LEE CHAOLAN FAQ for Tekken Tag Tournament --- Version 1.0 February 14, 2000 by Raf Kaplan (thinkap@eisa.net.au) Copyright 2000 Raf Kaplan. This FAQ cannot be reproduced in any printed, electronic or other medium without the permission of Raf Kaplan ("the author"). The lone exception is that individuals can copy it to their computers for private non-profit use only. It may not be placed on a website without my permission. If it is reproduced, the above copyright notice must be included, and the author credited. If a section is reproduced that is credited to someone other than the author, then that credit must be included in the reproduction. Tekken Tag Tournament and Lee Chaolan are the property of Namco. Sections: 0. Movelist and conventions. 0a. Lee advantages/disadvantages. 1. Moves, and how to use them 1a. Punch rushes 1b. 3, d+3, WS+3 and d+4 kick mixups, and D+4,4,4,4 1c. Other kicks, plus the tenstring. 1d. Lee special movements. 1e. Sidestep moves. 1f. Throws. 1g. Hitman stance. 1h. Unblockables. 1i. Specials (Mist Trap and Advanced Triple Fang) 2. Basic Lee tactics. 3. A few combos to keep you going. 3a. Okizeme. 3b. Against tagging-in opponents. 3c. Custom strings. 3d. Juggling. 4. "Useless" Lee info. 5. Credits ---- 0. Movelist and conventions. I'm not taking up space in reproducing the movelist and standard Tekken conventions that can be found elsewhere, and in a much better form. I suggest the Lee movelist at www.tekken.net, since it lists damage and properties for each move. The conventions can also be found at www.tekken.net, or in any number of movelists or FAQs. 0a. Lee advantages/disadvantages Advantages: Lee moves very fast, and has a lot of fast attacks. He has a lot of height- change mix-ups and confusion tactics available. While he doesn't have many mid- hitting moves, those he has are effective. People are often not familar with most stuff a good Lee can do. And Lee is a master of getting in close safely whenever he wants to. Disadvantages: No big "high damage move". You have to land many moves, not just a couple of Deathfists. Lack of mid attacks. High recovery on several otherwise good moves. Doesn't take damage too well. Not a great juggler. No high damage throws, no throws that require a 1+2 escape, which weakens his otherwise great close-in game. MOVES, AND HOW TO USE THEM: Note- most of the strategy in this guide is listed under the individual moves. You have been warned. Furthermore, this guide is not written by a master player or for master players. I realise that most people are average to good players, playing average to good opposition, so I note things that will be good against average players but sucks against experts, etc. Reading this guide will not make you a Tekken master, but being familiar with what it says will hopefully enhance your Lee skills. This will not help too much if your general Tekken skills are weak. Once again- you have been warned. Finally, this is my first FAQ. Hopefully, I haven't left anything out, but if you notice something missing mail me, and I'll add to the next version. === 1a Punches: Use of Lee's punch rushes is required to play any sort of decent Lee. The reason? Lee's strength is speed, and his punch rushes are amongst his fastest moves. Plus, they work much better as interrupts than most of his kicks. Finally, it's always fun to annoy people who pick King and try to use his kick- reversal on everything Lee does. 1,1,1,1,1 Machine Gun Rush ** Links to the 2,2 or F+2,2,2 combos after all the hits except the last. All hits high. Has some recovery if blocked (possibly enough to allow a Mishima 1,1,2 but not enough to allow a EWGF). It's very fast, the link to F+2,2,2 allows you to slip a mid hit in, and if the last hit lands it staggers your opponent majorly, but Lee has better options. Still, using a couple of machine gun punches before switching to something else is often useful in custom strings, so the move does have uses. 1,2 Jabs *** Like most people's 1,2 jabs. Quick, both hit high, reasonable damage for such a quick two hit move. No noticeable recovery if blocked, either. Nothing special, but a pretty decent poke all the same. F+2,2,2 Lee Knuckle Combo *** for first two hits Hits high,mid,high. Comes out pretty fast. The mid hit will catch out people who duck Lee's punches. It's often best to just use the first two hits. The AI (in one of its few good tricks) and expert players will often duck the third hit even if hit by the first two, and will then get you with a WS or FC move. Even if they don't duck, they'll stay still a moment expecting the third hit, which will give you some breathing space. 