Roll Forwards 3 Rising Low Kick 4 Rising Mid Kick 1+2 Flying Cross Chop b Roll Backwards 3 Rising Low Kick 4 Rising Mid Kick 1+2 Flying Cross Chop 3 Rising Low Kick 4 Rising Mid Kick d+4 Ankle Kick f+1+2 Roll Forward, Flying Cross Chop b+(4~3)_(3~4) Fast Rising Kickup b+3+4 Rising Kickup f Handspring Kickup *As soon as you hit the ground* B Tumble Knockback Recovery *After getting hit by a heavy tumbling attack* Recovery moves can be chained together as such: 1,b,3 - Roll out, roll backwards, rising low sweep. Special Arts ------------ GRAPPLING TECHNIQUES (Front) 2+4 Sleeper Hold {2} F+2+4 Flying Sky Kick {2} f,f+1+2 Thai Trip {1+2} u/f+1+2 Falling Elbow Trip {1+2} *FD/FA* (Left) (1+3)_(2+4)_(2+5) Sailboat Stretch {1} (Right) (1+3)_(2+4)_(2+5) Closing Fan {2} (Back) (1+3)_(2+4)_(2+5) HELICOPTER KICKUP From Snake stance: 1+3 Dragon Stance to Drunken Throw {1} 1+2 Drunken Swill *Recovers Health, DS* F (Snake Stance) From Dragon stance: 1 Drunken Throw {1} 1+2 Drunken Swill, *Recovers Health, DS* Standing strikes ---------------- 1,1 DOUBLE SNAKE JABS F (SNAKE STANCE) 1,2 1-2 PUNCHES b+1 Swaying Drunken Punch f (Drunken Stance) SS+1 Snake Punch f (Tiger Stance) u_d (Dragon Stance) f,N+1 1 Rushing Punch u_d (Snake Stance) f,N+1>2 2 Rushing Punches u_d (Dragon Stance) f,N+1>2>1 3 Rushing Punches u_d (Panther Stance) f,N+1>2>1>2 4 Rushing Punches u_d (Tiger Stance) 3 Sweeping Kick >4 Midkick u_d (Crane Stance) 1+2 Turning Punch, (BK) 2 Spiral Uppercut *Juggles* 1 Hook spin back blow (BK) b+1+2 Headbutt f+1+2 Double Snake Punch f (Crane Stance) u_d (Panther Stance) d/f+2 Lifting Uppercut *Juggles* (u/f_u/b)+2 Elbow Drop, (FU/FA) SS+2,2 Drunken Punches f (Drunken Stance) f,N+2,1,2 Guard Melting Punches *Must Block 1st Punch, Juggles* 1 Guard Melting Punch, (BK) f,N+2>1>2 Break Punches *Must Whiff or Hit 1st Punch* 3_4 Low Kick, Mid Kick u_d (Crane Stance) 3,3 Crescent, Low Sweepkick, (BK) 3~4,[U#] Jumping Crescent Kick[s 1-3], (BK) d (FU/FT) f+3~4,[U#] Axis Shift Jumping Crescent Kick[s 1-3], (BK) d (FU/FT) f,N+3 Lightning Crescent 4 Stunkick *Stuns* d+4 Lowkick u/f+3 CRANE HOPKICK, (CRANE STANCE) *Juggles* u/f+3+4 LEAPING TWISTKICK, (BK) 4 2ND TWISTKICK SS+3+4 Falling Blade, (BK) b+4 BACKFLIP f (CRANE STANCE) 4~4,3 Rolling Kicks, (FU/FT) ,3 Lifting Kick *Juggles*, (FD/FT) 4~3 Cartwheel Kick, (FD/FT) d/b+4 Rave Sweep *Floats* ,4 Rave Spin d_u (Snake Stance) u/f+4 Jumping Boot/Dropkick *Juggles* CH 4 Knockdown Highkick *Juggles* f+4,2,1>2,3 Crescent Kick, 3 Punches, Low Kick f+4,2,1>2>4 Crescent Kick, 3 Punches, Mid Kick u_d (Crane Stance) f,N+4~1,2 Rush Combo 2 SNAKE MIDPUNCH F (DRAGON STANCE) 2 SNAKE LOWPUNCH F (PANTHER STANCE) 4~4,3 ROLLING KICKS, (FU/FT) 3 LIFTING KICK *Juggles*, (FD/FT) 3 Lightning Crescent 4 Stunkick *Stuns* d+4 Lowkick b,b~u/b RUNUP BACKFLIP, (BK) *Against Wall* b+3+4 (BK) d+1+2 (FD/FA) d+3+4 (FU/FA) b+1+4 (Pheonix Illusion Stance) f+3+4 (Drunken Stance) f+2+3 (Snake Stance) (SS+1+4)_(SS+2+3) (Snake Stance) f+3+4 Mid/High Punch Drunken Parry b+121.3+4..2..1.4.1.4.4 TENSTRING b+121.3+4..2..1.4.1.2.3 TENSTRING b+121.3+4.3+4.3+4..1..1..2 NINESTRING Backturned Position - (BK) - (b+3+4) ------------------------------------ 1 High Backfist (BK) FC_d+1[1,1,1...] Low Backfist, [Repeats infinitly](BK) *Juggles* 2 Turning Uppercut *Juggles* (u/b_u/f)+2 Elbow Drop, (FU/FA) 3+4,[3+4],[3+4] Backflip[s], (BK) FC_d+4 Rave Sweep *Floats* 4 Rave Spin d_u (Snake Stance) u/f+4 Turn Around Liftkick *Juggles* Face Down/Feet Away Position - (FD/FA) - (d+1+2) ------------------------------------------------ u Stand Up 1 (FU/FA) 3_4 Sweep (f_b),(3_4) Roll Forward_Back, Sweep_Rising Midkick 4~3 Slide (FU,FA) Face Up/Feet Away Position - (FU/FA) - (d+3+4) ---------------------------------------------- u Stand Up f_b Roll Forwards_Backwards 3 Rave Sweep *Floats* ~4 Rave Spin #d+1 (FD/FA) 3 Rave Sweep *Floats* ~4 Rave Spin 3+4 Kangaroo Kick *Juggles* 4 Rising Midkick Face Down/Feet Towards Position - (FD/FT) - (4~3) ------------------------------------------------- u Stand Up f_b Roll Forwards_Backwards 3 Rave Sweep *Floats* 4 Rave Spin 4 Rising Midkick 1 (FU/FT) 3 Sweep 3~4 Sweep, (FU/FA) 3~4,4 Rave Spin 4 Rising Mid Kick 4~3 Mid Cartwheel Face Up/Feet Towards Position - (FU/FT) - (3~4, d) ------------------------------------------------------------ u Stand Up D+1 (FD/FT) f_b Roll Forward_Backwards 3 Low Sweep 4 Rising Midkick 3_4 Sweep_Rising Midkick 3+4 Spring Up *Damages on Counter* Pheonix Illusion - (b+1+4) ---------------------- 3>3>3>3... Hawk Claw Kicks, [Eagle Stance] 4 Phoenix Kick *Unblockable* b+4,[U#] Jumping Crescent Kick[s 1-3] d (FU/FT) Drunken Stance - (f+3+4) ------------------------ 1 Drunken Fist F (Drunk Stance) 1+2 Drunken Swill *Recovers Health*, (Drunken Stance) 2,2 Drunken Punches F (Drunk Stance) 3+4 Falling Anklekick Snake Stance - (f+2+3)_(f,N+1~d) -------------------------------- 1,1,1,1,1,1 Stabbing Punches 1+3 Dragon Stance to Drunken Throw {1} 1+2 Drunken Swill *Recovers Health* (Drunken Stance) F (Snake Stance) 2 Snake Midpunch *Stuns on CH* F (Dragon Stance) 2 Snake Midpunch F (Dragon Stance) 2 Snake Lowpunch F (Panther Stance) 4~4,3 Rolling Kicks, (FU/FT) 3 Lifting Kick *Juggles*, (FD/FT) 4 Low Jab Kick, (Snake Stance) 3 Lifting Kick, (FD/FT) u,N Face Right-Dragon Stance,Face Left-Panther Stance d,N Face Right-Panther Stance,Face Left-Dragon Stance Dragon Stance - (f+2+3,u)_(f,N+1,2~d) ------------------------------------- 1 Drunken Throw {1} 1+2 Drunken Swill, (Drunken Stance) 1+2 Double Arm Strike F (Tiger Stance) 2 Uppercut *Juggles on CH* F (Tiger Stance) 3,3 High Crescent, Low Sweepkick 4,1,2,3,4_d+4 5-Hit Combo u,N Face Right-Tiger Stance, Face Left-Snake Stance d,N Face Right-Snake Stance, Face Left-Tiger Stance Panther Stance - (f+2+3,d)_(f,N+1,2,1~d) ---------------------------------------- 1~2 Low/High Punch Combo 2 Uppercut *Juggles* 1,2 GuardMelt Punches *If Uppercut Blocked, Juggles* 1 Guard Melting Punch, (BK) 3 Low Sweep b (Pheonix Illusion Stance) 4,2,1>2 Crescent Kick, 3 Punches 3 Lowkick >4 Midkick F Low Parry u,N Face Right-Snake Stance, Face Left-Crane Stance d,N Face Right-Crane Stance, Face Left-Snake Stance Crane Stance - (f+2+3,d,d)_(f,N+1,2,1,2,4~d) -------------------------------------------- N CRANE DEFENSE *Auto-Hops Over Low Kick Attacks* 1 Crane Bill *Lei turns BK if Blocked* 2 Backfist, BK *Connected Hit Turns Opponent BK* 4 Hop Forward Low Kick 3>4>2>3 2 Kicks, Punch, Kick *Juggles* u,N Face Right-Panther Stance, Face Left-Snake Stance d,N Face Right-Snake Stance, Face Left-Panther Stance Tiger Stance - (f+2+3,u,u)_(f,N+1,2,1,2~d) ------------------------------------------ 1 Overhead Swipe *Bounces On CH* 2 Tiger Claw 3,1>2>1>2 Kick, Punch Combo >3 Lowkick >4 Highkick 4 Fast Sweep *Floats* F High/Mid Parry u,N Face Right-Snake Stance, Face Left-Dragon Stance d,N Face Right-Dragon Stance, Face Left-Snake Stance .................................................................... ================= 6) MOVE ANALYSIS ================= In this section I'm going to talk about most of Lei's moves and some of his more interesting options. I'll rate the moves from one to five, five being a necessary part of the arsenal, one being next to useless. I'm going to mention every move that has a specific use to be aware of, which with Lei is most of them. Unlike some fighters he has very few totally useless moves. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Throws: ------- Of all Lei's areas his throwing is probably his weakest, having only three special throws and the normal set of basic throws, for this reason it seems most Lei FAQs and players ignore his throwing game. Which is probably part of what can make it so dangerous as a set up. If used carefully his throw game can be strong, his simple throw set gives him good options despite its limits, and who wants a load of throws when only a few really work well? His simple but effective throws belie the idea of Lei's weak throwing game. Especially since its such an accepted fact that Lei doesn't throw much these will keep people off balance, and if there's one thing you want with Lei its to keep people off balance. Double foot stomp/Flying Sky Kick F+2+4 {2} Rating: 2 The best of Lei's basic throws and probably the best basic throw in game, at least equal to any other. Its real benefit is that after the throw Lei backflips away leaving Lei at perfect shoulder barge range. Its nature as a basic throw and so one button escape keeps its rating low, but if you do manage to pull it off then the benefit of the extra space is obvious. Running at a downed opponent is a serious advantage, usually leading to a stomp or sometimes a shoulder barge, but be ready for the low kick if the opponent rolls well. Sleeper Hold 2+4 {2} Rating: 1 With the loss of different button escapes for the different basic throws this throw has lost its use. You can use it for the wake-up options it leads to since it leaves your opponent at your feet. But realistically the Sky Kick has better options and should always be used, or the Thai Trip has the same wake up options of the Sleeper, but with a double button escape. Thai Trip/Tripping f,F+1+2 {1+2} Rating: 3 Double button escape, good grab range and decent, though not great damage make this one of Lei's most important throws. It should be mixed into standing strings. It doesn't come out wicked fast, but in Tekken 4 few throws really seem to, always hit your wake-up options after for extra damage. Falling Elbow Trip/Dragon Falls U/F+1+2 {1+2} Rating: 4 Lei's best throw, his most damaging, still a fairly piddly amount of damage, but his best all the same. Plus it leaves him in his slide position, FD/FA, meaning his slide, 4~3 is pretty much definate, follow it with the first half of the Rave spin, since the slide will leave you FU/FA for the sweep and you have a fairly serious piece of damage, about fifty or sixty, especially if the sweep strikes clean, which it often does. Not to be overused since standing and blocking low can save the opponent, or even often by rising low attacking, but once or twice its a lot of damage from a simple throw. Those of you with crappy arcade sticks, note the diagonal in the execution though, sorry. If your opponent is prone to getting up and standing though don't be afraid to tag on the whole of the Rave Spin on the end of that, since it will catch him as he stands or if he rolls, only once mind. If the opponent likes to rise with a standing attack stay down and pop him up with a kangeroo kick after the slide for a free juggle set, or whatever is your personal favourite from FU/FA, more on that position later. Out of Control/Neck Ringer/Drunken Throw Rating: 3 This one can be done from Snake stance or from Dragon stance. Both have fairly slow animation and normally this is a show of throw, but it has uses. This gets its high rating because its a different button escape and Lei has so few throws, plus it can leave you in another stance, and we always want to switch stances with Lei. Doing the throw from Snake (SK, 1+3) can have a neat side effect. You can't normally side step and attack out of animal stances, leaving Lei open to power attacks he has to give up priority to. If you time this right though Lei will sidestep and instantly throw giving you his side throw instead of the Drunken Throw, if your caught at a distance in Snake and have a Deathfist happy Paul or some such it can be an option, if a tricky to pull off one. Big style points though. From Dragon stance the throw is a little slow to say the least, but it is a neat mix-up. It works like this, most veterans will probably be expecting a strike from here and most newbies the throw, so switch up, train them one way or another and then suddenly switch back. More on this in the stances section. If you do get the move off take advantage of the Swill every so often (1+2) not for the energy it gives, since you lose damage from the throw it all counts equal in the end unless you're on some sort of survival thing, but because you can come out from the throw in drunken stance, which is confusing and can lead to a drop down and more confusion and so on. Overall this is an extra option from the potentially limited animal stances and should be noted for that. Striking Arts: -------------- These are the various attacks Lei has while standing and not in any stance. You should probably be thinking about switching into one of the other stances from this position, not a straight switch, but a move that leads into them, this is the way to keep Lei flowing and in constant pressure mode. Also, many of your best guessing game options, the strongest part of Lei's game, come from his animal stances. His pressure is better in basic stance, but many top players have learnt to handle pressure. Your two best options from here are a move that ends in another stance or your hopkick or other juggle starter, but there are other tricks. Basic Moves: ------------- Basic moves that everyone, or at least many people, possess, but you should be aware of the qualities of for various reasons. Lifting Uppercut d/f+2 *Juggles* Rating: 4 Lots of people have the lifting uppercut to juggle, this is both more and less important to Lei than them. Firstly, Lei has more juggle starters than almost anyone else, with the kangeroo kick, the Panther Paw, Tiger Claw, Crane Dance, Crane hopkick, Rave sweep, Tiger Sweep, and others, so this isn't too important for him. The Panther Paw and sprial uppercut have the same juggle properties as this but better mix-ups. However, Lei has no while standing uppercut juggle which most people have, and only this as a mid striking, normal stance, standing juggle, which makes it important to remember. Its safer than the boot on recovery and has good damage chances. You should include it in your custom poking strings to catch an opponent who's blocking is slow, though when you get an opening the hopkick triggers at about the same speed and has high damage follow-ups. You can catch a whole razor rush juggle off this, the snake punches, the cresent kick, the rolling kicks or the turning punch spiral uppercut all connect. The rolling kicks are the most damaging, but the point is you can end up in any single stance you choose after this move, its a perfect poke breaker and leaves your opponent confused and in trouble since you can end it never the same way twice on connection. Jumping Boot/Hopkick u/f+4 *Juggles* Rating: 5 Pretty much Lei's best juggle starter, its like any other hop kick really, which for those of you who don't know means its fast and high, not realy much else to say about it, it doesn't have much mix- up or anything, its just a good, fast, mid-striking juggle starter. Most of Lei's game is based on mix-up, but this is the sort of move you're looking to find an opening for so you can really pile on the damage. Knockdown Highkick CH 4 *Juggles* Rating: 2 You can just about land the first two kicks of the rolling kicks on this for the juggle, but that's about it. You have to know its going to land counter to get that off, in which case there are better moves to land. Not all players can juggle of the basic high kick, so if it lands be ready to tack on those rolling kicks for a few more points. RUNUP BACKFLIP b,b~u/b (BK) *Against Wall* Rating: 1 The general turn around move everyone has from the wall, a little slow, takes a lot of space, and hard to do, I'm not totally certain what you'd do with this. It will never be a good way to get back turned, I can only think of luring someone into this and getting behind them. Rising Mid Kick ws+3 Rating: 2 Lei has practically no moves from out of a crouch, he has no full crouch moves and no while standing moves to speak of. This is the one clear deficiency in Lei's all around game, he's just not good fighting from out of a crouched cramped position, he prefers to be streched out in one way or another. As such this move is important to bear in mind. Firstly because its his best while standing move, hitting mid and fast with good range, to get you back to your feet, but secondly, if you do the Rave Sweep from lying down (mentioned later) then following up with the Rave Spin is very slow and dangerous, this move is a little bit of a better option. Primarily here to remind you to be aware of Lei's weaknesses, this move does have its uses. Low Jab d+1 Rating: 3 Once again, Lei is not great out of a crouch, and the new addition of the snake punches and one two punch for Lei, I suspect, are there to protect that fact. Let me explain. The fastest move in the game is the low jab (d+1), alternate low jab (d+2) or modified low jab (d/b+1). As such this is the move of choice for knocking people out of moves as they attack. Now, everyone else has while standing moves from this, usually ones that juggle, Lei has practically nothing, certainly nothing that juggles. I suspect that giving him his new lightning fast standing punches are a way of making up for this deficiency. However, the low jab is still the weapon of choice for knocking people out of moves. If you know that they won't be going under the height of your one two punches or snake punches, then use them, but if you're not sure and you need to stuff an incomming attack, then this is the move to use. The Low Jab is simply the fastest move you have at your disposal, and the most likely to knock people out of a move. Whenever popping someone out a move is mentioned, this is almost always the move assumed to be doing the work. As a rule, a protection move, but one worth remembering. Pokes: ------- These are all Lei's quick in close punching attacks, the ones that you should use if you get into a poke war. Pokes are short fast attacks that you use to pressure an opponent and punish slow recovery moves, anything quick with low recovery is pretty much a poke, as a rule, any basic punch. The listed here are Lei's most interesting ones and their properties. Lei can't beat Nina, Law or King in a straight poke war but he can take most people, and almost every one of his pokes has a stance switch avaliable, so even the proffesional pokers can be taken down. In a poking war be aware that Lei's real aim is to get out of it. He can poke with the best of them, but its not his area. What he really wants is a few good pokes then a situation that will give him distance and slow the fight down, or at least allow him to pace it. This is exactly what stance switch moves allow him to do. The basic idea to pokes is to interrupt slow initiating attacks or punish slow recovery ones and set-up longer attacks. For Lei, it also to control the range of the game and to make room for his many set-ups. DOUBLE SNAKE JABS 1,1 [F - SK] Rating: 2 A new Lei move that comes out fast and leaves him in Snake stance. Its a good idea to take the stance change ninety percent of the time because the Snake offers some nasty mix ups. A weak poke but with fairly safe stance mix-up, and very very fast. 1-2 PUNCHES 1,2 Rating: 1 Wonder why this is here. No stance leave off, not huge punishment, strike range high, if you must mix this in a custom string, but as a whole use the snake jabs in any situation you feel compelled to pull this out in. A potential panic button, but the Snake jabs are better despite the lesser damage. Quick, but just no reason to use them. I would include these in the basic moves, but Lei's one two punches are quicker than most peoples, and look a lot different. Still, not a useful move. Drunken Tiger Lash/Drunken punch b+1 [f-drunken stance] Rating: 2 Not as good as either the Drunken punch from Drunken stance, which hits mid and has greater knock back, nor the Drunken Punches from sidestep. The only real use is the rear back to go under a high punch and get a counter. But then you should just go with the cannonball headbutt which has more damage and rears back just the same, plus has better guard stun and mix-up. Of course, you could go into drunken stance from it, but you can from the drunken punches, and if you connect the opponent will be on the floor knocked away, in which case you don't want to be in drunken stance. One to avoid really. I hate to say that any move is useless, so coming back to this I've noticed a possible use. You have long enough to hit the Tiger Sip from this move on counter-hit thanks to its knock back. With the health plus to you this gives the equivilent of forty five points of damage off one move given that the rear back gains you your counter-hit. You get no follow up option thanks to the Drunken Stance and the distance, but its something to note. Drunken punches SS+2,2 [f - drunken stance] Rating: 3 Sidesteps, hits mid then high, goes into drunken stance, second hit is garenteed on counterhit, this is a nice little move. If blocked the second hit causes guard stun and the first strike hits rolling opponents. If you get it on counter and go drunken Lei will rear back too far to hit until the opponent gets up and attacks, so either keep the stance going and double foot kick him when he gets in range or don't go drunken. Best option here is to sidestep an attack, claim your free damage and go into wake up. Good for quick recovery moves you can sidestep and a hopkick won't work for. Probably the second best way to go into drunken stance to play that guessing game with your opponent. When you think a side throw will be broken and you want a quick side attack, this is your man. You can then go into either Drunken stance guessing game or wake-up guessing game, you're in control. Snake Punch SS+1 [f - Tiger stance, u_d - Dragon stance] Rating: 2 Hits high and does less damage than the drunken punches, if you're using this you better be planning to go into the animal stances. That said, this is probably the best way to get into Tiger stance and gets its rating for that alone really. The only other way to get into Tiger is to stance change from the Razor Rush where punch four is kind of in no-man's land. The Tiger stance has some juicy possibilities so its worth getting into. If you don't intend to use it leave this alone though, the punch itself is worse than the Drunken punches, hop kicks, throws or any other sidestep options. You gan get into Dragon stance from the Razor rush fairly easily too, but its a weak animal stance anyway and you shouldn't be making such an effort to get into it, only use it if it comes naturally in a custom string. Double Snake Punch f+1+2 [f - Crane stance, u_d Panther stance] Rating: 4 Lightning fast decent damage and leaves you in one of the two best animal stances, if it didn't strike double high it would have a rating of five. Lei's aim in poking wars is to break out from the war and slow things to his pace, this move is perfect for that. It's insanely fast and leaves you in one of the two most unusual stances, most likely to have your opponent react in surprise if he doesn't know them and fear if he does. Use this one in custom strings a fair amount, it yeilds good results. Turning punch 1+2 [bk] Rating: 2 Spinning Hook Punch ~1 [bk] Spiral Uppercut ~2 The move itself is not great at all, it hits high and isn't too quick, its power is its follow-ups and surprisingly high damage. There are a whole mass of ways to get Lei backturned and this is not the best one, most people will block it and punish you, its one saving grace is the Spiral Uppercut which can be used to protect it. The hook spin back blow is only of use in juggles. It is, however, a lot of use in juggles, it does massive damage, either with the hook spinning blow or the hook uppercut. Just never do the turning punch to spinning hook punch on a standing opponent since even if it connects first all the opponent has to do is hold back and it'll block, worse, both hit high. If the first punch connects go with the Spiral Uppercut or stay back turned. The Spiral will at least force blocking, though playing back turned is better. If the first punch blocks stay backturned, a hook punch will get ducked normally and no matter what the opponent does blocking the first punch will cause the Spiral to auto wiff him and lead to a big follow up. If its in a juggle though, throw them both out and make the opponent eat mass damage. Spiral Uppercut [bk] 2 *Juggles* Rating: 3 If you're back turned you can do the spiral uppercut, but its here because you can chain it off the turning punch. If you hit and hold 1, then double tap 2 you'll get the turning punch spiral uppercut instantly. The uses for this are many, they'll be gone over in the back turned section, but you should use it when people expect a low attack from you and when they rush in on the turning punch to pop them up. It will be gone over later. General strikes: ---------------- A few words on his strikes that don't fit into other categories. Headbutt/Cannonball b+1+2 Rating: 3 A good strong Lei attack this, it has bad recovery if it wiffs, but it has good knock back on counter and the rear back is a gift when you know a long high string is coming. Plus, a neat trick can be to put in one, then if its blocked pull out another right away, most opponents will go for a high attack to punish the recovery time and you can catch them with the second headbutt on counter. When well used this can be a brutal attack thanks to its power, its mid striking and its avoidance capability. On none counter hit it does cause knee stagger, but it isn't enough to use for anything. Elbow Drop/Falling Tree (u/f_u/b)+2 (FU,FA) Rating: 3 With Lei it is vital to be aware of every stance switching move you have. The elbow drop is not only a powerful wake up tool it leaves you in a new stance, its better to naturally be in your next stance than drop into it artificially, so using this in your wake-up games should be second nature. Not only that, but because Lei jumps up to do it and it strike mid it can be used in custom strings. The jump will avoid low attacks and striking mid this can be used for people who duck and pop out low attacks at you or for predictable slow execution low attacks as a stylish if risky attack option to moves like Byran's Snake edge or Law's Dragon Tail. Be warned that even on counter hit the other person will recover before you, so be careful using it on standing opponents. An important wake-up, custom string and stance changing tool this one should be remembered, also, it looks stupid, so lots of people write it off, that means that it gives you the element of surprise when you use it, especially on standing opponents. Crescent, Low Sweepkick f_N_b+3,3 (BK) Rating: 3 Yes the best players have seen them a million times, yes you'll get blocked and punked out if you over use it, but also, yes if you get it on counter you've got a seventy point damage combo guarenteed, and that just can't be ignored. Plus, again, it leaves you back turned, which we have to like. Add to that the fact that many times you can pass up a long juggle and just whack out the Crescent kick and get almost as much damage from it this simple kick's options cannot be ignored. The direction held will make Lei step during