2,2 Lee Knuckle 0 stars. Both hit high, comes out slightly slower than the 1,2 jabs, has more recovery than the 1,2 Jabs, does less damage than the 1,2 Jabs. Absolutely useless. b+1,1 Fang Rush *** =2 Triple Fang =3+4 Fang Rush to Hitman The first two hits strike high,mid. Like the F+2,2 this will catch out people who duck. This move starts out a little slower than the other punch rushes, however, although it's very quick once it's going. To make up for that, it does more damage. The fact that it can lead into Hitman Stance is what makes it particularly useful- like the F+2,2 people will usually stay still expecting the third hit, but instead you've gone into Hitman. Even better is if they ducked- an immediate 2 out of Hitman will nail them. Of course, you should also use the 2 ender occasionally too, to catach them out if they DO move. Recovery if blocked is low, but you WILL be close to your opponent, so watch for throws. There is a special version of the Triple Fang that causes Guard Break, although the method of doing it is controversial. See the "Specials" section. === 1b. 3, d+3, WS+3 and d+4 kick mix-ups. Overused by many, but still a necessary and strong part of Lee play. The D+4,4,4,4 combo is only the start. Trust me on this. Infinity kicks **** WS+3,3 (both hit mid) >d/f+3 (mid) or D+3 (low) >3,3,3,3... (mid,high,mid,high) Hit d+3 during the sequence to make a (low,mid,high) sequence of kicks, or u+3 to make a (mid,mid,high) sequence. Strong points- high damage, variable height mix-ups, can keep going forever if opponent is rock-stupid. Weak points- Bad recovery, pushes your opponent back out of range after a few kicks which allows for a sidestep or a long-range power move, disgustingly easy to reverse (and no-one's buffering chickens during the infinity kicks, are they?). However, if you only use a few infinity kicks before stopping, you're probably safe. And they ARE sometimes worth using, due to the damage rate and the height mix-ups that usually ensure a few hits. But please don't use them against King (King players seem to keep their fingers ready for a kick reversal at all times against Lee), please don't use them against opponents who sidestep well, or against Kuni (you won't stop in time to avoid the u+1+2). Stop as soon as your opponent is out of range unless they're a bad scrub, and this goes double against Devil, T.Ogre,or Yoshi (you won't stop in time to avoid the laser/fire attacks or a quick Yoshi unblockable). Oh- the WS+3,3,D+3 sequence on it's own is pretty good. If you're in a position to use a WS move, this is the one to go for- good damage, and a mid,mid,low height change-up. 3 and d+3 kick combos *** Starters: d+3,3 (low,high) or 3 (high) Optional middle bits: 3 or 3,3 (all high) Enders: f+3 or b+3 (both mid). Like the Infinity kicks, these do decent damage. The recovery, like with the Infinity kicks, is not so great (although I disagree with the frame data at www.tekken.net for these, I can't believe in a -9 frame rating even if the b+3 ender HITS). The trick with these is to trick your opponent into ducking, and then coming down upon them with the mid ender. Of course, if they duck the first high kick and you do another couple, they'll have time to hurt you. However, if they duck the first high kick and you immediately do the mid kick, they will be the one that gets hurt. This is not a guessing game you want to play too often. As for picking between the enders.. the f+3 is slightly quicker, the b+3 does more damage and it can stun. Your call. Personally, all things considering, speed is probably the key if you want to catch them before they interrupt, so use the f+3 more often. d+4 kick combos *** D+4,4,4,4 is discussed in the next little bit, since it deserves a space to itself and doesn't really belong with the rest of the d+4 combos. The point of the d+4 kick combos is simple- the low hit hopefully hits, and then you try to do actual damage with the rest of it, using the high versions to set up for the high damage mid combo. d+4,N+4,4,4 (low,high,high,high) The 4,4,4 machine-gun kicks are a useful interrupt by themselves, but are not so useful here. They're primarily a set-up for... d+4,N+4,u+3 (low,high,mid) The u+3 somersault ender does serious damage, and it has very little recovery (although you will be smashed badly if it whiffs, but one would hope you'd stop the combo before this if you noticed you were out of range). A lot of people will eat it, too, since they'll duck out of reflex. Don't overuse this, though- if the d+4 is blocked low, you'll be interrupted while the 4 high kick is still in the air. This goes for all of the d+4 mix-ups. d+4,N+4,3,4 (low,high,high,high). Slower but with a touch more damage than the N+4,4,4 ending. Easily duckable and punishable.. although if you use this, your opponent is even less likely to expect the somersault version next time. d+4,N+4~3 (low,high,unblockable high) This is described further in the "unblockables" section. It can be useful, but it can also be ducked or interrupted really easily (the unblockable remains slow). Ducked is worst with most characters, who can do evil things to you with a WS move while you recover. D+4,4,4,4 Laser Edge Rush ***** =~3 Laser Edge Rush to Hitman Stance. THE ultimate scrub killer (well, for Lee, anyway). Also really good against people who don't think to block D/B instead of D, and people who think it's all guaranteed after the first couple of hits, and against people who like reversals. It's often called bad by experts. Well, 95% of people you play aren't experts. A lot of psychological mix-ups (like the d+3 and d+4 things) won't work against scrubs. The D+4444 rush won't work against experts. It's a trade off. Firstly- the 2nd hit is guaranteed if the first hits. The last hit is guaranteed if the third hits. Like with King's Ali Kicks and many other moves, you have to active low block (D/B instead of D) to block if you've been hit, just like you have to hold back to block Baek's Hunting Hawk second hit or the second hit of Jun's Can-Can kicks. This has tricked many people into thinking they can't block the third kick if the first two hit- they're only holding D. If they fail to block this out the first time, you can abuse it until they learn. It's far FAR less cheap than,say, a Paul Deathfist. Heck, the whole combo combined does less damage than a counterhit deathfist. Secondly- when playing against characters with reversals, buffer a chicken on the mid kick. Every Jin and Paul player will try to reverse the last kick, since everyone KNOWS it's coming, even though it can be delayed. But if you chicken, THEY take the damage. Also, instead of using the whole rush, you could use just the first two kicks. If the first hits, the second one is free, so you may as well grab the extra 5 points of damage. If the person is blocking, you can stop after three. They'll probably not take advantage, due to expecting the last kick. Every kick in the combo is DELAYABLE, so you have a split second to choose whether or not continue with the combo. Finally, you can go into Hitman Stance at the end of the combo, which apparently cuts down the recovery time a little. I'm not sure how much, but it's better than nothing. All that said... the recovery time is awful, well and truly allowing a WGF or whatever if the combo is all blocked (this may not be true if you go into Hitman, I'll have to experiment more). Even worse, this combo is fairly easy easy to low parry (not quite as easy as the Jack cossack kicks, but close). Short reasons why the D+4,4,4,4 is bad, but very STRONG reasons. Do not D+4444 against experts. Period. D+4,4 maybe. Last point- the D+4444 is Lee's most usual juggling ender, and can be useful in okizeme. So because of it's use against scrubs and average players, because of it's possibilities as chicken-bait, because of it's use in juggles and okizeme, the Laser Edge Combo does deserve 5 stars. Whoo, that's it for the D+4444 and for that section! ==== 1c. Other kicks. The vast majority of Lee's moves are here, and they range from the very useful to the very useless. Most moves Lee has are of some use, somewhere, though. d/b+3 Slice Kick * Hits low AND grounded people- a rarity for Lee's low moves. It stuns on counterhit, allowing for a 1,2 jab or other really quick move. However, it is SLOW. It has shocking recovery (I haven't experimented, but I suspect a EWGF could land). It could be useful to kick a grounded person... but that's about all. If you find a good way to use this move, let me know. u/f+3 Quick Silver Sting ** Hits high. Comes out marginally quicker than the Silver Sting, and recovers slightly better. But only by a couple of frames in both cases. Stay with the Silver Sting. f+3+4 Silver Sting **** LONG range (although don't overestimate it), very powerful. Very useful against a rushing opponent or one who's tagging in. Negligible recovery when blocked. Hits high, though, so it can be ducked if you get obvious about it. Doesn't start too fast, either, so don't use it at close range. d/f+3 Step-In Kick **** Hits MID, thus making it highly useful to Lee, since he lacks mid moves. The recovery isn't great, but it isn't as bad as to allow anything major, particularly as it usually keeps your opponent a touch out of range. Like Lee's other mid kicks, this is mainly used to catch out people who keep ducking. b+3 Mist Wolf Kick ***** =3 Mist Wolf Combo =~3 Mist Wolf Feint =~3~4 Mist Trap Comes out quick, decent recovery. Seems to catch people by surprise a lot. And it hits MID, again catching people who duck whenever Lee sticks out a foot. And it does OK damage. Learn its range, and mix it up with things like 4,4,4. It's Lee's best mid kick, in my opinion. The Mist Wolf Kick also leads to the Mist Wolf Combo, which may possibly be guaranteed on counterhit. I wish the PS2 was out so I could buy one and make sure of this stuff. The Mist Wolf Feint is the way you catch out reversal-happy people. Lee starts to kick, but he cancels and kicks out again when you hit 3 the second time (the reason you have to be careful to time the second kick of the Mist Wolf Combo). The new kick hits high, and according to tekken.net does almost