the sequence, which has obvious uses. If you land it on counter follow up with the low kick and the Rave sweep, all will connect and you can come out into Snake stance, don't do the full Rave Spin though, it won't land. If you don't connect with the first kick do not follow up unless your opponent is either too far away to matter and you're using it to back turn, on the floor and your using it for wake-up or your opponent is a gimp because it will get blocked and you will be punished. A neat wake-up option is when the opponent is on the floor go and do the Crescent over his head, occasionally he'll think you fouled up and go for the rising strike, in which case the low kick will set him back on the floor with you back-turned and ready to Rave sweep or low hook punch him. Tornado/Jumping Crescent kicks Rating: 2 3~4 [U#, d] [1-3 kicks, drop to FU/FT] The Axis shifting version is so weird as to be practically useless, but the normal version does have a few tricks up its sleeve. It is slow, so use it from a way off and let them see it coming. Paul will Deathfist you and King will catch it but most other people will just block it since its such obvious chicken bait plus once one is blocked the Guard Stun means you have to block the whole lot. Also most people expect to see either one or three of them, so stopping on the second to either a low back turned attack or dropping down can yeild results, the first since you tend to catch people blocking high the second since you'll get a few seconds of the person working out what just happened to hit them. If you're in a long match do this once or twice, then the next time hit all three and watch as the mid kick takes their ducking heads off. Most useful from Pheonix Illusion, outlined later. Rolling Kicks 4~4,3[4] (FU/FT) [*Juggles*, (FD/FT)] Rating: 4 [2] This is a vital Lei move for ending juggles. On standing opponents final kick will almost always get itself blocked, and the juggle capability is fairly limited, you can get a certain low kick off it, but that's about it. You should use the last kick only if you want to get face down really, or within juggles, especially since it can be reversed. This is a move that covers a deceptive amount of well distance, over two backdashes length, the ankle kicks can be used to chip away at health while leaving you fairly safe on the floor. All around a basic Lei tool that everyone should know, not a devestating move, but a vital one. Falling Blade SS+3+4 (BK) Rating: 2 Not as good as from the already backturned postion. Catlord's original FAQ lists three possible flips as possible from the sidestep, but in my experience this is untrue, only one, the Falling Blade, can be done from Sidestep and three can be chained in the Flip Flop Flip from Back-turned, I may be wrong since I am often a ham fisted oaf, but I don't think I am this time. This will hit grounded opponents and really its only use I think is for wake-up. It is useful there though, since it leaves you backturned and in the position to play the low hooks/uppercut/ rave spin game with your opponent and is moderatly quick. Not huge damage, but it is a mid-striking ground striking move, which is rare and leaves you backturned, so it has its uses. Save for clever wake-up, outlined later. Cartwheel Kick 4~3 (FD/FT) Rating: 2 Another of Lei's big range attacks that leaves him on the floor. Strike mid and goes a long way so it can potentially be used to surprise ducking turtles, but it has more uses from the floor. Worth being aware of as an option, but more important uses from the ground that will be discussed later. Rave Sweep [d_u] d/b+4 *Floats* [snake stance] Rating: 5 Rave Spin 4 Rating: 2 Lei does not have many diagonal commands, this and the uppercut are really the only ones worth the effort, but this is a necessary part of Lei's arsenal. It has great range, good damage, floats and goes into the snake stance. You have to use it in wake-up game, you need it for Christie, and can even get a semi juggle into snake just by doing it twice in a row. You need to know the Rave Sweep and use it a lot, its as simple as that. The only downside to the Sweep is that if its blocked it causes Lei stumble, but really the range and its use as a wake-up attack should mean you don't get it blocked, especially if you're being as unpredictable as Lei should. The Rave Spin is not as good. If you catch someone rolling up from the floor with the Sweep then the Spin will juggle and cause some free damage, but just don't try it on a standing opponent apart from as Chicken Bait, since it will be reversed. If you connect with the Sweep then the Spin is certain, but since a double sweep into snake does almost as much damage and leaves you with more options its a better choice, or the Rave Spin into Snake stance and snake strikes does more damage than the spin don't do it. Plus if the sweep doesn't land then they'll kill you on the spin. Reserve the Spin for occasional wake-up and idiots. It's safer on people without reversals, but even then it goes high and has nasty recovery if blocked, so just try to avoid it. CRANE HOPKICK/Soaring Crane Wing u/b_u_u/f+3 (Crance Stance) *Juggles* Rating: 3 A new Lei move for Tekken 4 and to be honest I'm yet to get full use out of this juggle, so anyone with ideas be sure to drop them off to me. Crane stance is one of the most useful animal stances for reasons outlined below and I tend to use this move right now as a way to get into it. The rating right now is a potential one, I've managed to land a few hits of the Crane dance off it, but I don't know what is certain or not, so expect updates. Okay, on second look, its a little slow since before doing it Lei sort of jiggles his leg into a semi karate kid crane kick. It certainly juggles into the Crane dance, which means that slow though it may be its the starter to the coolest juggle in the game. Since this is the only juggle starter that allows you to animal stance juggle it is your duty to use it at least once each round, also the juggle is pretty easy and powerful. A good move, and gets a ton of style points. LEAPING TWISTKICK, u/f+3+4 [4] (BK) [Twistkick] Rating: 2 Not a great move by any means. Lei sort of back flips, striking down with both feet. Its very very slow to come out and it just won't come out in close range. Its one use is if you're at long range and you want to move towards your opponent a long way and turn your back, which isn't a terrible thing. It will get blocked most the time, so use it then go into a low/mid backturned guessing game with your low punches and uppercut. Do not use this close in, ever, it won't get close to coming out. If anyone has spotted a great use for this, tell me. Okay, I've had an E-mail from a guy called Eric Janson who suggests hitting the Leaping Twistkick immediatly after a completed rave spin (d/b+4,4) since this will connect with anyone who tries to get up. I tend not to complete Rave Spins any more, but if you do this sounds like a great idea, mix it up with a second rave spin which will strike grounded, forcing your opponent to guess some. BACKFLIP/Blade Drop b+4 (f) (Crane Stance) Rating: 3 Good avoidance move, fast, gives plenty of space, and yet another way to get into the Crane Stance. There are rather a lot of ways to get into Crane now really, they've been adding them none stop since Tekken three and this one is a little much now, but not without uses. Really best to mix in with backturning backdashes for dashing away mix up, with this, the normal dashes and the Ha Ha step (Below) you can dash back healthy distances and end up in not only backturned, face first, but also Crane now, so good for that. Keep it in mind for your general movement play. On second look I've given this an extra point since you can indeed hit with it. Best on the bigger players like Craig or Kuma, but if they're battering at you then throw this out, it comes out very fast and hits mid, leaving you at long range. It even looks like you might be able to catch a rolling kick off it to a slight juggle, but that's just a guess. With the Twist Kick, a long range move that leaves you close and this, a short range move that leaves you long Lei's been given two new moves clearly meant to compliment each other, and with a chance for new stance changing, ways to control the range and pace of the match. The Rush: ---------------- Ahhh, the Rush. This is a must know, must part of Lei's me. The Rush gives easy safe pressu Yoe, its hits can be staggered, it can end at different hit ranges, can be mixed up itself and can be broken out into animal stances. Its also a central tool to Lei's main juggles. Lei's standing game should be based around the Rush and its almost infinite possibilities. Never become predictable with the Rush, never let your opponent to cease fearing it. Basically, the Rush is when you tap forward and then leave the stick neutral, Lei will do an odd little walk, this is, for want of a better term, the Rush walk. From it you can perform multiple attacks enough that it is, really, a stance in its own right. Razor Rush Rating: 5 f,N+1 [u_d] 1 Punch [Snake Stance] f,N+1>2 [u_d] 2 Punches [Dragon Stance] f,N+1>2>1 [u_d] 3 Punches [Panther Stance] f,N+1>2>1>2 [u_d] 4 Rushing Punches [Tiger Stance] 3/>4 [u_d] Sweeping Kick/Midkick [Crane Stance] The Razor Rush. From this every single Lei animal stance can be reached. If your opponent has no mid reversal then feel free to constantly pressure them with this, especially since the avaliablity of staggering the punches means that striking between punches is suicide and at the end the opponent has to guess either low or mid for the block. It might be a little cheap, but its more important to use it to teach your opponent to fear the Razor. That might sound odd, but the Razor will form a central part of any good Lei offence, so you should establish it in your opponents mind as a serious weapon not to be trifled with. You can of course switch out to animal stances, and should in various occasions, including juggles (discussed below). The Razor is also vital in Lei's best juggles, so you should be used to doing it at will. Note that you cannot go to Crane stance from the low kick. Also, this might be me, but I've found that if punches two, three or four land on counter hit changing to animal stance out of them becomes harder. I'd like feedback on this to see if its just me. Rushing for safe pressure, closing ground, mix-up, juggling and even Chicken baiting is a vital Lei part of his game. If the first few punches wiff look out for long range low attacks, but other than that the Razor with careful staggering and rushing is a perfect attacking pressure tool that let you control the pace of the fight. Try to judge your opponent when using the rush. If you stance switch and he low jabs out out of it, you have two choices, one, stop stance switching. You can then either carry through to the mid-low kick, which is a neat guessing game, but be wary of low parries and reversals, or you can just cut the rush short and stop, normally your opponent will take half a second to react then attack, hopefully right into a fresh rush or uppercut. On the kicking game, some people without reversals will just eat the low kick rather than get the knock down from the mid kick. If they do, then just let them eat it. Your other option is to switch out into the Panther stance and hold forward, his low jab will be auto parried by Panther stance and you get a free hop kick on him for daring to mess with your stances. When you stagger your punches, note what your opponent does. You can trick people into thinking that you're breaking off, stopping or fouling up and they will often attack, and get popped. If he just holds back through the whole sequence, staggered or not, break off into stances constantly and surprise him with low attacks, the Tiger's Tail low striking juggle starter is a favourite for that. If he persists in his delusion that there's time to poke inbetween staggered rushes (There isn't) then start actually cutting off the Rush and throwing out an uppercut. If he can get popped by a staggered rush he'll walk into the uppercut with his attack and get nice and juggled for his poor judgement. On top of all this, the introductions of walls has increased the power of the Rush, punch rushing someone up against the wall is the simplest use of the new walls that we're all trying to get to grips with. Defence breaking Rush Rating: 4 f,N+2, 1,2 Guard Melting Punches *1st punch blocked, Juggles* ,1 Guard Melting Punch, (BK) >1>2 Break Punches *Must Whiff or Hit 1st Punch* ,3/4 [u_d] Low Kick/Mid Kick [Crane Stance] This is a fairly funny set of punches, but it has a lot of options. First of all, what happens. Lei throws out a punch from the Rush walk that causes severe guard stun if blocked. If it is blocked you can go into the guard Melting punches then the second punch of the sequence can only be blocked, no matter what the opponent does, even if he tries to get it to connect, so essentially neither of the first two punches can do damage for this to work, the second punch is listed as twelve damage, but I've never seen it land. The third hit is an uppercut that if the opponent does anything but block on will juggle him, the final hit will, if blocked, leave Lei back turned, if eaten will fling the opponent back. If the first hit is not blocked then the last few punches and normal kick finish of the normal Razor Rush can be performed with all the usual effects apart from that you cannot stance change on the punches. The defence breaker really has to have the opponent blocking if you land the first punch and hands priority right over to you. There is no reason in the world to stop on the first guard melting punch. It can be a good idea to break off on the second and then land the Dragon Falls throw, when your opponent learns that you like to do that he'll probably start blocking low as soon as he can, so hop kick him and juggle like you know you can. If he does anything but block the third hit you have a juggle to take advantage of. Its probably not a good idea to break off on the third punch if its blocked, go through to the fourth where you have decent advantage from the guard stun. Go for the low swinging punches, five swinging punches should connect in a simple juggle, or have other options outlined later. Plus they leave you backturned so you can snatch him with a Rave Sweep from backturned and be in Snake to move on, and the five low punch juggle irritates the hell out of opponents, you can often hear them sigh when it happens, which I love personally, but I'm a bitch. If he starts regularly ducking then go for a turning hop kick, the extra second of ducking from the guard stun will let your hop kick connect and you can juggle away at your by now probably deeply irritated opponent. As for the first hit not being blocked, then you go through the sequence, make them guess your punch staggering and nail them with the mid low kick guess then go into Crane if you like. Note that since you can't stance switch if you're up against someone with reversals, especially Bryan or Law be sure to stagger the punches on and off. Another great use of the guard melting punches is that the last punch if blocked not only leaves you back turned, but it leaves you PAST YOUR OPPONENT. So if you're back to a wall, throw out the guard melters, if they block go through with it and you'll be out the corner, back turned to them and with any luck they'll be back to the wall. If they don't block, go to the punch rush and fight your way out the corner. Its a win win situation. Unless they reverse the punch, but never mind that. Crescent Rush Rating: 1 f+4,2,1>2 [,3/>4 (u_d)] Crescent Kick, 3 Punches [Low Kick/Mid Kick (Crane)] Personally I don't really see a reason to use this one. It shouldn't really be in here, its not a real Rush move, but it looks like one. The Crescent goes high, you can't stance switch, the only real thing to go for here is the guessing game on the end of the move. The Crescent takes a while coming out and you'll get ducked and juggled a lot on this move. If you want to play the mid/low game do it with punch rushes. For that matter, there's no reason not to do the true crescent rush, below, instead of this. I mean, no reason at all, none. Unless you're such a rampant moron you can't do f,N, in which case give up on Lei now. No, the true rush below is just better, don't do this move. True Crescent Rush Rating: 3 f,N+3 Lightning Crescent ,4 Stunkick *Stuns* ,d+4 Lowkick f,N+4~1,2 Rush Combo ,2 SNAKE MIDPUNCH F (DRAGON STANCE) ,2 SNAKE LOWPUNCH F (PANTHER STANCE) 4~4,3 ROLLING KICKS, (FU/FT) ,3 LIFTING KICK *Juggles*, (FD/FT) ,3 Lightning Crescent ,4 Stunkick *Stuns* ,d+4 Lowkick A complex looking set of moves with good options. This was a good set of moves back in Tekken Tag but oddly the new moves have reduced its power. The Lightning Crescent and follow-up, either mid or low, can make a neat game, but you can get punked on the overlong pause between Crescent and follow-up so it shouldn't be over tested. Having said that, other people love this move, so I'll explain it fully. Off either Lighting Crescent you can go mid or low. Now, in my experience I get punked before the Lightning Crescent comes out, punked on the pause before the low/mid kick or blocked on the horribly telegraphed last kick, but if none of this is happening, this is what you can do. The mid kick stuns without counter hit, letting you have a free hop kick to juggle. If the low kick connects you can do the rolling kicks and normally get all three kicks off. If you manage to land it or insist on using it, those are your options. An old trick that has been pretty much lost was that people know that the Lightning Crescent goes high and follows on the Rush Combo so stopping and landing an uppercut to juggle would work well. As said above the new moves have lost this. The big trick now is to switch up the mid striking Snake punch and the low rolling kicks. Use the mix-up and come from it with the stance switches to animal or lying down. They're fairly safe pokes though not damaging, a safe way to switch stances and potentially cause damage. The rolling kicks cause only seven points of damage, so the only really good reason to do it is to train the opponent to block low so you can land the mid snake bite. If you break off into Dragon stance then you can catch your opponent ducking for the last Snake Punch and knock him with the Dragon Spark into Tiger. The Snakes are hard to reverse so its fairly safe. The low bite does fifteen points and the Spark twenty five so its probably the best option. You can also go through to Panther stance which has a bunch of moves that will be outlined later. Basically, the best option is the Snake strikes, and alternate going to Panther stance or break off and use Dragon into Tiger, but there are other options. Light Step f,N,B+3~4~b Rating: 1 Not an attack, not even listed in Lei's normal move lists, this is more a confusion and evasion tactic. Personally I don't use it, I think its effect is negligable and prefer the ha ha step mixed up with drops and sidesteps, but some people love it, so I'll put it in. What happens is Lei goes into the Rush Walk which you cancel with his back stepping Cresent Kick which you cancel with a back turn which you cancel with a back tap. Result being that Lei's legs flicker in a fairly disconcerting manner and he sort of flys backwards. This is more complex than the ha ha step (Later) and its only major use is to get the opponent blocking by getting him to see the rush coming, but what's the point of an avoidance move that makes the opponent block? I guess if you do this instead of rushes all the time he'll start running at your rushes and you can floor him with the rush combo, but you'd have to spend a whole round doing just this instead of Rushes and that would be very hard to handle. Stance Switches ---------------- The basic switches to stance without coming off a set-up attack are generally weak, they should never be done aimlessly since it loses you momentuum and initiative. The stance changes worth doing have important defensive properties though. Pheonix Illusion stance b+1+4 (PI) Rating: 1 Snake Stance f+2+3 SS+1+4 SS+2+3 Rating: 2 These stance changes should, quite frankly, be avoided. There is, outlined later, a Pheonix game, but it should be saved for switching up from Panther. The Snake stance is quick, but it still throws away initative and if used should be used from a long way off before embarking on a seriously planned string. You should, however, have custom strings planned from the start to the end of the fight anyway, so you should never need these. As an example, any good Hwoarang player will tell you that you should never need to switch feet. Lei is the same. Back Turned Stance b+1+4 (BK) Rating: 2 Back turned stance has two real uses. Firstly, as a big fat backstep to slip out of range of attacks, for this use its pretty darn top notch and seems designed to avoid Deathfists. You can stick it onto a backdash and earn yourself some quick avoidance distance, basically hold the second back of your back dash and press both kicks and you've doubled the distance of your backdash. The other use is the 'Ha Ha' step. This might take a while to explain, but its useful. When you do the crescent kick with back Lei takes a step back. You can cancel this kick with Lei's back turn, and you can cancel this back turn with a tap back. What you do is, hit the input for the Crescent kick (b+3) and hold the kick (3). Then hit the second kick for the back turn (4, giving 3+4). Then hit back to cancel. You'll be wanting to hit the kicks just a touch slower than you would for the tornado kick. If there were a notation for the move it would be b+3~4~b. I think this got its name because Lei makes his noise for the kick without doing the move, so he shout's 'HA!' while backdashing. Lei covers a lot of distance back very quickly. You opponent has to chase, you avoid attacks, it needs some practice but its uses are obvious. Mixing up this with other dashes, sidesteps, rushes and cancels can confuse and is necessary at high level, especially when you get a wave dashing, sidestepping Kazuya coming at you. I believe that this move was invented in and practically gained the first Tekken world championship, that's how powerful it can be, but its even better now since in Tekken 4 back dashing has been weakened for everyone else. Sadly, obviously, there isn't as much space as there used to be, so it is limited on that level. Using the Ha Ha you can run off from attacks, break back in with an attack at any point and generally mess up your opponent. I can't really advice you exactly how to use it more, simply to say you should learn and use this move for your general movement and play, it is vital at top level play and powerful at mid. Play Dead d+3+4 (FU/FA) Rating: 3 Sidewinder d+1+2 (FD/FA) Rating: 2 I won't got into the full use of these postions here. Suffice here to explain the differences and uses. Defensively dropping under a high or swinging mid attack can hand you the initiative. In this case, always use Play Dead, it give you the Kangeroo Kick juggle and is slightly quicker than the Sidewinder. Sidewinder is more a distance move to slow the pace down or bring it back to your rythm. Not too much distance or you'll eat a stomp. Drunken Stance f+3+4 (DS) Rating: 3 As with back turn and drop down this is a defensive move. When Lei whirls his hands before rearing back in the move he will reverse punches by slipping around and gaining priority. Nothing is certain from the reversal but the hop kick is a good call. Apparently this will also reverse shoulder barges, but I've not had this confirmed. It will not reverse from a move, or later in the sequence, just at the start, but its window is still quite big and Lei's unpredictable rearing back makes anyone attacking you high an idiot. This is best in long punch sequences from your opponent, good on a King or Law sequence for instance. Especially since Law has a punch reversal of his own. Ten Strings ------------ Ten String: b+121.3+4..2..1.4.1.4.4 Range: hhlMmmhmLh Ten String: b+121.3+4..2..1.4.1.2.3 Range: hhlMmmhmmh Nine String: b+121.3+4.3+4.3+4..1..1..2 Range: hhlMMMllm Everyone knows that at top level of play ten strings are worse than useless. Those hits four, five and six all mid are a killer for Lei, even against a beginner player. But those first three hits are useful as pokes, the third low hit can chip off some health and should probably be slipped into custom strings, also its the only punch canned combo that has a low strike and leaves Lei back turned and it doesn't require buffering to get it off, so often its the back turning weapon of choice. Backturned Position -------------------- Many fighters look to get around your back, Ling and Hworang for instance, its not only not a problem for Lei, its a positive boon. This position is, quite simply, having his back turned. He ends here from many stances, or from his back- stepping back turn move. He also has a vicious mix-up game from here, as from everywhere. Certain moves, the Rave Sweep/Spin, the Falling Tree, and the turnaround hop kick should be considered practically the same as their front facing brothers. Others like the High Backfist should only be used in juggles. The rest have special uses. Low Backfist FC_d+1[1,1,1...] [Repeats infinitly] (BK) *Juggles* Rating: 4 Okay, no bones about it, this is potentially a very cheap move. From back turned you can just swing out the back fists and if the first connects the following four will juggle. Only do this if you WANT to irritate your opponent, which in my book is a fair piece of psychological warefare. A much better option is to break off after one and go into the Flip Flop Flip, since all three flip kicks are certain and will cause more damage. You can, of course, break off after two, three or four low backfists and go for the Flips but on anything other than one a Tech Roll will save the opponent. Course, if they don't Tech Roll, then go for it. You can't connect with the Flips after the fifth low backfist, unless your opponent lies there and lets you hit him, which is unlikely. The greatest use in this move is that you can do it or the Turning Uppercut from this position, both juggle, one hits low, the other mid and both come out fast. The implications for this are obvious. Simply doing this over the head of a grounded opponent can set up a huge psychological advantage since the first time people come across it it will catch them again, and everyone remembers that. Do it over someone's head, then pause and alternate it with the Rave Spin or the Uppercut. You only have to catch someone with one Turning Uppercut to make them fear getting up in this position deeply. If your opponent's turtling force him to either interrupt or get juggled by swinging this at him then switching up into the