as much damage as the full Mist Wolf combo. I can't say it looks to me as if it does that much, but... Finally, the Mist Wolf Feint leads to the Mist Trap, which is discussed in Specials. f,f+3 Axe Kick *** Not so useful in normal situations, despite hitting mid, because it's slow and the recovery isn't great. But it's really good for okizeme and it's Lee's best move against people tagging in because it causes a collapse slow enough to exploit. f,f+3, D+4,4,4,4 is my personal trademark okizeme/anti-tag combo (I have literally seen no-one else use it), and it's highly effective and very damaging. FC,d/f,d,d/f+3 Dragon Slide *** Like Law's Dragon Slide, if you can master the motion, the instant slide is pretty useful, both for hitting grounded opponents and for tripping up people who are dashing in towards you. Like all slides, you're left in a not-so-good position if they block, though. 4,4,4 Machine Gun Kicks ***** They all hit high. Despite this, they get 5 stars. Why? They come out like lightning, only a couple of frames slower than jabs. They do decent damage. And there's no time to duck once the string starts. There's only a handful of frames between each kick hitting. Feel free to abuse this, and then use the b+3 kick when your opponent starts ducking at the sound of a finger hitting a button. Because no-one will be able to duck this on reaction any other way than that. Trust me on this. Hands down Lee's best interrupt move. Follow it up with something like a b+1,1 and then throw. f+4 Silver Whip **** Lee's OTHER best interrupt move. And you thought the Machine Gun Kicks were fast. Unfortunately, like the Machine Gun Kicks, it hits high. And it's low damage. Also, the recovery is slightly worse (although it doesn't allow so much as a jab). If it hits, it appears to cause some sort of brief stun which compensates for the recovery time. Quite often, if you follow up with a second f+4 immediately, you'll catch your opponent just starting to make a move. However, this pushes them out of range for a third f+4. Similarly, against mediocre players, this is a great set-up for the D+4444 (they'll react too slowly after the f+4 to stop the first one, which guarantees he second one, and if they aren't too good they then fail to block the rest...) But the main use of the Silver Whip, like the Machine Gun Kicks, is as a quick interrupt designed to hit your opponent just as they start a move. I believe that the Silver Whip is also unreversable. Or at least I've never seen it done (partly due to the blinding speed, I'm sure). 4,3,4 Shaolin Spin Kicks * A bit more damaging than the Machine Gun kicks, but there's a lot of time to duck after the first kick, and since they all hit high.. guess what happens to you. I'm told that the 3 is guaranteed if the first 4 hits. If that's true, it might be worth throwing the 4,3 out every so often and I'd give the 4,3 a better rating. d,d/f+4 Silver Tail *** =2~2~1 Silver Demon unblockable (with Kazuya only). =D/F+4,4,4... Infinite Sweeps Good part- reasonably quick long range low sweep similar to Nina's Wipe The Floor sweep. Hits grounded people, making it a good okizeme move. If you keep holding D/F and you hit 4 as Lee finishes the sweep, he will do another sweep (obviously, this WILL get you blocked if you keep going for too long). Bad part: if you are blocked, there's a lot of recovery time. Oh, and if it hits as a counter, it stuns. 4,u+3 Machine Gun Kick to Somersault *** A safe move to use- quick, and it recovers fast if blocked. Not quite as useful on it's own as it is in the d+4 mix-ups, because people rarely seem to duck after the 4. No time- unless they're silly enough to duck expecting a 4,3,4 or something, but a 4,3,4 is slow enough that you can wait to see the 3 coming before you duck. Will probably only catch out people who are ducking as soon as they see Lee twitch. It might be worth trying if a simple 4 narrowly whiffs, since the u+3 might catch them as they take a step in. d,d/b+4 Blazing Kick ** (but very useful with the right partners) = ~5 (immediate tag out) Lee's best juggle starter.. and what a starter. Class 1, my friends. Which would help if Lee had any serious juggles to thread after it that he couldn't do off something less. On the other hand, partnered with Heihachi or other super- jugglers, tag out after the blazing kick and put your opponent in a world of hurt. Downside- it's slow to come out, and really awful recovery time. If it lands, great.. but the same could be said for most moves. If Lee had great solo juggles to do off it, the risk would be worth it more. b+4 Silver Heel *** = ~5 (immediate tag out) = ~3 Silver Heel to Hitman Stance. Great recovery, pity about the start-up time. Still, it hits mid, and on counterhit it starts a bounce juggle. Less risky way of juggle starting than the Blazing Kick. And unlike any other move in Tekken, the tag still occurs even if the move is blocked. And heck, it looks