uppercut. All around, the options this opens up and the fear it can create make it a great move. Imagine, catch the low punch into the Flips, that's over Forty damage off a low punch, how can that be bad? Turning Uppercut 2 *Juggles* Rating: 4 As mentioned above, this is quick, fluid and hits mid into a juggle. A good juggle starter too, this should be generally mixed in with low punches and Rave Spins to protect them and cause fear in your opponent. Rave Sweeping from backturned into Snake is a great tactic, but if your opponent blocks low then you can't switch and you stumble, use the Uppercut to protect that option for yourself. Mixed up with other moves from this position this can be a deadly attack. The low infinite chained moving juggle/mid juggle mix up for me is an amazingly powerful option. Backflip[s]/Flip Flop Flip 3+4,[3+4],[3+4] (BK) Rating: 3 Wake-up. Really the only use of this move, but a good use all the same. Tack this onto a low swinging punch and get over Forty certain damage from a single low punch thanks to that wake-up. If you land one on a lying opponent the other two are certain, so don't ignore this, if he's down and you're backturned, think about this. Its not as quick as, say, the Rave Sweep that strikes low, but it causes a lot more damage. If you know you have the option to use it, say someone is staying down a lot and eating wake-ups (Later) use it. Lying Down ----------- Lei, famously, has a lot of extra options from the floor. He's the only fighter who can do this, and it should be taken advantage of. I'll say more about the tactical implications of lying down, for now, here are the moves and some ideas to use with them. I won't bother mentioning the basic sweeps and stand ups or mid-kicks unless they have a special use. Do note that Lei can always roll over into the other of the two down positions you're in, that's to say, FU/FA to FD/FA or FU/FT to FD/FT and back. From some positions lying Lei can do moves covered above, such as the Rave Sweep, if not mentioned here, treat it in the way that you would the similar while standing move. Always keep in mind the low and mid kick options Lei has from every stance, he can come from lying down faster than everyone else and these can be used as wake-up and confusion options. Slide (FD/FA) 4~3 (FU/FA) Rating: 3 Long range, hits low and switches your stance, good move. Also you recover first so you get a free Rave Sweep to make it a good damaging move. The problem is that everyone knows this is the move to do from this position, but we can turn that to our advantage. First of all, most none-Lei players won't quite register the difference between face up or face down, what they will do is register how you got into the stance and what moves followed it, so if you go for this from the Sidewinder once he'll expect it the next time, but if he sees you roll over from FU/FA he probably won't expect it, until the second time. A good trick is, the second time you do this from the same set-up, roll towards the opponent and Mid Kick him in the face (4) odds are he'll still be ducking. Then next time, roll at him and sweep (3). Then just start to mix them up. Its perfect against Turtle play, and even some strikers will be too afraid of the weird lying Lei to punk you out of the roll. Kangeroo Kick (FU/FA) 3+4 *Juggles* Rating: 3 Given that you've dropped to the floor under your opponent's blundering flails, this is the boy to pop up with every time. If you drop and he swings at air, use this, simple as that. When you drop buffer (later) one of the kicks and then tap the other again, its a gift of a juggle and gets style points in the bank to make up for earlier cheapness. If you have not dropped under an attack this is probably best avoided. Firstly, it strikes mid, secondly, it can be reversed and thirdly, its not too quick. If you find yourself in this position then use the Rave Sweep which can be done from here. When your opponent starts duck blocking the second he sees you in this position, THEN you should start using it without making him wiff an attack. And Cackle, oh yes, Cackle. Falling Sweep (FD/FT) 3~4 (FU/FA) Rating: 3 Best move from Face down feet towards position. Strikes low and leaves you in position for more useful attacks, either a Kangeroo Kick or another Sweeping strike, probably the second sweep is the safest option. The Kangeroo can catch an opponent layed low by your Falling Sweep though to good effect. Pheonix Illusion ----------------- Pheonix Illusion stance has very limited moves, three to be exact, but that very fact can give you a useful trick. Hopping Pheonix Kick[s] 3[>3>3>3] (PI) Rating: 1 Why, why would you do these? In theory if someone sees you in Pheonix and charges at you with an attack you can punk them with this, but that's a theory that ignores how slow they are and that they strike high. These suck and are without any use at all. Phoenix Strike 4 *Unblockable* Rating: 3 Unblockable, as with all the unblockables this does huge damage, this one though has an interesting option that the others do not, below. Tornado Kick[s] b+4 [U] (BK) Rating: 3 What you want to do is, go into Phoenix from a distance, everyone knows that Phoenix has a long ranged unblockable so they're likely to run at you and try to pop you in the face rather than back off, since its range is so long. Whip this out and you'll tag them as they run in. The next time you go into the stance they'll most likely block back, which is when you hit the strike, by the time you foot starts glowing it'll be too late for them. Its not a one to abuse, but once or twice a match it can hand you quite a bit of an advantage. Since the Tornados are the same as the normal Tornados with the back turned, drop down and triple flips mix-up option its worth going into this a few times and training the opponent to block just in case you need the desperation strike of the unblockable. Also, you can come out with the back turned tornado uppercut right off one of these. If you land next to an opponent without hitting him and he goes for an attack assuming that your slow tornados are coming again then this can pop him up. There's nothing wrong with doing it on purpose in fact and tempting them into it on purpose. Drunken Master --------------- Drunken Stance is another one that often gets discounted, it looks silly and requires some forward planning since it only has three offensive moves. It is, however, a punch reversal and a position from which you can recover health, both of which are very useful options. Don't, however, fall into the trap of panicking and hitting a single kick, because it'll do nothing and you'll end up getting popped. Lei rears back constantly in this move meaning that he's very hard to hit high and tough to judge range on, meaning some people will be reluctant to attack you, their mistake. Most of all, stay calm in Drunken, lots of people forget that it has switch up options of its own. First of, all a few words on the reversal itself. It takes a fraction of a second to initiate so it can be hard to time, but it also has a longer window than any other reversal so it can be good for long preparation punches coming at you, such as Paul's unblockable. Suffice to say that it takes some getting used to, but it can't be chickened, so is great for high level play. Sadly nothing is certain from it, so you'll have to mix up hop kicks and Rave Sweeps on it. Its a good option though and when you're being hammered by Paul or Law's punch sets you'll be glad for it. Kiss My Fist 1 [F] [Drunken Stance] Rating: 3 Hits mid, causes knock back and has good range. This and the low kicks should really be your options out of this stance, or of course, to leave you in it, depending on how effective the game is working out for you. Not too much to say about it, if you land it the knock back is enough to give you a free Tiger Sip, so if you intend to remain in Drunken Stance, be sure to hold 1 as well as forward after the stance and tap 2 to gain yourself a bit of free health. Drunken Swill/Tiger Sip 1+2 (Drunken Stance) Rating: 3 Gains you health, if your opponent is wary about attacking you in Drunken Stance and prefers to just stand there and let it wear off pop out a few of these and force him to attack, preferably right into a Kiss My Fist. Also ducks high attacks, but since all three of the good Drunken stance moves do and the stance is itself a high punch reversal anyone who attacks you with a high attack while your in it is asking for a beating. As said previously, the Drunken Stance's rather poorly understood reversal properties, plus its auto rearing, backstepping and sidestepping make many people unwilling to attack you in this stance. As such, this move to make them paranoid about leaving you in it. They'll start rushing into you and leaving themselves open, just the way you like. Donkey Kick/Falling Anklekick 3+4 (FD/FT) Rating: 3 Strikes low, knocks the opponent down, leaves you on the floor. Its most important use is as mix up with the Fist to make people have to call on ducking or standing. Of course, its not quick and many people can block it on reaction, but it helps the guessing game anyway. If this connects go into a falling sweep, then Rave Sweep and get some nice damage out of it. All in a neat move, better for its mix-up with the Fist. Animal Stances --------------- To start with, a few words on Animal stances generally. First of all, you cannot backdash, backturn, drop to the floor or block and stay in them with animal stances. What this basically means in real terms is that if your opponent gets off an attack you're going to hand away a lot of priority and, with the effort of getting into the stance, a lot of work. You can walk though and you can block, plus a few of the moves have other parry or avoidance properties that make up for the losses. The only way to really combat this is to have your moves from Animal planned, you should not go into them expecting to play an actual match in them, you should do it as part of one long custom string. Either stay constantly in the attack in them, or know your interrupts and parrys inside out. Note however that your opponent almost certainly won't know the exact details of all the strengths and weakenessess of the animal stances unless he's a Lei player himself so you can use that. Its best to get the hang of animal stances one at a time, adding each new one into your strings a bit at a time until you understand them all inside out. Snake Stance ------------- Snake stance is the central animal stance, its the one that you will end up in most often and the one with the quickest varied attacks. Its a safe stance, easy to get the hang of and often used. Be warned that you cannot block low in Snake, so you will have to protect against low attacks using the low jab kick. You can block high and mid normally though, which makes it the easiest animal stance to get the hang of. Rushing Snake/Stabbing Punches 1,[1,1,1,1,1] Rating: 3 A set of fast high punches. They land so fast that if one lands your opponent has to either eat or block them, if you hold foward on the stick after any but the first punch you'll auto sidestep and go into Snake again. Since the punches have no guard stun at all and leave your opponent standing anyway you'll almost always get popped out of that stance change though. These punches insanely fast though and can be used to make opponents who grow calm about the Snake stance weary again. They interrupt almost any move in the game, given that people love to attack you in animal stances this is a good to have. Best used to protect yourself, and in the occasional juggle. If you land with one then go to three of them and break off into Snake again by holding forward, since three are certain but only three and noone is going to be stupid enough to be going for an interrupt on these for you to get the last few off. If they block then go through all five to keep them blocking and don't go back into Snake. Snake Kick/Low Jab Kick 4 (SK) Rating: 3 Basically using the stabbing punches with the jab kick you should both protect and set up the stronger attacks from Snake. This is quick, leaves you in Snake without a sidestep and strikes low, and so is your best piece of Snake protection. What I mean by that is that if your opponent gets too calm and places an attack, or just throws out an attack that you block you'll lose your Snake and your option for a better attack. What the jab kick and the stabbing punches are for is to stop that happening and protect the stronger option for the stance, later. This is a slightly better move than the Snake Jabs because you should really fear the low attacks in Snake, not being able to even block them, so this should be used to molest low attackers that the jabs will go right over. Lifting Kick/Rattle Snake 3 (FD/FT) Rating: 1 If you land this move you've learnt an important lesson. You've learnt your opponent is a total and utter moron. Slow as sin and strikes mid, this is a terrible move, leave well alone. It is possible that someone may see Lei lying down and block low, but they'll only do it once, frankly they should know better than to assume that a low Lei means a low hitting Lei, and it has no certain follow up even if it does land. Snake Bites Rating: 4 2[F],2[F] [Dragon Stance] Two Snake Bites ,2[F] [Panther Stance] Three Snake Bites ,4,3,3 Rolling kicks to Lift-up cannon This, incase you were wondering, is what you're protecting with your low jab kicks and stabbing snakes. First of all I don't see any good reason to do the rolling kicks to cannon. I also see no good reason at all for ending this move with the Dragon Stance option. What I see damn good reason for either one or three bites. Reason for which I will now explain. First of all, the three bites. Mid Mid Low, sounds pretty simple, but for some reason people never seem to block the last hit on this set. Actually, they have good reason, the mid punches create guard stun and even when blocking them the window to get down and block the third punch is tiny. Better still, you end up in Panther stance after some lazy free damage. You can use these three in simple juggles, best being from the Rave Sweep, end it in Panther and be standing over your opponent in Panther stance (More on that later). Second of all, breaking off after one bite. The first bite, if it lands counter hit, will cause severe crumple stun. Now, this crumple is escapable, but its fairly rare. This crumple stun is enough for you to land a hop kick and then follow it up with a juggle that weighs in at eighty five points of damage, that's practically an entire energy bar. This move alone is good reason to super charge before going into Snake Stance, to gain yourself the best counter-hit possibility, this move alone can win a whole round. Dragon Stance -------------- Dragon Stance, while having its uses, is pretty much the worst of the animal stances. This is partly because the others are so good. It doesn't auto parry anything and barely avoids anything, plus its not wicked fast so its not great to staying in. If you find yourself in it it has some uses, but don't go looking for it. Lei's kicks from here, the Crescent (3,3) and the Beating Rush (4,1,2,3,4_d+4) can be considered identical to their normal stance versions, if a little more confusing for the opponent. Also, as with Snake you can't block low in this stance. Unlike Snake you lack the real tools to protect yourself from low attacks, on the upside both your main attacks from here hit mid though so you should be able to make people fear ducking for that reason. Dragon sometimes seems to be too low for high attacks to hit it, but don't rely on that by any means, its only some high attacks, not like, say, panther stance. Double Arm Strike/Dragon Spark 1+2 [F] [TS] Rating: 2 No reason to do this. The Roar is a better move, though this causes five more damage the Roar occasionally juggles and its only one button to perform, and you can still go into Tiger from it too. If anyone knows why to do this, tell me. Okay, having said that, on counter this does bowl people back enough to charge at them and make them roll to avoid the stomp. If you're into watching your opponent roll to his side then rising kick you, then this is your baby. That was a little mean, you can often cause more damage by charging someone on the floor in mid level play, so it has something there, be warned though that charging grounded opponents at top level play can be a surprisingly double edged sword. Uppercut/Dragon Roar 2 [F] [TS] Rating: 3 This juggles on counterhit, occasionally. It doesn't even always juggle if you get the counterhit, which can be frustrating, if it does juggle your best option is the rolling kicks, but you'll probably have gone into Tiger stance so the low kick would be the option of choice. Not a great move either, but as said already, Dragon is the weak stance. Panther Stance --------------- Auto Parry Low - F Panther Stance, good old Panther Stance. With an auto low parry and natural high attack avoidance Panther Stance has the best defences of all the animal stances. Lei ducks low so high attacks will wiff over his head, letting you in for a free juggle with the Uppercut, for that matter most mid kicks will go over his head too. Hold forward and Lei will auto parry low attacks leaving you with a free hop kick into juggle again. Be careful on that though, because if you leave him in neutral he will be lower than if you hold forward, shuffling him forward, so while in neutral you can duck more mid attacks, while holding forward you have the parry so watch for it. Basically though only mid attacks will hit you in this stance, and as a rule only mid punches, but watch for them because you can't block them at all. Lei also takes his broadest steps of all the stances making him his fastest in animal. A wicked trick is to end in Panther over downed opponents and hold forward. If they rise low kicking, auto-parry into hop kick. If they rise high kicking and sometimes mid kicking it will go over Lei's head and leave you to uppercut and juggle. If they roll hit the Claw and pop them right out of it, if they stand and block hit the uppercut into Guard melting punches and force them to keep guessing you. Having Lei stand over you in Panther Stance is a really bad position to be in. Make damn sure they know that. Panther also has the Crescent Rush from it, but its other options are so strong I can't imagine anyone using it. On the Panther Stance parry to hop kick, watch your range since it is possible to just barely wiff the hop kick. Panther Claw 1~2 Rating: 3 Comes out wicked fast and hits low then high. Best for wake up since it will slap anyone who doesn't fear the Panther Stance in wake up for six. If they block it you get horrible recovery so don't even think of trying it on someone that's already crouching, pop them with the uppercut. In fact, try to avoid using the second part on any standing opponent, instead keep it for juggles and wake-up, the low attack alone (Panther Scratch) knocks the opponent over and leaves him right at your feet for some powerful wake-up. True, if the first part hits the second is certain, but the reward is too low for the risk of the block and hop kick. Also, if blocked the low hit pushes your opponent too far back to make him switch to blocking mid, it'll just wiff. Panther Paw 2 *Juggles* Rating: 4 2 Paw ,1,2 Guard Melting Punches *Juggles* ,1 Guard Melting Punch (BK) Fast, mid hitting juggling uppercut is a good move. A mid hitting move from a situation where most people will fear your low attacks is better. This is all those things, and more. Because of course, this has the guard melting punches on it. Remember all those tricks and slips from before, they can all be used here just the same only better, if you land the normal guard melting first punch you get a razor rush. In fact an opponent would be best advised to eat the first melting punch and then block the rush. Not so here, if you land the uppercut, you get a juggle, if you land the third hit, you get a juggle, if you land the hopkick or sweep from the fourth punch, you get a juggle. Can you see now why this got a four? Given the powers of the Panther Stance generally this is a great move, mixed up with the Scratch to make people wary of throwing out reversals on it this move can be a nightmare for people to deal with. All that said, note that there is a lag between the uppercut and guard melters here, so don't over use them, a fast jab or similar can interrupt. Kudos to ConfuciusQ for that one. Panther Tail 3 [b] [Pheonix Illusion] Rating: 2 A pretty basic sweep, does no knock down, only reason to do this is if you are obsessed with Pheonix stance for some odd reason. Best sticking with the Scratch really. Tiger Stance ------------- Auto Parry High/Mid - F Tiger Stance has auto Mid-High Parry, which means it can only be hit with low attacks so long as you hold forward. Which goes back to what I was saying about not being able to block etc. in animal stance not being as bad as it sounds. You only need fear low attacks in this stance, anything else is gifting you a hop kick. Now, it is true that on this parry nothing is certain, as some people have mailed to point out to me, but it is very likely. Best bet against top players is the rave sweep though as a follow up if I'm honest. I'll still stick with the hop kick though. You can, again, do the Rush Combo from here, it has the same properties as normal without having to go into the Rush walk, again, the special options from here should be used thanks to their confusion and special uses. Besides, you worked your ass off getting here, you should use it. Tiger Strike/Overhead Swipe *Bounce Juggle* Rating: 3 This will bounce juggle on counterhit, and sometimes seems to on none counterhit, but only counterhit is certain. Anyway, you get a nice juggle off it which is always worth the money. Tiger Claw Rating: 4 This will guard stun a standing opponent enough for you to have an advantage such to make a Rave Sweep a fair option, but most important makes retaliation impossible. Better on crouching opponents who it will knock to the knee giving a certain hop kick chance to juggle. Since the Tiger Tail gives juggle chances from here and this move comes out fast you can see the chance for a nasty mix-up guessing game. Block low and the Tiger Claw gives a big juggle. Block mid and the Tiger Tail gives a fairly big one. This comes out pretty quick too. It gets its rating only from mix up with the Tiger Tail to get your opponent blocking low and as such gifting you anywhere up to an eighty seven point juggle. Tiger Tail/Fast Sweep 4 *Floats* Rating: 4 Hits low and floats enough for you to land a set of rolling kicks, or if you're a little faster an uppercut into rolling kicks. Or if you're wicked fast an uppercut into full Rush combo mixed up with the Claw a really nasty little attack. Comes out fast too. The only downside to this little pair of moves is that blocking the Tiger Tail causes Lei to stumble a teeny bit, but that's not a big downside with the rewards possible. Crane Stance ------------- CRANE DEFENCE *Auto Avoid Low attacks* - N Panther Stance is probably the best animal stance defensively, Tiger has the best simple but deadly options, Snake is the most central, but Crane has the style. No fighter or move in Tekken looks more stylish than Lei standing back in Crane Stance. New to Tekken 4 is the Crane defence, which means that when the stick is neutral Lei hops over low attacks. Lei cannot, however, block high or mid attacks, so its often best to attack first from this stance. I would like to say as an aside though that Lei should have an unblockable from Crane Stance, because 'If done right, there is no defence'. Crane has the most special attacks from it and it doesn't get seen too much being at the end of the punch rush and the stance switching set. Its my personal favourite after Panther, even though its actually less effective than Tiger, and it has good options. Plus, a mad psyching out effect, noone wants to let Lei stand there in Crane, you can say as certain as anything that your opponent will rush in and attack you in Crane. A predictable opponent is a weak opponent. Crane Bill 1 Rating: 2 A little slow, it hits mid and knocks the opponent back but its speed is a terrible. If blocked it works a bit like the last punch of the guard melting punches, but leaves you further away from your opponent. If you get it on counter hit it does massive damage and knocks them back enough for a running shoulder barge, but its a bit slow to play for that. Wing of Crane 2 (BK) Rating: 2 Loses a point of rating for hitting high, and another for not causing enough guard stun and leaving you close. This always leaves you backturned, and leaves him backturned, but only if it connects. Since it hits high the odds of it connecting are slight, since its a little slow with Lei turning back then doing the move. If it does connect though you have a pretty much certain turning hop kick to juggle, so it gets a few points for that. Good for beginners who still charge you in Crane, better really than the dance for that use. Hop Forward Low Kick/Crane Kick Rating: 3 At low level and starting play people will charge the Crane. A few Wing of Cranes will soon stop that, when it does they'll just block and wait for you to attack. When they do this is what you attack with. Very good range since Lei hops forward and it leaves the opponent face down since he kicks their kneecaps off. Also it hits low. Use it on opponents who have grown wary of the Crane. Crane Dance 3>4>2>3 *Juggles* Rating: 3 The opponent has learnt not to charge you, he's also learnt about the Crane Kick, so he's ducking just out of range waiting for you to hop forward so he can block and attack, what do you do? This is what you do. If you connect the first hit on a crouching opponent the next two are certain no matter what he does. The last hits mid and juggles, so you have a good chance of it, especially if you break off on the third hit and do a low kick once or twice, so he starts blocking low at the end of it. If he stands blocking then the second and third hits will connect, so unless he's actively blocking well you'll at least get a few hits on this. And when he starts stand blocking you in Crane again hit him with the hopping low kick. Nothing will make that last juggling kick certain, so if you get it its just a free gift from your opponent, be ready to take advantage, but don't expect it to come for you. After a while people will just back off from you in Crane Stance out of fear, but so long as you're ahead in health, just wait it out, they'll snap first. ..................................................................... =========== 7) JUGGLES =========== First of all, this section is, and never will be, totally exhaustive. If anyone has a juggle not here they want to share, especially one with real use, either for stance switching or greater damage and even more so one that usefully incorporates new Tekken 4 moves or walls please let me know and I'll include it on an update, drop it to me at Glenn@glnf.demon.co.uk . Once again, I've checked and double checked all this in Tekken Tag and a deal of it on Tekken 4 but anyone who wants to confirm it would be doing me a favour. Juggles are where you pop an opponent up with an uppercut or hop kick and then hit him some more before he even hits the floor, they're the secret to top level play where very few hits will land and you need to make them all count. In a juggle the second hit causes less than normal damage, the third and following hits less again. As a rule the second hit of a juggle causes seventy percent normal damage and the following hits only forty. This does not include moves such as crumple stun juggles and ground juggles. These are included here because they are a long series of attacks during which your opponent cannot respond. Crumple stun happens in certain occasions where instead of dropping to the floor an opponent crumples slowly to the ground, letting you get in further attacks if you're clever. Ground juggles are where you hit someone as they hit the floor either too fast for tech roll or in a situation where tech rolling is impossible. This is different from wake-up, since in a ground juggle the opponent can do nothing to stop the damage. In wake-up you're playing a careful and deadly guessing game with him. For most characters its a good idea to pick one high damaging juggle from each starter and learn it and it alone. Sadly, for Lei this is simply not true. First of all he has more launchers than almost any other character due to his mass of stances. Secondly, any other character after a juggle ends up in the same stance, standing normally. For Lei this is not true, he can often end up back turned, lying down or animal stance. What this means is that you often have to learn about three juggles for each launcher to keep his mix-up going or lose damage chances. It also means you'll never get called cheap in your juggle game for just learning one high damage juggle and using it all the time. Another thing it means is that this section is necessarily going to be rather complex. What I'm going to do is split it into launchers and finishers and designate which can follow from which. I'll also grade each part with a difficulty from simple, middle to hard with one to three stars. They may be hard for the timing or just for sheer speed. Launchers are anything that can begin a juggle, finishers anything that can finish a juggle. There is two exceptions, the ultimate Launcher as it were, the Snake Stance Counterhit, and the semi ultimate, the Tiger Knee Stun. If the Snake lands it can be tacked onto anything to gain some extra damage, so I'll list it seperatly with the Tiger Knee Stun. The notation will go, button hits, damage, difficulty rating then follow-ups. There are many minor juggles such as a launcher and a single hit not included here, and some of them do significant damage, for instance, if ever caught unsure what to do the Crescent kick (3) will almost always connect and to about twenty damage, but those moves are not included here. Also there are semi juggles, ones that will strike provided the opponent doesn't quick roll or that rely on him not turning or ducking or some such, they are also not included, they are not juggles, but are tactics. There are plenty of semi juggles that can be tech rolled out of not here. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Ultimate Launchers ------------------- SK 2 CH - 22 - *** - Follow with any Launcher from normal stance, move or throw TS 2 On Crouching Opponent - 26 - ** - Follow with any mid-hitting move or throw from normal stance. Launchers ---------- Grade 1 Launchers - [BK] uf+4 - 13 - [BK]* - Any Grade 1 or 2 Finisher Grade 2 Launchers - BK 2 - 20 - ** - Any Grade 2 Finisher df+2 - 12 - * - Any Grade 2 Finisher PS 2 - 25 - ** - Any Grade 2 Finisher Other Grade Launchers - FU/FA 3+4 - 21 - ** - Any Grade 3 Finisher d/b+4 - 15 - ** - Any Grade 4 Finisher TS 4 - 20 - ** Any Grade 5 Finisher FU/FA U~3 - 10 - ** Any Grade 5 Finisher BK d+1 - 8 - * Any Grade 6 Finisher TS 1 - 25 - ** Any Grade 7 Finisher Finishers ---------- GRADE 1 FINISHERS - 4~4,3,3 - 26 - * 1+2~1,3 - 35 - ** 1+2~1, d+1, d+1 - 31 - * (BK) d/f+1, d/f+1, 3 - 27 - ** d/f+1, u/f+4, d+4 - 20 - ** f,N,4,1 f,N,4,1,2,3 - 33 - *** 4 f,N,1,2,1,2,4 - 35 - ** f,N,1 f,N,4, F,N,1,2,1,2 - 27 - *** f,N,1 f,N,4,1,2,3 - 35 - ** GRADE 2 FINISHERS - d/f+1 1+2~2 - 27 - * 1, f,N+1,2,1,2,4 - 24 - *** 2, f,N+1,2,1,2,4 - 29 - ** f,N+4,1,2,3 -28 - * 4, 4~4,3 - 18 - ** 4~4,3,3 - 25 - ** 1+2~1 - 23 - ** 1+2~2 - 24 - ** f+1+2 - 25 - * GRADE 3 FINISHERS - u/f+4, 4~4,3 - 16 - * 4~4,3,3 - 25 - ** u/f+4, 3 - 24 - * u/f+4, 1, f,N+1,2,1,2,4 - 35 - *** b+1+2 - 24 - * GRADE 4 FINISHERS - 15 (d_u) 2,2,2 - 24 - ** (d_u) 2,2, 4~4,3 - 23 - ** d/f+1, f,N,1,2,1,2,4 - 27 - *** d/f+1 4~4,3,3 - 31 - ** GRADE 5 FINISHERS - While Standing 3 - 20 - * d+1, While Standing 4 - 12 - * d+1, While Standing 3 - 14 - * GRADE 6 FINISHERS - d+1, d+1, 3 - 22 - * d+1, d+1, d+1, d+1, - 18 - * 3+4, 3+4, 3+4 - 36 - ** d+4 - 8 - * GRADE 7 FINISHERS - f,N,1,2,1,2,4 - 21 - * 1+2~2 - 24 - * Single Sets ------------ Launchers that have only one real follow-up, at least so far. FD/FT 3, While Standing 4, d+4 - 34 - * TS 1 (CH) 1, f,N,1,2,1,2,4 - 56 - *** u/f+3, 1 - 14 - ** u/f+3, 3,4,2,3 Juggle Strategies ------------------ Yeah, its not just all that crap you have to get the hang of, there are also strategies to juggling, this is really something that only Lei has to get the hang of since as said previously only he has so many stances to end in. When juggling you've got four choices which you have to understand and take hold of, something that once again, noone else has to do. 1: Go for your out and out most damaging juggle from the launcher irrespective of finishing stance. 2: Go for a less damaging juggle that ends with a stance the options of which you happen to like, Crane, Tiger, whatever, with the intent of gaining another juggle or damage chance. Often an extra hit or two on a standing opponent which will cause one hundred percent damage can be better than a longer juggle, if more risky. 3: Go for a tech-rollable attack, popping in 3~4 or 4~4,3,3 onto a juggle can get you extra damage that will only land if the opponent stays down or stands right up. 4: Go for a juggle with the punch rush in and break off into a stance to stand over them in it, with the various mix-ups discussed before, Panther stance and Tiger Stance are favourites for this tactic. Much like tactic two, but here you can pick and choose a stance. This can be a devestatingly effective tactic, juggling to punch rush, switching and catching a parry to hop kick, Panther Paw or Tiger Claw to juggle and doing the whole thing again. Mixing up, as always, these options, can make your juggle and guessing game dangerous, effective, and an object of genuine fear. Other people only really have option one or three, Lei is hard work, but his rewards are great. ..................................................................... ============= 9) WALL WORK ============= The new major add-on to Tekken, as everyone knows, is the introduction of walls. Its going to be a while before we all get the full implications of this part of the game, but with Tekken being so well balanced you can believe this makes a difference. Here's where the bad news begins. Lei is close to the worst person from the walls. ..................................................................... ====================== 8) GENERAL STRATEGIES ====================== Back in Lei in General I mentioned some of Lei's properties, but I'm going to go over them again here and mention some more general facts about Lei play. As a word on general tactics, remember that Lei cannot block to some degree in all but one of his stances, his normal stance. As such it doesn't take a genius to work out that his strengths lie in his attacking game, Lei should certainly be used offensively. That said his defence game is deadly since, unlike most people, it revolves not around blocking, but around avoidance, confusion and his various parrys, all of which are better than all out blocking. Also, Lei has the widest move list and the most stylish play of any Tekken character. For god's sakes bear this in mind, don't waste all that style, use those stances, he has, all in, fourteen different positions where different moves are avaliable: Normal Play Dead (Face up, feet away) Knockdown (Face up, feet towards) Sidewinder (Face down, feet towards) Resting (Face down, feet away) Back-turned Drunken master Snake stance Dragon stance Tiger stance Panther stance Crane stance Phoenix Illusion Rush Walk This makes Lei unmistakably unique, which is sort of a shame. A shame because if you learn one Mishima you can easily learn them all, or if you learn Law you can go across to Lee, Nina and Anna, King and Armour King (Tekken Tag only). Point being that if you learnt one person in a previous Tekken you have a grounding for other people in the new Tekkens, or if you have learnt certain people in this Tekken you can transfer those skill across. This just isn't true for Lei, he's totally unique, his juggling is unique, his stances, his moves, everything. Not only is noone like Lei, noone's close. Also, the most important tactic for Lei is in your head, or rather your opponent's. Lei is cunning, tricky and vicious, use every piece of trickery and deception to get damage off your opponent. Finally, make a call, as early on as you can, on what sort of player your opponent is. PitBull and Turtle is the normal term, but it is more complex than that, players tend to be re-active or proactive, they either play their game or react to yours. Either way, take advantage. If someone is Turtling, attack away, use your tricks, anyone who gives a Lei thinking time is asking for a beating. If they're playing a custom string or pattern without paying due attention to what you're doing then destroy them. Lei is a god of custom stringing, he can literally fight a whole round without looking at the screen almost by stringing attacks and stances in a bewildering array. Either way use your opponents style against him as well as you can. Something to keep in mind is that Lei is a control freak. Despite his weird apperance, his drunken style and Crane stance he thrives on controlling his opponent. He needs to control both the pace of the game and the range of the attacks. Because he has a great set of moves that leave him at short or long range that can come from long or short range he can decide at what range to keep himself and his opponent. That's a great power and should be used. The hardest thing for Lei is controlling the pace. Lei prefers the pace of a match to be smooth and rythmic, not slow or fast as such, but to a distinct rythm, that's what his custom strings and stances are for, keep this in mind. If its a little fast for you, you're under too much pressure, slow it down, dodge away, drop to the floor, control the pace. If its a little slow, someone's turtling, swing out a long set of stance switching attacks to move things along, Lei does not play well as a re-active character, he generally needs to control the pace. Lei needs to control the pace and range of the fight in order to apply his guessing game mix-ups, and his moves are almost all tools either to gain that control, or to be part of one of those mix-ups. You need to understand which is which and where to use each. Advantages and Disadvantages ----------------------------- Pros: Movement, Lei has probably the best sideways, backwards and forwards movement in the game. Noone can shift like he can. Lei can mix it up. Lei was the first member of the Tekken crew to own special stances, since his introduction in Tekken two every new character has been given special stances and many of the old characters have been updated by their additions. Special stances are a power, a serious power and Lei is their master. You can and should use them smoothly and well. Over this, almost all of Lei's moves can be used in one or another mid/low guessing game, he can switch up, he can force guessing. Lei is powerful, his basic kicks, punches and general moves such as the headbutt are some of the most damaging in the game. Lei can, quite simply, batter off chunks of power. He has the sort of power that Paul and Kazuya throw out but with the chaining abilities of Hwoarang or the stringing of Law. Lei is a great all rounder. He isn't the best in the game at anything, but he can match almost anyone at their own game and, more importantly, he can always step out to another part of his game where more single ability based characters will end up out of their depths. Wake up, or rather, Okizeme, not quite up there with King, but Lei's wake-up is some of the best in Tekken, expecially with so many moves that can't be avoided by staying on the floor. Control, Lei's moves are all for one of three things, changing stance, setting mix-ups or controlling the pace and range of the fight. Combine these and you have a character capable of total control of a match. Cons: Lei is hard to master. He's not Paul or Law, for instance, who are fairly straight forward. I don't have down every single technique listed in this FAQ, I've used them all at one point or another, but using all of them smoothly and instantly is a point that most people will probably never come to. Don't expect instant results, in fact, expect to get battered a lot. Also, when you come up with a new technique that sounds like it should work it can often take a lot of work to usefully incorporate it into your actual gameplay. I've been playing Lei since Tekken 2 and can still say in all honest I haven't mastered him. This can be discouraging, but I consider Lei the most rewarding character I've ever played. Lei can be made cheap and abusive. Along with his powers and strengths is the fact that you can hear your opponent groan as you select him in fear of almost Eddy like cheapness. Don't fall to it, stay both varied and impressive, and remain powerful but skilled at the same time. You can find yourself becoming repetitive. Since to use all of Lei's moves involves going through all of his stances and they lead off from only certain moves you can find yourself cycling through the same stances and moves back and forth. Its very important to keep your custom strings mixed up well. This is double harsh since not only can your play become boring and stilted for you, but for Lei predictability is death. Fragility, for some characters predictablity is not a problem, and repeating moves doesn't cause too much trouble. Paul, for instance, can win a match by using no more than five different moves. Lei cannot do this, his game is much more fragile, if he gets broken up then he can have severe problems. Fighting out the crouch. Lei cannot fight from a crouch at all he has no good while crouching or while standing moves, he can't use his amazing movement, he can't stance change, if he's forced into ducking he is at a severe disadvantage. Since you have to duck to block or avoid half the moves in the game, this is a serious lack in his game. Lying, Back turned and Standing -------------------------------- A little history here, so pay attention. Back in Tekken 2 Lei had no animal stances, apart from of course Pheonix Illusion. All he had was back turning, dropping down and Rush walking. What this means, as a rule, is that there is something of a devision between Lei players, between the ones that prefer to drop and turn, staying out of animal stances for the most part, and the ones that switch from animal to animal mixing them up. There is no right or wrong answer to this one. What there is is a difference in style. First of all, you can win a match without ever going into an animal stance or without ever dropping to the floor. There's just no reason to. The difference is that a standing or animal stance Lei tends to be more aggressive and a lying or backturned one more defensive, planning more to lure people into traps. Against pit bulls dropping as a defensive move is vital for Lei, and popping right back up again. Personally, I don't drop very much, haven't for quite a while, unless I conciously decide to play a dropping game, and when I do I play a totally different game from before, almost like a different character. You'll probably know pretty soon which you are, a stance player or a dropping player, go to your strengths, but always do your best to occasionally switch the game up and do whatever it is you normally avoid. What is useful in the dropping game is its spacing possibilities. Most people when they see you drop, even at high level play, will take a second to work out what the hell happened. Some people will even drop and stand, drop and stand, drop and stand over and over to confuse the opponent. Personally I wouldn't do this, that pause of shock only last a second really and the opponent will either stand back and wait for you to stop messing about, or smack you when you're vunerable. Either way, the dropping game is defensive and avoidance. Another difference between backturning dropping and animal stances is that animal stances tend to slow the game down. When swinging around to back turns and out again Lei is in almost perpetual motion. In a way, he's what I think Yoshimitsu was always meant to be at this point, Lei, after all, can spin more than Yoshi and he'll never fall down. Mixing a none defensive dropping and backturning game you can get a constant tornado of attacks without pause. This is Lei's other great skill, controlling the rythm of the fight. Either constant and fast with the turning dropping, or staggered and spaced with the animal and rushing stances. Stance Switching ----------------- As metioned stance switching, animal stances that is, makes for a different game from the turning dropping game. It tends to be more agressive and yet a little slower and more rythmical. Which sounds odd but you'll understand it if you play with the Lei for a while. The big question with animal stance is when to make the switch, when to go from normal or one stance to another. Some people think that stance changing should be a defensive move, using the sidestep stance change option. Personally I disagree totally. The straight sidestep stance change tends to take too long in my estimation, if I'm someone's side I want to get off an attack right away, plus you can only switch into Snake in this way, and once you're in animal stance noone will let you sidestep again. Even if they do, the up/down sidestep can be a little unpredictable since first of all in the heat of battle you can forget that panther is down from Crane and Dragon up from Tiger, unless you're facing the wrong way of course, plus the sidestep down from Crane to Panther is longer than all the others, which is something I can't be doing to factor in, but good for you if you can. What I suggest is to stance switch off of moves, you can stance switch from half of Lei's moves and you can get to any stance almost instantly this way and in a much more direct agressive fashion. I think you should almost always take advantage of the chance to switch up to animal stances, but that said, as a beginner its best to pick one animal stance and learn all its ins and outs and to really ignore the others unless you end in them naturally when you should experiment with them and treat it as a learning experience. Playing Lei most things are a learning experience. Defense -------- There will come points when you have to step back and play defensively. Hopefully not too much, but enough that you should know what you're doing. The main thing to remember in defence is to remain calm, predict your opponent and always do the smart thing. Which is actually easier than it sounds a lot of the time. The problem with Tekken, or rather, its beauty, is that its not enough to only know your own character. The characters are so varied as to mean that you have to learn all their oddnesses, their hit ranges attacks and skills. You need to know, once a hit string has been embarked on which hit is most likely to follow from it. Sadly I cannot help you in this, it'll only come with experience and practice, but if Lei isn't your first Tekken character you'll have an advantage when fighting your old character. Everyone else's strings have to end one way or another, learn them and use them. If you don't get hit, you can't lose. First of all, blocking. You can block low hits only by ducking and they cause the least damage. You can block mid hits only by standing and they cause mid damage. You can block High attacks by ducking and avoiding them or by standing, they cause the most damage. Interrupting ------------- Countering, interrupting, fighting fire with fire. All of them mean the same thing, stopping your opponent's attack before it comes out battering him back using a faster attack with better priority that your opponent. Lei has all the moves to do this, the low jab, (d+1) is the fastest move in the game, so its the best on reactions interrupt. On top of this Lei has his snake punches (f+1+2) or his jab kicks (d+4). Use these when you have to, but they are risky, use them to keep your opponent out. Advice is both above and below in the character specific tactics for dealing with specific attacks that have to be kept out. Sidestepping ------------- Sidestepping is vital and has been for a while in Tekken, but with the addition of walls its simply essential. Blocking is hard since you have to decide if a strike is landing low mid or high. Interrupting is harder since you have to decide that and the speed it is landing at in relation to the speed of your own attack, and how long into the relative enactions of the moves you are. Sidestepping is a little harder because you have to know all of that, plus you have to understand how the move swings and how it tracks. Moves swing, some swing around in an ark right to left, others left to right, obviously you need to know this to sidestep certain moves. Secondly, they track, Each move has a point where it follows the other player's movements, then a point when they stop and just go ahead with the move, their tracking. If you sidestep on a move that's tracking not only will you get busted, you'll have wasted your efforts. Every attack can be sidestepped, but its not always a good idea. Once again, advice on this will be given later, along with the advice on certain specific sidestep attacks given above. On all this bad stuff, there is an upside to sidestepping. Blocking is the worst way of defending since you cannot attack and have to wait for your opponent to stop attacking, plus some attacks can cause guard stun. Interrupting is better than that since it causes damage and leaves you on the attack. Sidestepping is better still, since it leaves you on the attack, to your opponent's defenceless side you can not only sidethrow, but pick a juggle or attack to visit on him at will, and he really can't stop you. You can sidestep randomly and purposefully. Throwing out random sidesteps can confuse and annoy your opponent. He'll be wary to throw out attacks in case it misses. Sidestepping purposefully is, of course, stepping on purpose at the right time to avoid an attack and set up a specific attack. Sidestepping purposefully not only means you have to know how an attack tracks and such like, but that you have to predict your opponent's attack and its timing. Its really best used when you either know your opponent very well, or at the very least, his character. You have to learn to sidestep, but it is very hard work. As with most defensive moves it is too broad to suggest specific tactics on, sidestepping works from experience and judgement. Another move that's new to Tekken 4 and is related to the Sidestep is the lateral walk, a constant sidestep that allows you to traverse the playing field generally over a large area. In general this move seems a little slow to gain a direct striking advantage in the way that the sidestep does, rather it should be used to travel around the arena to gain an advantage prior to attacking by positioning yourself so that your opponent's back will end up against a wall after your next round of attacks. On the other side of things, remember that Lei's swinging arcing attacks make him very hard to sidestep. If your opponent is big on sidestepping for advantage try to stay away from his linear strikes and lines and use his swinging attacks instead, take advantage of Lei's strengths, his whirling swinging style is one of them. Chickens and Buffering ----------------------- A lot of the following is quite advanced advice and tactics, if you're not at this level its probably best ignored since it will do more harm than good, all except for the piece on button buffering, everyone should know that. I don't know why Capcom decided to refer to a reversal reversal as, of all things, a Chicken, but they did. A Chicken is the act of snatching back your limb from a reversal and basically giving your opponent a smack in the chops into the bargain. Now, Chicken's are not half as important these days as they were in Tekken 3 and Tekken Tag. Reason being that in Tekken Tag you had six characters who's attacks you could chicken, these days you have a grand total of two, Nina and Paul. Most reversals now can't be chickened at all. I think the reason for this is a style thing, the reason for Capcom putting in the universal low parry and Chickens in the first place I think from interviews I've read with the Tekken staff is that they want the fights in Tekken to look more like ones on Martial arts films. This means lots of smooth reversals back and forth. But, reversals that can't be Chickened tend to only be for one limb or another, which means you can switch up from kicks to punches. With a reversal happy Nina or Paul though the only protection is a Chicken. To Chicken you hit forward on the stick and 1+3 for a left limb reversal or 2+4 for a right limb reversal, that's to say if your left leg gets grabbed you hit forward 1+3. Now, doing this on reaction is next to impossible so you have to do something called buffering. Buffering is the act of holding a move in the games memory to use at a later point, you can button buffer and move buffer. You'll need button buffering in several instances, but you'll need both types for a Chicken, which is why I'm explaining them both here. Button Buffering ----------------- Button buffering is the most simple and vital form of buffering its simply the act of holding a previously inputted command to use it later. When a double button command is buffered it comes out not only easier, but faster that an unbuffered one. Let me use an example. The most buffered move is a throw. Say I want to do Lei's basic throw, 2+4, there