cool, and one of the reasons we all play Lee is the sheer style factor, right? b,b+4 Cutter * =~3 Cutter to Hitman Stance Pretty useless high kick. It comes out the same speed as the Silver Heel (although the movement takes marginally longer), it hits high, it does less damage than the Silver Heel, and the recovery is worse. It doesn't seem worth using to me, although I guess you could surprise an opponent who follows in on the starting backdash... or maybe not. f,f,N+3,4 OR f,F+3,4 (hold F for a second or so) or while running 3+4,4 Shredder Combo *** =4 High Shredder =f+4 Mid Shredder =d+4 Low Shredder The f,f,N version isn't too hot (the break for the N just spoils things.. why couldn't it be f,f+3,4 like Paul's?). But the running/semi-running versions tend to work well. The first two kicks (both mid) come out very fast, and often catch out people who try to interrupt with a jab or the like. Even if the first two are blocked, the final kick often catches people out, whether you use the mid or low versions, due to the delay and/or the height mix-up. The recovery isn't that great on any of this, but the force of the kicks usually leaves your opponent too far back to retaliate. Your greatest danger with these is being interrupted before they come out (due to the run in or the N part of the f,f,N version). f,f,N+3+4 Delayed Dragonslide * Some people praise this move extensively. But it's only really useful to hit people on the ground, and don't you have other stuff for that? Like the normal dragonslide which comes out almost twice as fast? The delayed dragonslide is slow, and that's even without it's slow f,f,N command. It doesn't even do as much damage as a standard Dragonslide. And it telegraphs more than almost any other move in Tekken. Lee takes a big spinning hop into the air- where 95% of people will hit you, even the AI on the lower levels- and then lands and slides. If someone hasn't seen it before, you might get them once with it. FC,(u/b_u_u/f)+4 Lee Flipkick * = ~5 (immediate tag out) A juggle starter, does decent damage, hits mid, comes out quickly... and the recovery if it's blocked will get you belted. Hello, Wind Godfist. Oh, and it requires you to enter a full crouch before you do it. So I guess it's an option instead of a WS move if you duck something, but I don't think the start's quick enough for that. FC,(U/B_U_U/F)+4 Lee High Flipkick ** Comes out even faster than the normal flipkick, does a touch more damage, doesn't juggle... and the recovery time is long enough to allow quick unblockables like Bryan's faster one, even if it wasn't an unblockable. We're talking half-a-second here. A Tekken eternity. Still, due to the really quick start, I guess it's a viable option if you duck something. But be damned sure it's a guaranteed hit. Maybe if you're in FC and block something that makes your opponent stagger. FC,(U/B_U_U/F)+3+4 Rainbow Kick ** Lee jumps up high and lands on his back, his legs hopefully hitting the other person. Less risky than the flipkicks, in that Lee's grounded position should restrict the available retaliation if the move is blocked (although characters like Paul and Hei and Nina with quick ground attacks will still do a hefty amount). Alternately, it's unlikely to hit unless your opponent is trying to move out of the way or tries some sort of attack against you in the air, or is stupid enough to duck. Exception- if your opponent feels like staying down, this move hits grounded opponents, and for hefty damage too. Second exception- see Eddy or Kuma or Ling or Lei in a weird stance some distance away? Let's use the U/F version and jump over to land on top of them! I hope you judged the distance right, though! d/f+1,2,2,1,3,3,3,4,3,4 Tenstring * Hits: mhmhhLhhhm This is NOT hard to block. Your opponent can simply stay low after hit 3 and nothing will hurt them until hit 10. They should have attacked by then, given six attacks worth of time. So Lee's tenstring, unlike those belonging to some other characters, is not usually useful even against mediocre players. End of the kick section! ==== 1d. Lee special movements. f,N Mist Step Sort of like a rolling dash in the Nina or Paul style, this moves faster than a normal f,f dash. Lee, unlike Kazuya, has no special moves off the Mist Step. However, he can do any normal move while in the Mist Step, including throws. You can hold B while in the Mist Step to instantly block, which might surprise people who go for a high-recovery attack when they think you can't block. But otherwise, the Mist Step for Lee is just a slightly better way to move forward, and in a way that people won't be so used to. b,b,N+3+4 Backflip Lee flips backwards onto his hands and flips backwards again onto his feet. Very fast way of getting back quickly. FC,(u/b_u_u/f) Fake Somersault I have to admit to never using this, since I don't see the point. Law has this too. But doing a somersault fake-out strikes me as pointless, really. Sure