are two ways I can do this, one is to press both buttons together at the same time, using both fingers or a big fat thumb. Doing this will mean two things, one, the throw will not come out as fast as it could, two, the odds of hitting them both exactly together is not one hundred percent. The second way of doing it is to hold down 2, say from a previous punch or such like, then tap 4 and the throw will come out. Not only will the throw trigger faster, but also there's no way of messing it up and getting a kick or punch instead. This can be used and works the same for any double button press move. Certain complex moves can use very tricky sets of button buffers that end up looking harder than the move did originally, but they make moves faster and much more certain. Buttons can be held indefinatly for button buffering, take Lei's turning uppercut juggle - 1+2~2, 1+2~2 Now, you could do it the hard way, or you could hold 1 and just tap 2 four times. Since from backturned there is no double punch move to be done the computer will take your 2 inputs from there to mean an uppercut. You can only trigger a buffer with a button press, not with a motion, meaning that holding 2 then tapping d/f won't get you the uppercut. Buffering has so many uses I can't get close to listing them here, but when you next go to do a move that requires double button presses, remember it. At top levels players will never release a button unless they're certain they won't need it later. Move Buffering --------------- The other sort of buffering is rather more complex. When you hit a button set and another move is executing the buttons you hit will be stored in the computer's memory for a split second and if they get the chance then they'll execute. This is most often used in throw strings and Chickens. To do a Chicken, as said previously, you have to hit forward and the buttons for a throw. Now, you can't be expected to do this on reaction and you don't want to throw after every move you chicken, so you buffer the chicken move, this is to say that immediatly after you hit the attack you hold it and then press forward and the other button needed, you do all this BEFORE the execution of the attack your chickening is finished. IF the attack is reversed, the Chicken will be stored and unleashed, if its not, nothing will happen. To buffer a chicken you need to do both sorts of buffering. For an example of move buffering without button buffering, if you're caught in a King five throw then you'll want to break out as soon as possible. If you hit a button escape and the throw does come, then you break it. But if you hit the escape and the throw never comes, King stops or messes up, then the punch (Kings multi throws are all punch escapes) you hit never comes out, the escape was buffered through his previous move animation rather than your own. Buffering is a complex, but a necessary skill. Chicken Buffering and Baiting ------------------------------ You should now understand the concept, for a slow executing mid or high level attack on Paul or Nina you should hold the button down and press forward along with the second button of its throw execution a fraction of a second before you connect with your opponent. But there is a better, higher level tactic avaliable here. Any Paul or Nina player worth anything will reverse the Rave Spin, I know I will, its almost certain, so what do you do? Avoid the Rave Spin? Never do it? No, you do it on purpose, from a way off, in a very obvious fashion. Why? Why do such a suicidal thing? Chicken Baiting. You want your opponent to reverse it, you want him to grab you so you can Chicken him. Why would you do such a risky thing? Simple, every throw in Tekken can be escaped (excepting certain final parts of multi-throws and back throws, but those are another matter) every attack can be interrupted, sidestepped or blocked, every stun can be escaped and every chain broken. Apart from a Chicken, a Chicken buffered mid attack on Paul or Nina is as close as you'll ever get to an invincible attack, they get hit, they block or they reverse and get chickened. At top level play where ninety nine percent of moves will get blocked, baiting someone into a Chicken is very important. Once again, this whole section suffers from the reduction of Chickening from Capcom in Tekken 4, a move I just don't understand. One other thing, note that playing really high level players specific chicken baiting will not work. A good Paul or Nina player isn't stupid, they know you're going to chicken bait and if the baiting is too obvious they'll just not reverse it and block, dodge or duck the attack, the Rave Spin, for instance, is a good one for them to duck and uppercut to juggle. As your opposition gets more skilled, so must even your chicken baiting become more subtle. Buffering and High level play ------------------------------ There is another very important tactic to understand here for high level play. In the arcades the best players will watch your hands, I know because I do it, at least on and off. They'll do this to see which button you're buffering and so which move you're going to do next. Let me explain. Say I'm up against a Paul player who I see is buffering 2. This give him one of four options, a throw, his unblockable, the hammer of the gods or the tackle. Now, the unblockable isn't a worry, I can counter that on reaction, same with the tackle, if he tries to bust it out I'll roll him over and pummel him, that gives two moves that I need to know about, the throw or the hammer of the gods. If I see his finger near the kicks, then I know, if I see him tap the joystick I know that a throw is coming and I duck. In fact, in this instance since the hammer of the gods move is so slow I'd be ducking anyway. This is the main use of hand watching. Added to that you can get a very slight warning on some slow execution moves, but in my book that's a lesser advantage, and most importantly there's not a lot you can do to stop it. Other reasons to hand watch are to watch out which moves a person Chicken's and to see when he's backdashing, again there's not a lot you can do about this. Chickening happens less in Tekken 4, but if you get a hand watching Paul who's going to reverse all and only the moves you don't Chicken, then just Chicken everything you can and keep everything you can't quick, and mix up your Chickens, Chicken unusual moves. The backdash watching is another one you can't help, said Paul would probably be ready to Deathfist any backdashes he sees, on this one just keep your general play tight. There is something you can do to stop people spotting your buffers however. Now, clearly this is very high level stuff really, you have to know all the moves of your opponent, not even your own player, to use it effectively. Its also, really, a bit of foul play, in 'real' life there's no way that Lei could look at some superpowerful hand hovering behind Paul to predict what he's going to do. Personally I try not to do it when I know that the other person isn't. All that said you need to know about it since in tournament play on arcade machines it will happen, it just will. Its not really a PS or PS2 problem thanks to joypads. You need to know how to deal with it, now there is no way of doing it without massive experience, but there is a way to counter it without such experience, but by knowing your own character. First of all, Lei is much less of a victim to hand watchers than most people, with Paul or Law everyone knows what the moves are, but I challenge any none Lei player to know what's coming from a left punch button buffered backturned Lei, or a right kick Drunken Stance Lei, his massive move list takes a serious advantage in this case. Added to that is the fact that compared to most other characters Lei doesn't need to button buffer so much, having relatively few throws and using most of his double button presses to switch from one stance to another. Its still useful to button buffer to avoid low kicking instead of dropping to the floor, but its not so much of an advantage for the opponent as it is against a King or a Paul player. What you want to do if you are in tournament play with someone who is watching your hands is buffer feign. For instance if I was playing as Paul it would be a neat trick to start the round with one pressed and constantly tapping forward, then at the last second popping out a hammer fist to stuff a probably ducking opponent expecting the push away throw. Now, as Lei's weakness in this area is less, so is his possible tricks from it, but there are a few to be aware of: Facing forward, buffering either punch - With one buffered you're signalling either a high attack, with the throws, back turning hook punches (1+2) or snake punches (f+1+2) or a slow starting mid attack with the headbutt (b+1+2). You could also be going for the drop to the floor or with 2 pressed you could be going for the stance change, but these are all none agressive moves. You opponent would then probably be intending to duck, or ducking, if he saw anything apart from the rear back from the headbutt. Your best bet then against a hand watcher is to release 1 and go for the d/f+2 uppercut and hopefully juggle him, or if he's ducking knock him down, or release 2 and go with the d/f+1 uppercut, no juggle, but it'll teach him a lesson. Facing forward, buffering either kick - Lei buffering a kick means either a none offensive move, Drunken Stance, Playing Dead, Backturning, or Stance Switching, or a throw. In this case your opponent is going to be best served ducking. A neat option is to sidestep and hit the other kick, the falling blade is so rarely seen that he might have forgotten about it. Other than that, be ready to pop out an uppercut. Face Down/Feet Towards, buffering either kick - This tends to mean only one thing, the Kangeroo Kick. Try to always buffer 4 for this from the drop, since it means that if you do have a hand watcher you can tap up and hit 3, giving you the low striking sweep that's a slight juggle launcher. From Lei's other stances he either doesn't have attacks you can buffer or doesn't have realistic counters and set ups involving them. Overall, remember that hand watching is only an advantage if you don't know its going on and why it happens, watch for it and react accordingly. Spacing -------- Spacing, also known as Reach or Zoning is another concept to be aware of. Not only can attacks hit low, mid or high they also come out close, medium or long range. If you understand those ranges you can often either avoid your opponent or step on his toes. Since Lei can fight at varied ranges better than anyone else in the game you're probably best off learning which range your opponent is best at, and staying out of it. Noone is ever out of range of Lei, the Rolling Kicks, Tornado Kicks and Cartwheel kicks will reach anyone, at mid range Lei has space to stance change and swing out with his wide swinging attacks, and while his poking isn't the best in the game he can play that style powerfully and well. Your aim is to remember what range each of your moves handles best from, and which range each stance is best from, and what range each move leaves you at. That and which range your opponent likes to be at. In the section on versus strategy I've said something about the ranges each opposing character works best at, but remember that anyone can fight at any range depending on the handler of the character so be willing to adjust to fighting Kuma long range or Law close in if the person you're up against goes against the grain. Try and split up in your head a moves range, where it leaves you and where your opponent wants you to be, then plan your movement back and forth with all these in mind. As a rule of thumb the stances and ranges are something like this: Long Range: Normal Stance, Crane Stance. Mid Range: Normal Stance, Rush Walk, Pheonix Illusion, Lying Down, Dragon Stance, Drunken Stance Short Range: Normal Stance, Panther Stance, Tiger Stance, Snake Stance, Going into Drunken Stance, Lying Down. Dashes and Wiffing ------------------- The aim of knowing your opponent's best range is to make him wiff or to interrupt him. If he's a short to mid range player, keep long and dashing long and make him wiff, if he's a long range player, keep in his face and keep him defending and interrupted. Dashing back and forward is a very useful tactic, if a very basic one. Now, when you're in the process of dashing you cannot block, so beware if your opponent has short to mid range, such as Paul, one of those mid range attacks could pick you off as you dash from short to mid. That said, dashing back and in again can be confusing and annoying to people, almost like Lei's dropping standing, with the above mentioned Ha Ha step and backdash to backturn Lei's ability to shift away from your opponent and back again is probably the best in the game. Lei can move well, between dropping, dashing, stepping and sidestepping. If you dash back and cause an opponent to wiff you've gained a great advantage, especially on a slow execution or recovery attack. Dashing back and forth on a held back attack can yeild good results, such as dashing into and away from Yoshi's bad breath. Pre start options ------------------ In Tekken 4 you can move before the start of the match, though you cannot strike the opponent. Obviously this is a chance for a lot of manouvering and gaining a psychological or tactical advantage. Most people will either get up to your face and press into your, either prior to bulldogging or to tempt you into attacking on the start of the fight when they intend to dodge back and take advantage. Others will sidestep, backdash and move erratically. Many will wave dash or at least repeatedly crouch dash, if they have one, especially a Heihachi, Kazuya or Jin. Partly to hit a mix-up off it as soon as the match starts, since this is a chance to get into a crouch dash where they can't be punked out of it, and partly to do the getting in your face intimidation as above. Lei has another option, as usual, and in my book its the best, most people really waste the starting time, Lei can stance switch. Stance switching is the best way to gain both a tactical and psychological advantage at the start of the fight I know of. Look at it, they're scuttling back and forth like a cockroach on acid. You just stand there and then slide across into Panther, say, then wait. Also, it looks like you have a good plan, and most people don't know the moves from Lei's stances, so the mind game is already half won. Added to that there are the tactical advantages of being in a stance at the start of the match that might normally take real effort to get into. My personal favourite for this on the first round is tiger stance. Tiger and hold forward will almost always give you the auto mid/high parry since most people start rounds with mid or high attacks. Depending on your opponent you can repeat this trick since lots of people will think you just got a normal parry off on timing and won't know it was auto matic. If your opponent is too smart for that though mix it up a little in the second rounds, panther is the other obvious choice, or attack first instead of waiting for the parry. Backturned and dropping are no-nos, since backturned will pull you away and noone will rush you when you go into backturn, and once you lose the shock of drop down it tends to just get you in trouble. If you're losing badly, however, or if its a three or four round fight, it is your sworn duty to start at least one round in Crane stance as a direct homage to the Karate Kid. One other nice little tactic, especially on people who like to rush up to your face, or on shorter characters and crouch dashers, is leaping clean over their head. For some reason leaping over people seems easier on Tekken 4 than before in Tag, and it can frustate and surprise people who wanted to start the round in your face. ..................................................................... ======================= 9) ADVANCED STRATEGIES ======================= By this point you should have a fairly clear idea of how to play with Lei. Here I'm going to go through the sort of refined strategies you'll need to take a well founded game to a level of all around strong play. Psychology ----------- Lei thrives on deception, tricky and cunning. He is a king of the psychological game, his ability to attack constantly from anywhere and to confuse opponents are an important part of his arsenal. Part of this is letting your opponent know that you know what you're doing. The following are all tactics that can give you the psychological edge, all will get you nowhere on computer characters and should probably not be used on human fighters either because they're nasty and horrible or because they require you to be totally superior to them. Fire Fighting - This one is the best way to gain a psychological advantage, both morally best and effectively best, but its the hardest. Basically you fight fire with fire, hence the name. Pick the opponent's best area and take him on in that, throw King, poke Law, switch up string Nina and out-power Paul. The reason for this being so hard is obvious, you have to be really better than the opponent, but you'll find that once you've beaten someone at their own game in one round they'll soon feel they can't beat you and the following rounds will be a walk over. If you can play one amazing round this sort of play can get you the whole fight, they say that a great burst only wins one round, but that's not always true. Cunning - The only other tactic here that I'd actually suggest anyone use. Cunning is a major Lei tactic generally, as Lei you should lure people into your attacks, you should lay traps and suck people into them. Lei is a better trap setter than any other character, by setting them and pulling people into them you can start to make them paranoid every time you go into a weird new stance, or even an old one if they've been popped by tricks from it before. Paranoid people start to turtle up and stop attacking, and then you've got them. Over Turtling - A very irritating way to gain the edge, but it can be a very effective one. Basically throw away avenues of attack and such to defend everything. If you can go through about twenty seconds of blistering attacks from the opponent when you start attack in return you can find your opponent half beaten already. This isn't too hard since you're only defending, its important that you clearly throw away avenues of attack here, if you block a great pressure game with no gaps in it then the opponent will think you're just under pressure. Throwing away come back chances shows that you're so confident of his inability to hurt you that you know you can turn around at any point and destroy him. If the opponent does land a hit on you its best to sigh as if bored or tut as if what he just did was the cheapest move in the game. Over Pitbulling - Almost as irritating as the previous but in a different way. As superpitbull throw out guard stun moves, straight forward moves and fast moves. There are a lot of moves that you'll never cause damage with in a million years but can only really be blocked, or at least which put the opponent into a blocking frame of mind. Use these, put the opponent in a position where he has to block constantly for a chunk of a match then step back, pause, and go into your normal game. The odds are that your opponent will be a little shaken and your better thought out real attacks will gain some good results. Lei is great for this tactic because of his chaining abilitys and his guard stun moves, but it can be unnatural because most good moves have downsides, you're not looking to do damage here specifically, you're looking to make someone block. Single Moving - Also known as being Cheap as Cheese. Here you basically use one move. Eddy/Christy players do this naturally, personally I'd love to use the Wang/Julia roll around punch for a whole round on someone. If you can use one move over and over you can irritate the hell out of your opponent. Once again what you're doing here is throwing away real attack chances to get into a position to use your move again. Often good moves for this are weak ones with no recovery, Lei's best option is the d+1 from back turned for this tactic. If you manage to tag someone with three or four five d+1 juggles in a round you can sometimes find people walking off in disgust. This is a horrible tactic to use but if you're willing to do anything to win it can really get into people's heads. The difference between this and true cheapness is that you will be throwing away damage chances you could have taken. If you can win a whole round with one move and then on the second round you bust out every stance and juggle you know to let the person know you're better than that you can see their previous frustation melt away into total despair. Playing Slow - This is another nice one, as you do moves take your hand about an inch away from the controller each time, then casually reach down for each move at one at a time. This can go well with Trash talking calling. Single Hand Play - That's right, play with one hand. Hold a drink with the other or keep it in your pocket or, my personal favourite, hold it behind your back as you stand side on to the machine in a Jet Lee type stance. There is a specific FAQ on doing just this out there somewhere, since apparently Lei is the best person to do it with, so look out for that. If you win a round like this, look at them, then without saying a word, switch hands. Move Foolishness - General move foolishness, random side stepping, random dropping and standing, random dashing back and forth, general weird random movement. This doesn't work like it used to with less space and more speed in Tekken 4 over previous Tekkens but it can work damn well. Included in this is any point where you waste a chance to do damage. You can work damn hard to get into a clear chance and then at the last second dash away and start again as if you didn't like that one. Trash Talking - I never do this, ever, and I would not advise you did it. Personally I'm really quiet in the arcades, mainly because I hate playing the CPU and I don't want to piss off competition by trash talking, but also partly because I've seen someone headbutted in the face for going to far with this (I think he handed the guy a token and pointed to the machine at the back of the arcade suggesting he go practice before coming back. Really should have looked at the guy he was doing this to first). But if you want you can Trash talk to exaggerate any of the other tactics. If you use the tactic of dashing away from clear chances you might want to cheerfully explain to the opponent that you 'didn't like that one'. Meaningless noises can be very irritating, if you're going to lie down and stand up constantly making a high pitched 'Woooop' noise each time can really make things a lot worse. In fact silly noises generally on random movement is a nice little tactic to irritate people further. Be warned though that while frustration is useful in Tekken getting your nose busted in really isn't. Other than that, trash talking really takes five main forms - Pointless - Talk about television programs, ask their opinion on art and literature, distract them, but do it casually as if you're being friendly. If you just constantly ask none sequiter questions you'll just get ignored. Be warned that if your opponent takes you up on this, talking more than you, answering cheerfully, you should probably stop. Game - Talk about the game, ask about how they do certain moves, talk about the new graphics on Tekken 4, the story line, the scrolling of the stage, anything. This is really a subsection of pointless, just more likely to get a reply on it. Once again, someone too helpful is probably still going to bust your ass up. Trash - Talking proper all out Trash Talking Trash. Phrases like 'You like that? Huh? Huh?' and 'You KNOW I ain't gonna stand 'fo that' are good ones here. You know how to talk trash dammit. Sinister - My favourite, if someone throws you mutter something like, 'Oh, you want to throw huh?' then throw them all around the place. Or if they Juggle you a simple 'You like juggles huh?'. You get the idea. Calling - Another personal favourite, only try this against someone when you've really outmatched them, call where to block your attacks and how to break your throws before you do them. Against a total newcomer doing this as you lean back and one handedly tap your way through a ten string, lifting your hand clear from the buttons by a few inches between each tap is an utterly evil and soul destroying way to show him he's in the wrong place at the wrong time. In reality only best used to newbies during custom strings, certainly not against someone with sharp reactions or who's beating your ass anyway. Sides - some players can only fight from one side. Don't ask me why, but some people just can't handle being on the wrong side of you. Anyone that asks you to move across the machine before starting is one of these. If you do come across someone like this its a good idea to throw away follow up chances to get on that side. If he's down instead of wake-up, hop over him and go on, when you reverse him don't follow up, sidestep around him and get on the wrong side, if you get the chance for a back throw, waste it. This sort of person exists less and less these days with the death of 2-D fighters, but you get a few dinosaurs still. A final word on this sort of thing, don't use this if your opponent deserves respect, partly because it makes you look like a prick, even if you are better, but partly because he might just bust you up, in and out the game. Now, how do you tell if someone is worthy of respect? Let me tell you a little story. Just as Tekken Tag came out on the PS2 I was stood in a games store playing the display model, I'd been there for a while and there was a little crowd, I was playing well. A kid came up who could only have been about 12, at this point the crowd either didn't know Tekken or didn't want to face me because the kid got a few goes. Since it was the PS2 version he put his health up to 150%, which was fine with me, I set to scrolling through tag-teams that I didn't really know for the fun of it. The kid was constantly throwing out unblockables and it was a fairly fun piece of stupidness, especially since I had the chance to pull of all the impressive stuff you never normally get to do and everyone else was happy to watch this. Another match ended and I picked King and Armor King, who I go through phases of being good and not being good with, mainly because I get big ideas in my head that I can't pull off with him. At this point I was obsessed with the Irish Whip into powerslam. Anyway, in stormed a teenage guy who shoved the kid off the joypad, grabbed it and instantly picked Eddy and Hwoarang. Still with one hundred and fifty percent energy. I think we all know how this story goes from here. He won the first round and turned to me and actually said 'Like that, huh? Like that?' I cut down my game and scrapped through the next two rounds, winning, when I got another comment on how lucky I was. On the next selection I picked Paul and Law, dropped my health to fifty percent and gave him all the respect he deserved. It has to be said that even after watching me drop my health he still didn't change his back to normal even. That's the sort of person who doesn't deserve your respect. Poking ------- Okay, I've gone over Lei's poke options in some depth already, their uses and abilities, but I want to stress again how important they are. With the advent of the PS version of Tekken and wonderful sets of FAQs and such even average level players have enough exposure to the game to block most strings. Now, for a switch-up mad Lei player this is less of a problem than most people, but the learing curve remains. The learning curve is something like this, you start, you get a few attacks and sequences and don't now most the moves, your attacks are basic because you don't know many. Then you learn more and more moves and each new set of moves you use. Then your opponent learns each new set of moves and so they become useless. Then you find tricks to use those moves, then your opponent learns those tricks and in the end at the top level both you and your opponent are reduced to using those first basic attacks you learnt. In short what I'm saying is that at high level play you have to accept that all your pretty stance changing loveliness will give way to very basic attacks, because those are the only ones that will actually land. And with them you need to be aware of how to set up other attacks. Lei has all the basic pokes and more, but he has one major gap in his poking set that you should be aware of. Most characters have a rising uppercut that juggles, for some reason Lei has no major while standing move his while standing uppercut does not juggle for some reason, he also lacks for effective full crouch moves. What this means in effect is that the fastest poke in the game, the crouching jab (d+1) is unable to set up any follow up attacks for Lei, he has to stand up and do something else. The upside is that most his other pokes set up huge attacks since they stance change, just bear this in mind when in a poking war and if you do use the ducking jab follow it up with the while standing mid kick to at least do some damage. While Lei has plenty of low attacks from standing, he doesn't have quite the same arsenal going back up again, something that's fairly unusual. As with all categories the secret here is to understand Lei's strengths and his differences from other characters. As a rule stay out of poke wars, you don't need them since your mix-ups are so powerful you can always come out with something new and useful, someone staying in your face and poking is probably afraid of your deadly Lei mix-ups, and well they should be. Custom Strings --------------- A custom string is simply a set of moves that chains easily together to keep pressure on the opponent, using juggles and setting up other attacks in one big effortless string. Lei is, without shadow of doubt, the master of this sort of play, this is his area, his strength, Lei's stance switching allows him to Custom String constantly and powerfully, rolling ranges, heights and powers while popping in juggle chances and unusual positions that most people will have trouble to judge. Below are some useful strings and mix-ups that you can use to base your own tactics on. The idea of a good Custom String is to have a String of attacks coming from the word go and to constantly have planned out your next set of attacks, and set-ups from and for those attacks. The better planned your options are the better they will work. One thing, people have mailed me giving sequences of moves they use with various options to them. My point in this section is to suggest move sequences that flow and follow and have definable useful follow- ups. Moves with an infinite number of follow ups, poking strings essentially, are beyond the ken of this sort of FAQ, at least, any further than I have talked about in the poking section and the rush section. Strings: 3,3,(BK)d+4,d(SK),2,2,f+2(PS),2,3,3,(BK).... A simple strong string with lots of good options to switch up. The backturned gives you a chance to break off, as does the Panther and the Snake, you can always take the Panther Paw to a more complex juggle, it alters hit ranges and loops right back to its start. On the start of the string sidestepping before the crescent kick can be a good option, after that since it lands as a juggle on a successful Panther Paw there's no need to worry. Of course you can hit the scratch into rolling kicks and go with a dropping string, or any other combination thereof. One major thing to remember is that after bringing this out once or twice unless you take your opponent off his feet with the crescent kick then he'll block low on the Rave Sweep and make you stagger unless you mix up with the spiral uppercut. Other variations include: ...(PS)1,4~4,3,3,3~4,3 ...3 ...3+4 ...(SK) 2,2(DR),2(TS),4,4,4~4,3 ...(TS),1 - refer to juggle section ...(BK)d+1,d+1,d+1...(To personal choice),d+4,d(SK)... ...(BK)2 - refer to juggle section u/f+4,f,N+1,2,1,2,4+d(CS)3,4,2,3,f,N+1,2,1,2,4+d(CS)3... Another nice string, from the hopkick, or uppercut, go through with the Rush, break off into Crane, if the crane dance lands its juggle then you can do the Rush again for another juggle and go into it all over again. Other variations include: d/f+2,f,N+1,2,1,2... (BK)2,f,N+1,2,1,2... ...f,N+1,2,1+d(PS) go into any above custom chain from Panther ...f,N+1,2,1,2+d(TS) go into any above custom chain from Tiger ...4+d(CS)2,(BK) go into any above custom chain from Backturned ...4+d(CS)2,(BK+Opponent BK) u/f+4,f,N+1,2,1,2,4+d... You can clearly see how any of these strings can chain into any of the others. Now, these are not one hundred percent like juggles are, in fact a tech rolling skilled blocker won't be phased by a lot of them, but that's not the point, they put smooth judged pressure on your opponent. Look for weaknesses during these times, as you switch into your strings you can afford to look at their reactions more, as they react to something you can do quite naturally all their effort is in blocking you, while you can exploit gaps and press your advantage. Custom strings though, as the name suggests, are strings you originate, they define your game play, when you understand Lei's moves and attacks you should come up with strings of your own. Understand where his moves leave you and how they chain and you will be able to create effective custom chains of your own. Keep-Out Gameplay ------------------ A simple tactic that just suggests you keep the opponent back with your long range attacks, forcing them to dash in, they cannot block when dashing in and you get a free attack. Lei is probably the best character in the game at this sort of play so its important you recognise its existence and style. Its very important when attempting this sort of play that you understand totally Lei's moves and their action, since what you want is not to have a ranged move that moves you closer to your opponent, but a good range move that moves your opponent further from you. The Cartwheel kick has great range, but its a terrible Keep-out move. The Headbutt is a much better keep-move. With Lei's mix up ability, great range, guard stun attacks and power his Keep out game can be great, but you have to know his game. To play Lei's keep out you have to have great knowledge of both yours and your opponent's relative ranges and what will happen from them, but be aware of blocked move push back and the tactics of forcing your opponent to dash that Lei can employ. Dominating the game -------------------- Dominate the game, simple, enough said, next section. Seriously, there is a secret to dominating your opponent totally and though it is easier said than done, its in theory quite simple. The secret is to spot his patterns. Everyone has patterns, the best players disguise and protect their patterns better than everyone else, but they still have them. Lei's greatest strength, I say for the eightieth time, is his mix-up ability, remember and exploit that, what I mean is, never get predictable, never repeat your actions, learn your opponent's style and exploit it. Wake-up -------- Also known as Okizeme, a japanese term meaning, roughly 'to lay the boot in even when they're on the floor'. An opponent on the floor can't cause much damage, at least, when they're not Lei, and they certainly can't block or reverse you. Keeping them down there and taking damage can only be a good thing. It may not be a very honourable way to fight, but it is effective. At several points I've referred to Wake-up moves and tactics, but here I'm going to go over them again. First of all, Lei's ground hitting moves: d/b+4 (BK) d+4 u/f+2 SS 3+4 (BK) 3+4 3~3,4 u+2 d+4 DS 3+4 PS 3 TS 4 All of these hit a floored opponent. Now, other moves will hit also, but be aware of your orientation and your opponent's bulk. For instance, Hwoaroang has a very slim waist and standing by his head and hitting d+3 will wiff as your thigh will be above his head and your foot his waist. It will hit everywhere else, but not standing by his head. If Kuma is your opponent then a good deal more moves will connect with him on the floor, but these ones are certain. Added to these are further wake up trick moves: (BK) d+1 PS 1+2 SK 2,2,2 Now, if the opponent stays on the floor, these will miss, but if they try to get up they will knock them back to the ground and do more damage. Clearly a guessing game is then set up, if you think your opponent will get up then do one of the second set of moves and you'll get more damage from them, but if he decides to stay down then you'll miss and get get damaged yourself. A good wake-up game is a mix of causing fear on the opponent's side, making him do what you want, and predicting him. The second lot of moves will make your opponent fear rising, and the first lot will punish him staying on the floor. Lei's wake-up game isn't as good as Kings, but it is one of the best in the game and you should always be ready to punish a grounded opponent. There are a few extra special Lei wake-up tactics you should know. I've mentioned the power of Panther or Tiger stance over a grounded opponent, so I won't repeat those here, but bear them in mind. First off, the rolling kicks. If you catch the last hit of the rolling kicks then 3~4 is a juggle wake up, if your opponent stays on the floor and you only do the first kick, then you can roll at him and hit him with a sweep (3) as you both finish the roll to take him back to the floor. If he tries to rise or roll back then the whole rolling kicks will connect and you'll be able to land the 3~4 attack as well. Second, back turned evil. If you have your back turned to a downed opponent then they're in trouble. If they roll or stand up then the hook low fists will kill them (d+1), in fact with Kuma you can low back fist your way through an entire fight. If they stay down then the flip flop flip (3+4) will destroy them, and the Rave Sweep (d+4) will set up further attacks. For Tech rollers note that Lei's crescent kick low kick (3,3) cannot be tech rolled, so that after it the Flip Flop Flip is certain, no matter what the opponent does, and you still have the chance for the back turned Rave Spin, which also cannot be tech rolled. The real secret to a good Wake-up game is understanding your opponents styles and how to attack them. Some people roll up, some just stand, some rise and attack, others tech roll, the best will do all of these on the right situation, you need to know what they will do, or if they mix it up, you need to know what is 'the right thing to do' to predict and counteract it. You will soon develop your own wake-up tricks, but remember that Lei has more wake-up strikes and options than any other character without exception. Make good use of them. Just resting ------------- Just as you are going to try and land wake up strikes on your opponent you can be damn sure he's going to try and land them on you, but being Lei you have some tricks up your sleeve. Recovery from knock down is an important part of the game for everyone, for Kuma, say, getting up is such hard work he has to have a great recovery game to avoid being battered while rising. Lei has to understand recovery for a different reason, for him getting up is a chance to attack. Think about it, Lei spends a good time of a fight trying to get on the floor, he's the only fighter to have two juggle starters from the ground, the only one to have specific ground moves. A great Lei player will almost never stand straight up. You should learn to recognise instantly which drop down position Lei is in and what moves are possible from there, start to think of being knocked down not as a punishment, but as a favour, thank your opponent with a cartwheel kick, or a Rave Sweep, or a Kangeroo Kick. Always knowing your options keeps them open, with Lei more than almost anyone. Recovery is a chance for you, remember that. Eating Wake-up --------------- An odd phrase, but hear me out. As stated before there are two sorts of wake-up attack, the ones that strike if you stay down, and the ones that strike if you get up. Now, if one that strikes as you get up lands you have to recover all over again, from the same move, which takes long enough for your opponent to do the same thing again. But if you get hit by a strike that hits you grounded most the time it will knock you back and have less recovery time, meaning you can get up without taking another set of damage. This is everyone else's choice, stay down and make your opponent deal only small damage, or get up and risk taking big damage. For Lei none ground striking low attacks are something else, they're a chance for a juggle. I would say never ever try to get up right away against anyone apart from King until your opponent gives up on his Wake-up game and just starts to deal normal damage with low kicks, and even then just eat it and get up normally. The reason being that if, say, Law tries a Dragon Tail Sweep, or anyone any none certain wake-up option you can force feed them a Kangeroo kick eighty percent of the time, and gain a huge juggle chance. Stage Tactics -------------- Here I intend to explain the best tactics for positioning on various Tekken 4 Stages. Pit Fighter Stage ------------------ Probably the most closed in looking of the stages. I like to think this is Paul's or Bryan's stage. Its a dirt floor surrounded close in by the crowd very much in the style of one of the first ever 3-D beat-em ups, Pit Fighter. This is a neat stage in that its clearly square, so you're not going to encounter a sudden wall you didn't expect. One thing to watch out for is that when you get close to the edge of the arena it is possible for the crowd to block your view. Though they mostly go transparent they don't always, so if you're going to the wall be sure you know what you're doing next, just in case you can't see what position you're in. If in doubt go for a safe custom string until things clear up. Although this is a close in stage because its so flat and clearly square it can often give you lots of space. The walls here are a bit too unpredictable to use, so try to play this match in the middle of the floor, if it does go to the wall don't expect to be able to do moves based on watching your opponent's reactions or position all the time. A good stage with suprising amounts of space. For Lei it can be played as a good stage for rushing and ranged moves. Forest Stage ------------- Certainly Yoshimitsu's stage this one, its a fairly open stage, a few things to remember, above the stream its roughly triangular, do not get caught in the 'point' of the triangle because you will get killed. Also the ground from the stream up is somewhat sloped which means that if you find yourself fighting away from the stream you want to make damn sure you're the one with the back to it. In the stream itself the most solid uniform wall of the stage is the fallen tree on the right of the stream. At this point things can be confusing, the water splashes, the ground is uneven and you're back to a wall, the rule here is pretty simple, get away from that tree. Generally, keep your back to the stream or your face to the tree. Beach Stage ------------ Probably the spaciest stage of them all, as such a good Lei stage because, as mentioned in the Wall section, Lei just isn't too great with walls. One rule is to stay down hill since the stage does slope slightly to the sea, remember low kicks will never miss however higher up the opponent is, but high and mid ones will miss when the opponent is lower. However don't get pushed too far into the sea because you will eventually meet an edge. Street ------- Palace ------- Airport -------- Lab ---- Car Park --------- Octagon Stage -------------- My personal favourite, Heihachi's stage, the crowd, the whole nine yards, this one makes me feel like its a real tournament again. This stage is great, its regular, predictable with obvious walls and its a suprisingly large stage as well. Generally, this is a good Lei stage since he can take his space and plan his moves, which is exactly what Lei needs. There's nothing you need to watch for, no stress, just a solid good stage. ..................................................................... ====================== Vs CHARACTER STRATEGY ====================== Here I'll try to discuss a few general ideas of how to deal with other characters. Of course the human operating the character can completely change its style, but these are general tips to look out for. First of all, understand that playing a human is vastly different from playing the computer. You can beat the CPU using just one custom string often. The CPU falls for stupid stuff and doesn't fall for great set-ups and neat switch ups. Really this is all for human players, on the computer just get in and go through your best strings and juggles, in that case its about getting out more attacks really. On human players the game will generally be slower, more measured and controlled, it will be more psychological and almost without exception a lot harder. All but the worst human players are better, both generally and in terms of satisfaction, than the CPU, at least as far as tactics and strategy go. Standard Characters: -------------------- Hwoarang --------- Hwoarang used to be a great Lei tag partner in Tekken Tag, mainly because he has similar properties to Lei, though in different ways. What I mean is that Lei's moves leave him naturally backturned, dropped, animal etc. while Hwoarang's leave him feet switched. Essentially they can both constantly chain moves back and forth. The difference is that while Lei's tend to hit low and mid more than often, Hwoarang's tend to strike mid or high. One thing a good Hwoarang player will often rely on is his great movement. He can wave dash and his tripple side step can whip around you. His wave dashing isn't like the others though because he can only hit one real move off it, he can't switch up low and mid on it. The tripple sidesteps can be a killer though, sidestep, cancel into flamingo, sidestep, can slide around you. If someone likes to do this though what you have to do is stay calm, don't be lured into attacking and watching him slide around you, either wait and pop him or let him slide around and hit him with back turned attacks. Hwoarang wants to control the pace of the match, with his stance switching, he also wants to keep you at long range. You, obviously, want to stop both these things, keep in his face, bust him up, and bust him up badly. The other option is to stay away from him, but don't do that, since that's what he wants. One thing you really want to do is keep Hwoarang out of Flamingo stance, when he gets in it he's got a lot of switch ups that you really can't compete with, just like yourself in Tiger making someone guess between a low striking juggle or a mid one. Once he gets in often your best tactic is to hold back and wait for him to knock you away with a kick that sends you back. But you should never let him get there, you should always be in his face busting him up. If he gets breathing space you have two options, if you're quick hit rolling kicks or other dropping attack. This either connects, or forces him to drop his flamingo and get close again, sometimes its worth trading some wake-up damage in return for getting in his face again. The other option is to block and find a gap to get close again. Hwoarang can rip health off you with his high kicks, but they are more long range, and Lei's close up game will kill him. Played sensibly Lei can tear right through even a good Hwoarang surprisingly easily. Keep in close, where he will be limited to his jabs. The two to watch out for are the bolt cutter (b+2) or the home surgery (1,1,3,3). The home surgery is kinda slow, but it hits mid from close range, which is something any Hwoarang player is aware of lacking, so be ready to block low quickly in it. With the bolt cutter, it is a favourite from Hwoarang because it forces you back enough to bring his legs into play. The best thing to do is to use your drunken stance punch reversal, since the bolt cutter comes a little slow with its auto sidestep, and you know he'll be looking to use it, it can be taken quite often. Yoshimitsu ----------- Yoshi, along with Hwoarang and Christie is one of the few people who can play Lei at a custom string confusion game. Unlike Hwoarang, who simply needs to be rushed on and controlled, or Christie who needs to be punished and controlled, Yoshi can play Lei's own exact game. He can play a confusion game, he can play a game of his own without reacting to you as such and he can play a close up or a long range game. Yoshi is very similar to Lei in many ways. What he lacks and Lei has in spades is set-up games. Lei can move into a position where an opponent has to guess one way or another, Yoshi just doesn't have that sort of capability to anything like the same degree. Lying down is a serious mistake, the basic Yoshi slash (d/b+3) will hit you out of that, not to mention the humiliation of being pogo sticked on the floor. A pogoing Yoshi can be a problem for Lei, since lots of his kicks hit low. Never throw out a long range rolling kick or stay on the floor for periods of time because you'll get slashed up. If he likes to pogo a lot then wait for it and pop him in the face. If he waits for you to drop and then pogos, just don't drop. A serious part of any Yoshi game is his unblockables. Many Yoshi players at mid range will immediatly start thinking about one or another unblockable, if you're playing this sort of Yoshi your best bet is to get the move started and then dash back out as it triggers before popping back in and popping him in the face or throwing out one of Lei's many long range attacks. At very long range dashing away from Yoshi's long range unblockables is certainly the best tactic. Happily for those who have to fight him Yoshi's side kick has been cut down some, but his basic punch remains one of the best in the game. Many Yoshi players will base strings around his basic punch. Happily, you have your punch parry. Yoshi will look to keep you blocking by throwing out repeated basic punches, if he starts into this throw out the drunken stance and make him wary of using the move. Essentially you both want roughly the same thing in the match, to keep the opponent blocking. You want Yoshi blocking so that you can take space to set up your mid/low guessing games. He wants to keep you blocking to slash you up with his sword some. Sadly, as a rule his moves have higher priority than yours, which means he can interrupt a lot of your offence. Your best bet is to stick to your wickedly fast attacks, with the snake punches and one two punches being great new attacks in this area. Once you get him blocking set up your guessing games quickly and take advantage of any missed piece of guessing from Yoshi. Yoshi's game plan is so close to Lei's as to make the fight a hard one, a good Yoshi player will have a solid all round game, he has odd juggle starters just like you and mix-ups of a different sort, but just as much. Keep in his face and don't give him breathing room, play just the way that you'd hate someone to play on you and you can often frustrate him as much as he will you, but your guessing game attacks come out faster than his unblockables, so you can take this one if your juggles are solid and you know your options. Ling Xiaoyu ------------ A good Ling player is, essentially, an irritating Ling player. Happily you counteract a certain amount of that automatically. Generally Lei has great tracking so her wicked sidestepping play is going to be cut down a lot. One thing you can't afford to use much in this match is the rush. It doesn't track and it won't hit her in art of pheonix stance since a good Ling player will spend a lot of time in or going into Pheonix you really want to stay of the rush, which is a big loss, but you can take it. Worst of all Ling is so short that lots of high attacks will automatically wiff her. Its really not worth the risk, so stick to mid and low attacks. Clearly not using the Rush and not using high attacks is going to make this an unnatural and akward fight, but not impossible. Panther and Tiger stance become even more useful than normal with Ling, especially the Panther stance with Low Parry on her art of pheonix. Ling will generally want to fight in close, pecking away at you with little attacks and interrupting all your big moves. Your best tactic is to neutralise both her sidestep game and her close up wall of pokes by finding some space and slapping her with Lei's many good ranged moves. One thing to remember is that Ling is not really a popular choice, in the end she's a little girl, she doesn't look cool and she doesn't do much damage. This means that if your opponent does choose her he or she probably knows what they're doing. With this in mind, stick to your mid and low attacks, stay away from lying down, it can be done, but shouldn't be abused, avoid high attacks and rushing attacks, be aware you must master the Rave Sweep against Ling. In the end Ling causes very little damage, she relies very often on your forgetting her qualities and falling for her tricks. If you just remember who it is you're up against, stay out and use your range or employ your sweep there really isn't a great deal that Ling can do against you. Craig Marduk ------------- Frankly, I've been rather dissapointed with the big man since I've seen him. My tactics here might be a little weak since I've never even been tackled successfully. As far as I can tell staying up in his face, despite his throwing game, and busting him in the head when ever he even looks like going for a tackle stance yeilds pretty good results. I honestly can't offer good advice on Craig since I've never come across a good Craig player, he seems a little weak, but I doubt very much that he really is. I suspect though that simply staying with him and switching up ranges, preferably avoiding positions you can be thrown from will prove a fairly solid tactic for him. Kazuya Mishima --------------- Ahh, the deadly Mishima Zaibatsu. The odds for anyone who's a betting man are that either this guy or Jin are going to turn out to have won Tekken 4 when we all get to Tekken 5, and he's got the tools to do it. First thing to avoid with Kazuya is his gut stun punches. He has quite a range of punches that will leave you crumpling to the floor painfully slowly, giving him a chance to land a godfist juggle, since they land from a crumple stun these will be a lot stronger than normal juggles. Kazuya's gut punches land mid and don't have to land on counter to get crumple stun and they're what most good Kazuya players will be wanting to land on you because they cause wicked chunks of damage. This means you won't want to be ducking too much, but of course, ducking is the only way to protect yourself from Kazuya's powerful Hell Sweeps. A good Kazuya attack pattern, apart from the obvious wave dashing and god fist attacks will revolve quite strongly around these two options. Apart from those Kazuya has good poking abilities, many of his pokes cause crumple stun on counter attack allowing him to punish you badly for a mistake in your poking strings. Your best plan is to stay out from Kazuya, watch his dashing attacks and keep up a strong long ranged pressure game. Don't stay in animal stances too much since he will be looking to get in your face as much as he can. Dropping to the floor is a good tactic since there isn't a great deal that Kaz can do to stop you. The hell sweeps will often wiff you if you stay down, and they can gift you a kangeroo kick juggle. Don't take your time down there, but don't be afraid to drop, it can pay off well. Also don't be afraid to go for some punch reversals, most of Kazuya's attacks revolve around his punching game so learning his punch patterns and shutting it out with drunken reversals can pay off extremely well. Crouch dashing can be shut down with simple ducking jabs, they're about the only things fast enough to catch the crouch dash on reaction. If you start to learn his patterns you can shut down the crouch dash before you have to guess between punches and sweeps. If you do have to guess then you're really going to have to go on intuition, but you don't want it to get to that. Essentially to beat Kazuya you need to hold at mid to long range and don't let him crowd you, play your own game. Paul Pheonix ------------- Okay, kiss your drop down game goodbye. Paul has one of the nastiest set of moves for sitting your ass down if you drop so you'll have to win this one standing. Paul will often be happy to let you control the pace and punish your mistakes. If this is so, play a clever game, its the position you'd prefer to be in, concentrate and you can teach him a lesson. Other Paul players will go for a very fast, linear game, a deathfist to shoulder barge to hammerfist can kill you before you even start, if this is so, use your movement, sidesteps, dodges and parrys to slow the action down some. Paul's main weakness is basically Lei's, that he has heavy recovery times for wiffed and blocked moves, but he can punish you with a deathfist or hop kick rather worse than you can punish him, so stick to your string and poking game. Remember that a good Paul player will whip out a Deathfist at any slight chance of a connection, and it is the greatest punishment move in Tekken. Good Paul players will reverse, so buffer chickens on your more obvious moves and try to break off the Razor Rush into a stance change. His hop kick will bust you out of a throw, and his throw range is better than yours too so you can kiss that goodbye as well. He can't match you for variety of moves though or constant pressure so keep it up, don't stop, don't drop down and try to keep your stances and attacks flowing. Paul is a big test for Lei since he rules out most of his options, his dropping throwing or power moves, but he can be beaten if your juggle and pressuring skills are up to par. Fight aggresively on him and keep him from using his big guns. One of those guns is the Deathfist. You can use the Drunken stance to parry it and then hopkick him for a juggle, or the one time you can safely drop down on a Paul player is when you see that Deathfist swinging in. Straight drop to the floor, kangeroo kick and chuckle to yourself and him as you juggle his big blonde ass. You can also drop out from his hop kick sometimes, but not too often. Once again, certainly don't try the dropping waiting game, you'll just be battered. Most Paul players will know that their Deathfist can outrange a backdash and that you can't block while backdashing and they'll be looking for it. Your back turning step though with the Ha Ha step option will bring you just out of range, sometimes just the back turn will do the trick. When this happens and you make Paul wiff you can punish him in brutal fashion. Another big Paul trademark move is the falling leaf. This move has been progresively weakened through the Tekkens, but with its new precision timing version its gotten back a lot of power with not only guard stun but a follow up. The best thing to do with the leaf is watch for it. Try to look at Paul's right hip and that side of his body, since this is where his falling leaf and deathfist come out. With a little experience you'll find you can call a falling leaf every time it comes out, just by watching that hip whenever you think it might come out and concentrating, Paul's moves do tell in his body if you know what to look for and when you do he can be reliably blocked to a greater or lesser degree. One other famous Paul strength is his mix-up game. His hammer fist to Deathfist or Falling leaf will catch most newcomers every time as will his sway back to low kick, elbow, low punch or mid punch, straight elbow to low or mid punch or even his shredder to low, mid or high kicks. The best advice for these, if you can't learn to predict by watching Paul's body as suggested above, is to get in and interrupt the sway back as soon as possible or snatch his hammer punch whenever you get a chance. Failing that, try to block mid as a rule. As if his mix up weren't good enough, Paul has a new one for Tekken 4, the Flash Elbow into gut buster, dragon claw or stone breaker. Now, I've not seen this a lot so far, but stone breaker hits low and juggles while the gut buster hits mid while the flash elbow is fast and can't be reversed. So far I haven't seen this enough to find a way to counteract it, but I think its safe to say that the best way will be as with the other Paul mix-ups, watch him and predict him. Paul's greatest weakness against a Lei game is his tracking. Paul's tracking is amongst the worst in the game, as such sidestepping often can cause him greater problems than anyone else. Since Lei is one of the stronger sidestepping characters out there, the solution to a Paul problem is fairly obvious, sidestep and attack. Also, Paul has his reversal, but you have one too. Now, reversing Paul can be dangerous since he has elbows and shoulders enough to stuff reversals if he wants to, but he is one of the punchier characters in the game and so should be tagged occasionally with your reversal. He has a new elbow in this Tekken, along with two other elbows and a shoulder from short range Paul can be hard to reverse, but persist with it on his Deathfists, shut them out and his game will suffer severely. Paul has more guard stuns in this Tekken, so he can play that game, nothing like you, but don't be pushed into constant blocking. Don't let him hammer punch you about, because he can use this to punish stance changing, but pressure him and keep it out, don't get frustrated when you lose all your stances to blocking his mindless Deathfisting, remember that you are style and he is not, all will be good. Keep pressure on Paul and don't be afraid to use your sidesteps and various movement tricks, possibly even sidestep to stance change, since he can have problems with it despite the power of the hammerfist. The key to beating Paul is constant, safe, pressure. Steve Fox ---------- Steve Fox can be a serious threat, but he does have huge problems against Lei. First of all, he has practically no wake-up game to speak of, meaning that your lying down game can go practically unchallenged. Secondly, he has only punches, and you have an unreversable punch parry with a long catch window. What this means is that in some of Steve's punch rushes you can throw out reversals without even timing them since the longer window will mean that even if you miss one punch you can catch a later one. That said don't forget that Lei's reversal takes a long time, as reversal's go, to activate, so you should make sure you get it out. Thirdly, Steve has terrible movement during his attacks. Because he is a puncher when he attacks his feet don't really move, he can sway back and to the side, but other than his reach, good though it is, he doesn't move forward much, this has two effects. One, the drunken reversal, which auto-rears back after its reversal period will take you out of danger range if it misses. Two, Lei, who can move back and forth in his rushes, his kicks, his punches, in fact in almost all his attacks, has a huge movement advantage over Steve while attacking, over his amazing none attacking movement. Now, a good Steve player will usually stick and move in a genuinely boxing style, clinching in close and using the sway and lean. To beat Steve use your low attacks, your dropping attacks and your huge movement advantage, Lei is a very hard match for Steve tactically to be honest and if you just play to your strengths you can really punish him. Christie Montaro ----------------- Right, for those who don't know, Christie is a faster version of Eddy Gordo, Capoaria. For those who don't know even that this is the weapon of choice for the inveterate button basher. First of all, how to beat the basher. Stick to punch rushes and Rave Sweeps they will be painfully repetative so just concentrate and don't fall for anything. One of the problems with the masher is that he'll cut you right down on what you can do. You can beat him/her easily, just not usually with any real style. For the less experienced of you the hard thing about Christie is that she has lots of long range kick strings that generally strike low and mid, making her hard to block. Assuming your opponent is actually good you'll either face a full Christie arsenal, seeing every single move coming out in every round, or you'll see a very cut down arsenal based around her swinging jabs, knees and quick short range mid kicks. Either way a Christie player will want to control both the range and the tempo of the fight, she will almost never let you control it. Which means you have to take that control. First of all Christie likes to fight at fairly long range. Although her moves when coming out are wickedly fast and hard to interrupt a lot of them do suffer from some wind-up and shocking recovery times. Often on recovery she visibly has to take a couple of steps to get back into the rythm of her jinga stance. Although most of her big moves cause huge guard stun you can usually still pick her up because of the sometimes massive recovery times, and if she wiffs a big move you can and should slaughter her. All this means that you should keep pretty much right up in Christie's face, punk her long wind-up moves and punish her slow recovery. The move you're going to have to handle most of all is the Capoaria knee, known as the ghetto blaster (b+3). It has vicious speed and priority, but worst of all it will push you back into her favourite range for you and her kick strings. The best way to work the Blaster over is to dash in and out of range to make it wiff and punish with the Drunken Fist or the Cannonball headbutt. Of course, you can play at long range as well, but Christie is just a touch better at it than Lei. If your opponent is on minimum play with the Blaster and a few kicks and jabs you're going to have a hard game. Try to tempt wiffed blasters and play a little of your own throwing and guessing games. If the opponent is playing Christie's full arsenal then you're going to once again have a hard game. A good Christie player can throw out constant attacks every round and never repeat a move twice, much like Lei. This can be frustrating and leave you wondering what you can do back. In this situation the most important thing is to stay calm and keep thinking. With concentration her strings can be blocked, and her gaps after moves are, again, big enough to punish. On her stances, she will rarely stay in Relax for long and Lei doesn't have a good punisher for it, so back off from a Relaxed Christie and wait a second. If she drops to lie down position rush up and punish her. Its rare that this will happen with a good player, but watch her knees and shoulders, if her legs go flat and her head goes back the opponent has left it too long and relax has gone to lay down and the moves have been lost. In this case you can usually attack safely. In handstand Lei's rolling kicks work wonderfully on Christie, she will be expecting you to run in and waiting to lash out, once she sees you coming low the Christmas Stealer combo will normally be triggered, but it will come out too late. A good Christie player is one of the hardest matches you can find, especially for Lei since he prefers to play in her range. Stay in her face, don't let her get into a stride. If she's playing a short game she can be hard to beat, the worst, or rather best, Christie player will switch between very few moves and all of them. In this case the best advice is to either play amazingly or know when you're outclassed. King ----- King's tricks are getting more and more well known, but he is still a deadly opponent in the right hands. But then, so is Lei. First of all, do not go to the ground, King's wake up game is probably the best in the game. He has ground throws, and if you wiff rolling kicks or drop beside him he will break you, his ali kicks will screw you up too since he can mix up three kicks or single kick uppercut. For King you need to stay on your feet. If you get knocked down your best bet is probably standing straight up and preparing to break a throw. If you roll you'll get Ali Kicked to hell, if you stay down you'll get ground thrown. If you stand and duck you'll catch a hop kick to the face, so stand and get ready to break, its really the only option with King's great ground game. King does tend towards the straight forward in his attacks though and Lei's amazing lateral movement can cut him up. King does have a great poking game, but lacks the mix ups to make straight forward striking attacks with it. What he will be looking for is forcing you into blocking with his amazingly fast strings of pokes, then catching you with one of his deadly throws. Your job is to move around and away from his pokes or reverse them rather than block them. Moving laterally is a good idea since Kings pokes all tend to rush him forward in a line. Another point to remember is that very few of Kings poke strings include kicks, so the drunken stance reversal is a very good option. King will also use those punches in order to push you back to the perfect range for his hop kick in the hope he'll catch you rushing back in to attack you. Simply don't fall for this, if he pushes you back either don't rush in, or come in with a sidestepping attack. Your best bet though is to back off a little more and come in with one of your good range attacks. Don't do too much stance switching from the Punch rush since he can hop kick you out of it, gifting him a juggle if his reactions are quick enough. You're better off following through with the whole rush and the low kick, many King players will know you can end with a mid kick there and will be looking for the reversal from hope alone, use the low kick to stuff them over. In fact, tricking King into a kick reversal on a punch is a good trick and should be used often. Don't be predictable with your kicks, the Rave Spin, for instance, is right out, any King will reverse kicks he knows are coming and he can't be chickened. This doesn't count out kicks totally, especially for Lei who has so many low kicks, but watch slow or predictable high or mid hitting kicks since King players just love to catch them. One thing to watch out for is King's new Inseguri kick. Basically this nasty little move is like Lee's old mist trap kick only easier to get off, if it strikes, you take damage, of course but if you block it catches you with a sort of throw. The only real answer to this is its just another reason to stay at long range from King. If someone keeps getting up to you and abusing this move I suggest poking him with snake punches and low jabs, or sidestepping. As a rule, stay at mid to long range with King, you have better range than him by a long way and he wants to get up close with you. Use your better movement, keep ranging back and forth, in and out and King, who is almost always a pitbull of an attacker, will tend to have major problems with you. Marshall Law ------------- Or Jackie Chan verses Bruce Lee. Lei can actually take Law's game apart in some instances, dropping under the Junkyard combo and the Dragon storm with your straight drop to the floor can be very effective, especially since most Law players love to use these to control the pace of the match. When you drop under him be sure to Kangeroo kick to juggle him. You can parry the middle blow of the Junkyard instead which can leave Law open for an uppercut juggle. If he misses a flip kick you have a certain hopkick juggle. Watch out for the dragon tail sweep, when you block it hit him with a rising attack. His wake up-game isn't great, if you stay down the Dragon tail will sail over you so you only have to fear the frogman in your lay down game. Don't let Law control you and he will go down. Law will want to control the pace of the match, and keep it fast, with his junkyard combo and dragon storm, but you can take these speed controllers right away from him with a little work and make him play to your speed. Lots of people are afraid to lay down on Law (As it were), but there is no need to be. Examine it, the Dragon Tail will wiff clean over you and open up damage chances, the Law slide will take too long as will rushing up and low kicking, as will the Frogman attack, there is no reason not to drop on Law. A big problem with Law is his punch reversal, not only will the punch reversal kill you dead in the water if you punch rush too much, or just plain punch a lot. What's more, if he wiffs it his new moves from the taunt makes it a lot like Lei's Drunken Stance, dangerous even if it misses. His punch reversal can kill you with juggles, throws and power moves its a serious contender. Happily none of this takes away his problems with a strong dropping game. Dropping moves are all kicks anyway and his moves still need you standing. Simple fact is, you want to drop down a lot playing Law, controlled kicking, dropping and low strikes can pull the powerful fast Law game to pieces surprisingly effectively. Law players will have their custom strings tattooed on their hearts so you need to work on that part of his game. The best way to counter it is to sidestep, using your stance changes, dash out of range and use your greater range to attack him. Law's game will revolve on constant attacks, while you as Lei will be looking to find a constant but somewhat calmer rythm of attack, a little space can do that for you. Law's much vaunted wake-up game can have problems against someone who know what he's doing on the floor, and as Lei that should be your middle name. You can control and frustrate Law, expecially since he will be expecting to control the pace and will be unused to having that taken away from him, which with your lying down and stronger ranged game is exactly what you should do. Time released Characters: ------------------------- Jin Kazama ----------- Jin, along with Kazuya the boy voted most likely to win Tekken 4. Forget everything you once knew about Jin from Tekken 3 or Tag- Tekken, he is so different as to practically be a different character. Wheras before Jin relied on height switching attacks in the three ring circus, reversals and mishima juggles all of these very major tools have been taken from him. What he is now is a poking machine. He has lots of attack strings including knees, which you cannot reverse or parry and come out very fast, he has his movement centered in his crouch and wave dashing, and he has his power attacks in what used to be his godfists. This makes a good Jin a very powerful in close poker. Your tactics here are fairly clear, first of all, take some space. At range the only attack you have to be really wary of with Jin is the laser cannon/laser scraper coming in, or a crouch dash. The laser series should walk right into a punch reversal to hop kick each and every time, the crouch dash you really want to pop with a low punch, or if you can call it, reverse it instead. Since your backward and lateral movement both generally and while attacking is much better than Jins you should be able to keep out his poke range while keeping safe pressure on him. The other tactic that works suprisingly well on Jin is dropping to the floor. He should really be able to pick you back up again with his attacks, but in reality most Jin players will be so absorbed in their poking strings that dropping down can take them totally by surprise. A lot of the time dropping on Jin can be a very good tactic, especially since he has lots of three or four move canned combos that have no ground striking sets in them. Dropping to the floor on the first or second strike of such combos can be very effective, expecially since very few other characters possess quite so many mid length, mid range sequences as Jin, he's a prime target for dropping and kangeroo kick juggling. Your punch rush can be a good move, but since it moves you from far to close and Jin wants you in close, don't over use it, or at least mix it up with stance changes. Remember that Jin does rely on punches quite a lot and you have a punch reversal, so don't fear throwing it out. He does advance on lots of his punch strings so a missed reversal will leave you more vunerable than on, say, Steve, but using drunken attacks to slap down an advancing Jin on your failed reversal can work and will warn him who he's facing. Jin will want to fight a stand up, toe to toe fight with you, don't let him. Your movement is better than his, as is your range and your options, use them. Lee Chaolan/Violet ------------------- Lee's an old favourite of mine from Tekken 2 and I never understood why he got left out of Tekken 3. Still, these things happen. First thing about Lee is he has wickedly fast and powerful kicks with great switch ups, and they are really what you're looking at here, his kicks. His punches are fairly straight forward fast pokes, since some of his kicks are faster than his punches you'll generally only see Lee's punches when he's buying himself some thinking time, take this as a signal to increase your pressure heavily. On the kicks, Lee has long range and short, low, mid and high striking kicks, not to mention the infinity kicks, mist trap throw, shin to head kicks and hitman stance. He will often poke using just his kicks, especially against Lei, who he knows has a punch reversal, and they're quick enough to do it. Lee will often seek to batter you into blocking with a series of machine gun kicks and kick pokes then knock you with one of his more special attacks. A Lee favourite are the shin kicks to head kicks, three low and one mid kick that many people have real trouble blocking. Its obvious when its coming, Lee sort of stamps on your knee over and over, then pulls up, all I can advise is to watch it when it happens and never ever let it hit again, it always goes low low low mid so there's really no reason to have such a hard time blocking it. The mist trap throw is a serious threat against a good Lee player who will force you into blocking and then knock this out on you, knowing you'll block and eat some damage. It is possible to spot and duck under this, watch for the first kick that he pulls back on and duck it, but it is fast and if he gets you into a blocking frame of mind can cause problems. The only real protection is to not get in that position, as I'll outline later. With the infinity kicks, the best advice is to sidestep them when they start, since they track suprisingly poorly, or lateral walk around them if he starts at a distance. Never, ever, ever get caught next to a wall with the infinity kicks, certainly not in a corner because they will kill you. If you get knocked into a wall by them, or are in next to a wall when they start tech roll on the wall for your life because if you're in a corner with the infinity kicks swinging towards your face you're pretty much screwed. Dropping down is risky with Lee since he has his slide attacks, but for a moment at close range it can be a rewarding trick. He can slap you with the Silver cutter, the shin kicks, the sidestep cutter and the hitman cutter if you do it often, but once or twice and he'll be too busy looking for high or mid kick strings to catch it every time. On hit man stance, never rush in on it, because he'll kill you. If Lee just drops into it wait him out, he can't move in it so he'll have to stand there and wait for you. Best advice here is to back off, switch into panther stance, then slink up to him. At this point only the scatter punch will connect on you, which sort of means you're gambling on how well your opponent knows both Lee and Lei, most the time he'll go for one of the other moves, all of which will either wiff or be parried gifting a juggle. The scatter punch though, is slower than the panther paw and if you know its coming, or on good reactions you can interrupt and juggle. The only real problem is if Lee drops into Hitman as you perform another attacks, since he slides back and low he can avoid high attacks. The answer to this is don't perform strings that end in high attacks. Generally Lee's kick poking, slides and shredders can make him very hard to beat. What you need to do first of all is control and, often, slow down, the pace of the fight. Keep either to mid range or very long range, both of which you have significant advantages in and don't let him pressure you. Punch rushing and panther or tiger stance switching can be very useful. Don't let him panic you and don't let him pressure you. Your movement is better than his, especially backward, so use it to create space and control the pace of the game. If he's pressuring you, back flip away and into Crane, or drop down, or ha ha step away from him. Bryan Fury ----------- Bryan Fury, appropriatly for the plot line really, can be an amazingly hard match for Lei. For that matter a good Bryan player can be an amazingly hard match for anyone. The main reason for this against Lei is that Bryan has in abundance the one thing that Lei really lacks, while standing attacks. A crouching Bryan is deadly, if you block high he can catch you with the powerful Chains of Misery throw. If you block low he can pop you with his power uppercut for a huge juggle, or pick you up with the fisherman hook slam for another different juggle. If you try to attack he can hit you with his rising knee that has amazing priority and can be chained. This is bad for most players, since Bryan will tend to throw low punches and crouch down, then fight up out of the crouch, but for Lei, who forces opponents into ducking and blocking low with his mix ups, its even worse. The exact position Lei forces people into is where Bryan wants to be. Lei likes to attack low and Byran likes to block low, but added to this Bryan has a juggle starting with a jump, the Orbital Heel, which can be used to jump over low attacks and juggle you up. Overall, you want to stay away from you low attacks with Bryan. Bryan has a deadly punch reversal, great priority and great punch range. Whenever you give him a window you can expect to see a mach punch winging your way. On top of this his punch rushes can be mixed up with low and mid strikes at the end, and are very quick to chip away at your health. Your own punch reversal can be seriously undermined since he has several elbow strike sets that will humilate you for your attempt. Bryan has a great throw range, with his punch range, and a very nasty sidestepping game that will punish you for throwing out aimless attacks. Added to all this, most Bryan players will be constantly looking for his snake edge attack so dropping to the floor will get you popped right back up, or worse, see you eating his double knee juggle off the snake edge. Finally his rolling dash, sway attack, step back punching attacks and forward swinging kick sequences means he has movement, though more stripped down than Lei's, that can cause serious problems. What you're basically going to have to do here is stick with mid attacks to keep him on his feet, much the way that everyone else sticks to low ones to keep you on yours. Definatly stagger any punch rushes you might choose to bring out, or use them in juggles or when Bryan doesn't have space to think. Anything else and you will eat a punch reversal into a nasty stinging mach breaker. Fury will use low punches, get into a crouch, then make you guess on his juggle, throw, or knee. If he's in a crouch never duck with him, also never attack him, the knee can just pop you either way, or worse the rising upper. If you stand though you only have to watch for the Chains of Misery, which is a lot better than him hitting a rising upper juggle, what's more is the Chains motion is a little tricky (FC,d/b,d,d/b+1+2) and if you watch him carefully you can see him flicker back a second with the first d/b and start crouching to avoid the attack quite effectively. If you happen to be in Tiger Stance you can walk right up to Bryan since he'll almost always be obsessed with hitting a rising attack rather than another low one and unlike most knees in the game Bryan's rising knee can be reversed. If Byran starts one of his punch rushes on you and you miss the chance to reverse him, normally only at the very start of the rush, you should stay standing and block. Painful as it is to eat that low kick a few times its not as bad as eating the knock down elbow even once with its wake up follow ups. Watch a back dashing Bryan since he can flip back in with his flying knee (b,b+4) and punish you for forward rushing pokes. Also, never attack a taunting Bryan, its his equivilant to your Crane stance for temping people into deadly attacks. Other than keeping Bryan on his feet with mid attacks and keeping him from too many punch rushes with well placed pressure games you have one serious weapon against his game, Panther Stance. If you come at a standing Bryan in Panther he can't punch down into a crouch since you'll parry him, he can't plain crouch since you can pop him up with the panther paw too quickly, and most of his rush starters strike high enough to sail over Panther stance. Panther can often be abused on Bryan, since only one of his string starts will hit it, even the mach punch will go over Lei's head. There's no easy way to take down a good Bryan player to be honest, good solid attack strings are a good idea, but even at the best it will be an exchange of damage sort of fight. The only real upside is that your greater number of solid juggle starters and your powerful kicks can give you an advantage in such an exchange. Use your switch ups, keep up a barrage of attacks and be aware of his tricks. Nina Williams -------------- Attack reversal, low parry, a nasty sidestep game and some of the best poking in Tekken make the blonde bitch a, well, bitch to beat. Watch her custom strings, its a popular Nina choice to set up strings with low kick to backhand chop, in this case try to duck the chop and sneak out a low attack, just a jab or rising kick. Don't try to block everything, especially with top Nina players because that's all you'll ever do, break her strings with little attacks, even just low jabs. Also, the cannonball headbutt can yield good results on Nina's long high strings since it makes Lei rear back and avoid them. Some of her strings include low kicks, if you know one is coming Lei's low parry, or these days the universal low parry, can really piss off a Nina player. Watch her strings, be ready to break throws and plan your strikes. Low punch her crouch dashes and stay unpredictable. Chicken any kicks or punches you think might get reversed, since a good Nina player will throw in a few reversals in a match, consider Chicken Baiting, but old veteran Nina players will tend not to stand for this. It goes without saying that you have to cut down Nina's crouch dashes, ducking is a simple fix for it, if your opponent gets predictable there are plenty of fixes for this, but if not low jabs are an acceptable way to break it out. Anything to avoid that multi-throw. Try to learn the multi-throw breaks, but if you really can't they're all one punch or both punches, so hammer them in a shamless panic. Nina has a wicked general throw game, not to mention set ups. Her attacks can mix up about as well as Lei close in, which is why we want her kept out. New attacks to watch for in Tekken 4 are her new double punches which have an insane set of set-ups, including the new mid-hitting spider knee that juggles, so learn how your opponent leads from this and work around it. The knee is so good it will come out a lot, so you might want to just block if she uses is that close up. She can delay some moves she couldn't before. Mainly her new moves make her even more deadly close up, don't play that game with her. Don't lie down, Nina has attacks to stand up back up, and she can make you eat a whole mess of Divine Cannon juggles which will pick you up right off the ground. You can lie down once or twice with some people, but don't even try it once with Nina. Your best plan with Nina is to look for space, the further away you are the more the advantage swings to Lei. Her longer reaching moves like the Blonde Bomb have considerable recovery time, if you block the bomb you have a guaranteed hop kick into juggle. One other probem with Nina is she can even shut down your rushing game, her reversals combined with the fact that she can mid-kick you out of stance changes rather than having to rely on low punches can be very irritating. Don't stance change from punch rushes except in juggle mix-ups, instead break off and totally change tack. Use the Rave Sweep and lure her into your Lei traps. Don't be predictable in anything, especially with either your staggering of the rush or your kick endings. As a rule keep your distance, don't let her drag you into a poking or throwing war, punish her wiffs and blocked slow moves and you can take this one. Julia Chang ------------ I hate the Changs, always have, always will, hate hate hate them. Main reason for this is that they have two very nasty little attack sets, the low to low/mid/high attacks, such as the low spin kick to low kick/elbow/high kick and the damn son of bow and arrow kicks, which hit low with huge range and make their follow up mid attacks certain. On dealing with these, for the first attack, block low then mid, eat the low kick, its better than taking the elbow to knock down. There really is no better answer than that, once you block and punish the mid attacks a few times she'll start to stick with the low kicks, which is when you can throw out a low parry and really punish her scrubby ways. The bow and arrow kick you simply have to watch for. It sounds obvious, but watch her, you're never safe from the bow and arrow kicks unless you're at really long range, and since she swings back it will avoid any attack you happen to throw out. The only thing to do then is to never throw out aimless attacks and always be ready to block low, then mid, always low then mid. If you block the low hit on the bow and arrow the mid one is easy and has huge recovery time, on blocking it I would suggest a dragon falls throw into slide into kick, its a very good option here. Other than this cheapness Julia is a suprisingly good character, she has powerful rushing pokes that can push an opponent back quickly and punish them on the walls. Even though a lot of her strings use punches don't try to reverse them because a lot of them also use elbows, and unless you know Julia better than she knows herself you almost certainly aren't going to be able to make that judgement. She has powerful and fast attacks and can mess you up badly with pressure and range switching attacks. What you do have over her though is that most of Julia's moves a quite linear, with some punch rushing to sidesteps, or straight sidesteps into stance changes you can do her some serious mischief. Don't try backing off since she'll just nab you with twin arrows and bow and arrows to make your life a misery, instead come in close then sidestep around her use you lateral movement and more powerful attacks. She has great forward movement, so running away is never a good idea, but her tracking isn't the best so you can use that. You have to be careful in close since Julia has a solid poking and throwing game, but your sidestepping and switch ups can beat her with a little patience and concentration. To compete Julia has to land whole strings to your one or two successful strikes, once you know that you can use it to your advantage, don't let her little attacks make you panic and keep in on her. If you keep your head and stay close while avoiding her throws you can take this. She wants to charge forward, getting close negates that, if you can stay in close and slow down the pace of the fight with parries and stances, then you'll know you have her. Kuma ----- Kuma should be feared against a human opponent, or rather, a particular sort of human opponent. Watch what your opponent does when selecting his character, if they scan slowly across each face, looking them all over and then go back to Kuma, then you've got yourself an extremely easy fight. If he goes straight to Kuma and picks him without another thought, then you're in trouble. The reason for this is that Kuma is very hard to win with. He's big and slow which means that anyone with a good interrupt game can take him apart, and on the floor he's in so much trouble its untrue. Everyone knows this, so if someone picks him with intent, he's probably a very good player. If, however, someone scans over and picks him because he's a huge bear and so looks dangerous, then the Kuma's just a load of big fat hairy fight practice. Really Kuma's one advantage is that he's so big that he's hard to juggle normally, so many of your juggles won't work, however, is disadvantages more than make up for this. The biggest reason you can take Kuma to pieces is that most of his attacks are punches, and you have a punch reversal. You can drunken stance reverse eighty percent of what Kuma does and he really can't stop you for the most part. His biggest punch attack is the G-Clef, since his basic punches hit high and are slow as hell he won't use them because if the fact you'll duck and kill him, but the G-Clef gets so often used you can parry it almost every time. He has very few good low attacks, so blocking him is fairly easy, the only reason to block low is that he has very good throw range and some good throws, but since you want to be at fairly long range most the time anyway this really won't be too much of a problem. Kuma has poor range, so you can keep at range from him and just pick him off when you like. You can punch rush uncontested since he has no moves fast enough to interrupt it, just don't bother staggering it, and he has no reversal or parry for it. When Kuma hits the floor your solid wake-up game can take him apart. For instance, the low punches from back turned will hit Kuma even if he stays down, in fact if you get Kuma on the floor and have your back turned you can often just do the low punches over and over and keep him there for the rest of the fight. Don't rush into Kuma, since his hammers and lunges will punish you, but since you can sling into him with attacks there's really no earthly reason you'd want to rush up to him. One time Kuma does have low attacks are from his crouch stance, here his mix up of rising hammer and low claw series can be dangerous. Best option is to duck, and if he goes for the hammer stand with him, if not block the low hits, then parry the slow mid hits before he can mix up again. His only other low attack is the salmon hunter which is powerful, but slow as hell and if you don't block it you deserve to lose. One point to watch out for is the hunting bear stance, at this point Kuma does have dangerous low attacks, powerful mid attacks and a decent throw. However he can't block, your best bet here is to attack immediatly, the rolling kicks are a good bet since he can't back dash and they have huge range, also he can't avoid or block low attacks in this stance. If you don't have this chance don't fall for it and block low, the low attacks in hunting bear cause very little damage and in it he loses his throw range so the real danger is ducking and getting hit with the bear fling. You can stay at range from Kuma, rush in, pummel him up close, then back off again and do it all over again, and he really can't stop you. Heihachi --------- Heihachi Mishima can be a real pain to beat. As a rule a good Hei player will be a turtle, he'll block up and then pop you out with one of his many powerful fast punching attacks. He can wave dash and his hell sweeps mix up can kill you dead, as with his wind god fist, his godfist, hammer punch, demon's breath and his deadly thunder god fist are all tools you have to watch out for. He will kill your lying down game, between the hammer punch, demon uppercut and the geta stomp you really don't want to drop to the floor much, the hammer will whack you down, the demon punch will pick you up and the geta stomp will press you if you stay there. Don't drop with Heihachi. Also, his hammer punch can slam you out of your punch rushes. A good Heihachi player will rely heavily on the hammer punch against you, sometimes turtling and using it almost exclusively since it hits you out of so many moves. Your best bet is to make him fear throwing it out carelessly with the occasional Tiger or Drunken parry on it and when you do parry it to punish it severly. He has lots of uppercuts that run in low and come up mid, such as the usual mishima crouch dash attacks but also the demon uppercut, the godfist and the twin pistons so you should be wary about throwing out high attacks because he'll slip under and hammer you up in the air for a powerful juggle. Your best tool here is sidestep and sidestep to snake stance, always go to Heihachi's right. For some reason sidestepping to Heihachi's right is always the best plan with him. If he throws out a god fist then you can whip around him and punish him severely. What Heihachi will want to do is push you back with his punches, then slap you as you move in to attack. Most of his uppercuts have heavy push back on them, and you want to stay as in close as you can to him so you're best served sidestepping or reversing those punches rather than blocking them or you'll never get in striking range. Heihachi players love the twin pistons, if he goes for them a lot, sidestep left then even if the first one strikes the second will wiff for a free side throw. Sidestepping, along with reversing are good, but risky ways to punish an attacking Heihachi, simply low jabbing him out the crouch dash is another good way to keep him down and pressure him. On a pure turtle you should just move in and take advantage. Remember you have several moves where the opponent must guess between two very dangerous options where to block, teach Heihachi that blocking Lei is a big mistake with them. Careful sidestepping and dangerous mix ups can take Heihachi down, deadly though he can be, keep your head and don't let him place you with his push backs and interrupts, pressure him and use your advantages. Combot ------- Combot is this games mokujin, he simply emulates the other characters in the game. Your only real headache is in working out who he is before he starts to smack you about. Unfortunately unlike mokujin his strange body makes it a lot harder to pick out exactly who he's being from his stance. He doesn't change every round though as far as I've seen, so you can call on the walk in. I don't have all the walk ins down well enough yet to describe them officially, but I'll be working on it. ..................................................................... ================== 12) Miscillanious ================== Lei Wulong Country of Origin: China Fighting Style: 5 Style Chinese Martial Arts Age: 47 Height: 5’ 9"/175cm Weight: 143 pounds/65 kg Blood Type: A Occupation: Policeman Hobbies: Movies, Naps Likes: Sony Products Dislikes: Crimes, and Villains Costume: Any punch, a blue flowing chinese style shirt worn open to show Lei's torso. Black pants and shoes. Any kick, blue jeans, a brown leather pilot's jacket, sneakers and Lei's old blue fingerless gloves. Opening Stances: Lei clenches his hands together and then opens them out, palms up and say's 'Come on' Lei folds his arms in his old Tekken 3/Tag walk-in then says 'Let's go' Win Stances: Hold - 1: Lei does his rearing wobbling drunken stance celebration, better than before though. Hold - 2: Lei's new celebration for Tekken 4, he says 'You are not good enough' and walks away. Personal favourite. Hold - 3: Lei does Dragon, into semi dragon into Crane. Hold - 4: Lei does Crane into Tiger into Panther. Note that all the other Chinese/Japenese characters talk in Chinese or Japenese, only Lei talks in English. Though personally I love it, the accent is so thick it just sounds cool, just like Jackie Chan. Other wins: I've seen these, but can't get them to trigger at will from holding buttons, any ideas how they can be controlled? Five animal stances, Lei does his old all five animal stance switches. Single stance, Lei raises his right hand and holds his left along his straight left leg, his back right one bent in a semi pheonix stance, from the earlier Tekkens. Plot: This is far as I can tell from bits and pieces the plot of Lei in Tekken. Bits I've assumed or worked out but not explicitly stated anywhere official are in pointed brackets <>. Lei is investigating international crime and drug dealing. Too many paths lead to the Mishima Zaibatsu for it to be coincidence, not only to the Zaibatsu, but to Bruce Irvin, leader of the Mishima Zaibatsu's personal army. To stop Lei from investigating the corporation Kazuya enters Bruce into the King of Iron fist tournament, with the intent of destroying Lei and cutting his investigation short. Lei enters the tournament to get to Bruce, and takes him down, but Bruce breaks and runs before he can question him, escaping onto a jet. Bruce's plane crashes in suspicious circumstances and his body goes missing. Version one Version two - Neither version is one hundred percent, since Ogre's having Bruce's moves does not mean he has absorbed him, he has Anna William's moves too and she's alive in Tekken 3. I think Version two is the most convincing story. At least, given that Tekken has fighting robots, demons and such like it's the most convincing. Anyway, he goes missing. Lei believes that Bruce's plane was blown up by the Mishima Zaibatsu to silence him after his failure to defeat Lei. For the next eighteen years Lei's career is amazing, he solves international crimes with ease, stars in commercials and films, even time seems unable to touch him, at forty five he looks half his age, nothing seems to go wrong for the 'Supercop'. One black cloud is on his horizon as his partner and friend Bryan Fury is gunned down in a fire fight during a drugs investigation, but what really attracts Lei's attention is the fact that Bryan's body is never recovered. Prominent martial artists start going missing, thanks to the re-apperance of ogre, their bodys never being found. Lei remembers back to the only other unsolved case of his career, Bruce Irvin. Lei asks to be attached to the case of the missing martial artists. No leads come up until Heihachi visits Lei personally, asking him to compete in King of the Iron Fist tournament three. Lei sees that his only option to return to his investigation of the Zaibatsu and get a lead on the disapearance of Bryan is to enter the tournament. Curiosity and duty drive him into the tournament. Lei enters the tournament, more interested in investigation than combat he talks to the other competitors, King, Armor King, Jin, Ling, all have the same story of dissapearing friends, however none of them, or any other the interviewies have the same details of Bruce's or Bryan's disapearances. Lei quickly makes a connection between the other disapperances and the strange force that everyone's talking about Heihachi's efforts to capture. Which still doesn't explain Byran, until Lei's first match. Lei sees his former friend, but with the fighting style of his former enemy . Aided by his cybernetically enhanced strength and Lei's shock at his appearance Bryan beats Lei, or at least batters him back long enough to escape from the control of Dr. Abel and the Mishima Zaibatsu forces. Lei, concerned with wrapping up the case of Ogre and the disaperances lets Bryan go, maybe he owes his former partner for letting him down, maybe he just knows they'll meet again. Lei wraps up the case of the disapearances and goes back to his normal life. His life becomes consumed by his work, his live in lover leaves him because of it and he fails in an operation to capture an agent of a major crime syndicate . Rival detectives jealous of Lei's amazing success reported his failure to Lei's superiors as being due to his allowing personal affairs to affect his job peformance. Thanks to this Lei is suspended for one month. During his suspension Lei learns that the Synidicate he had failed to take down was planning to assasinate a boxer entered into the King of the Ironfist Tournament 4, Steve Fox. Lei enters the tournament to gain information from Steve, capture his would be assassin and bring down the syndicate, redeeming his honour. After all, he has nothing else to do for a month. ..................................................................... ============ 13) Summary ============ I hope this guide has been easy to follow, if not mail me questions and concerns and I'll fix things up, I also hope its been correct, if anyone disagrees with my opinions or my facts, let me know, I'd love to update this. I hope this is a solid guide to playing Lei, a basis for further growth and tactics. If you're a beginner I suggest starting with general tactics and moves and working out from there one stance at a time. Treat the whole thing as a learning experience, every bout, every FAQ, every failed match, every successful one. If you're already a high level Lei player reading this I hope at least some of this has been interesting if not useful. ..................................................................... ============ 14) CREDITS ============ This FAQ format is based on Abrar's Kuma FAQ, I basically deleated out all the info and filled it back in again, so I should thank him for that, nice format: Abrar (e-mail- abrarz@yahoo.com) INSIDE TEKKEN - http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Bridge/2700 Catlord, who's movelist is clearly invaluable, and a little bit of that old Tekken psychology FAQ he wrote probably crept in on my own words about trash talking. Although he has made some mistakes on his movelist. I've read and probably taken on board a certain amount from the various Lei FAQ's out there so these are all the ones that I've read: Lei Faq Version 1 (completed 02/29/00) Written by Slice (the YingXiong) Copyright (c) 2000 Pucci (npucci@orion.ramapo.edu) The Lei Wulong Guide Faq by Cody Hudgens (Maverick), Madhatter711c@yahoo.com Original draft written on December 3 1999 version 1.0 by Nicky Quick copyright joe nickerson, April 1, 2000 A few people have been good enough to mail me with comments on my FAQ, and I thank them all. ConfuciusQ, Arief, Ave and Eric Janson. Also the unauthorized tekken 3 fighting guide by Ben Cureton has been my bible for so long that I can no longer tell what's mine and what's from that any more really. As such I should probably list all the Lei guys from that as well: Marty '1TruKing' Hector, Jeff 'Chinaman' Hsu and Matthew 'Lei-UK' Gosling. On top of that, my best friend Steve Kearns for getting constantly battered by me from Tekken Two to Tag Tekken and beyond, and who's Jun cheapness has trained me well along with his irritating Lying Lei play. My friend Pete, who is Heihachi, against whom a year of constant Paul/Lei versus matches in Tekken Two gave me a strong base and allowed me to pick out a Paul chain from a mile away. And Namco, who own me. ..................................................................... Please send me comments, ideas, juggles or observations if you have any, I want to update this as much as I can - Glenn@glnf.demon.co.uk ..................................................................... THE END .....................................................................