this doesn't have recovery like the real somersaults, but it doesn't actually do damage, either. If they don't hit you while you fake, you'll be able to block or attack as soon as you land, but they can ALSO block and attack the whole time. === 1e. Sidestep moves. A short section. Sidestep moves aren't too important to Lee. SS right+3 / SS left+4 Lee Screw ** They hit high. They come out reasonable pace. The 3 version does more damage, but come out slower and has slow recovery. The 4 version does a little less damage, but comes out a little quicker and recover is negligible. Very cool looking kicks, though. I'd opt for the 4 version if you have a choice, but if you have to SS one way in particular I guess you're stuck with whichever version belong to that sidestep. SS+2 Cross punch *** Also hits high, but it guard breaks and so has good recovery even if blocked. Comes out marginally quicker than the SS+4. Does less damage, though, so if you're sidestepping a slow recovery move and can land more or less any SS move go with the SS kicks. However, whenever possible, you must go for a side throw. For style points! === 1f. Throws Lee has no throws that do serious damage, and no throws that require a 1+2 escape. However, as a speedy pitbull sort of character, you'll still have to pull out a couple of throws. For example: F+2,2,2+4 is a personal favourite, particular since you can button buffer (hold down the second 2 and then simply hit 4 to perform the throw). 1+3 Neck Fracture ** Causes you to fall to the ground with your opp, which is not necessarily a good thing. 2+4 Chastisement Punch *** Also a simple throw, but at least you stay on your feet, able to perform a Dragonslide or a Silver Tail sweep or the like. f,f+3+4 Knee Drive *** =~5 (immediate tag out) Does less damage than the standard throws, and still requires only a one button escape, and throws your opp too far for immediate attacks (although you can run in and try to land a Shredder after they rise). Still, the tag component can be handy, since tagging means that the tagging-in character will tag in right next to your opponent, in a position to attack immediately. It also helps that this throw is a dash-in throw, since an opponent doesn't usually expect to be thrown by Lee, let alone when he's rushing in. 2+5 Tag Throw *** Changes damage depending on who tags in. A decent way of tagging in your other character. But nothing special. Side/back throws *** Nothing special. Poor damage for side and back throws, but you don't have much that's better from those spots. BUT Lee's left side throw is regarded as one of the best looking in Tekken, so you have to try it occasonally, to humiliate your opponent! ==== 1g. Hitman Stance Hitman blocks high and mid. And you can sidestep while in Hitman Stance. The point of Hitman stance is basically this- you stand there. They have to come to you. Lee's Hitman moves have deceptively long range, and mainly decent recovery, so the aim is to try and catch out people as they rush in, usually with the Hitman uppercut. If it's blocked, you don't lose much. If it hits, you land some serious damage. There's two main dangers. One- long range low attacks like slides. This means- look out for Law/Lee instant slides. Look out for tag slides. Look out for running slides. If your opponent starts the slide at a long distance, you should be able to sidestep it simply or else MAYBE use the 4 sweep to hit them as they slide. That last is a risky option. If they run in to the edge of range before sliding, use the Hitman 2 like you'd try to hit anyone dashing towards Lee in hitman stance. You'll often catch them just as they start to drop down to slide. Second main danger- unblockables. A long range unblockable like Ganryu's started from outside the range of Lee's hitman moves, and you'll have a lot of trouble getting there in time to interrupt, or getting back out of range quickly. This is where you'd better hope your sidestepping is going well. Still, there are some unblockables which are incredibly hard to sidestep, and if you're an average player just learning Lee, you don't want to try. End result- don't go into Hitman when your opponent is at very long range, due to the risk of unblockables and slides, or when they can be content to just sit back and wait for time to run out. Do go into Hitman when your opponent is just out of range, and will likely just dash in, allowing you to catch them before they can block again. It's also often good to use the link into Hitman of some moves and do an immediate 2 or 3 to catch your opponent off guard. For example: b+4~3,2 and if it juggles follow up with f+3+4. An added advantage is that the Hitman 2 will hit if the b+4 caused a juggle. 3+4 Enters Hitman Stance. Hitman can also be entered off a couple of other moves, as noted in the move discussions above. The following moves assume you are in Hitman Stance- 1,1 Freaker Jabs ** Fairly fast high jabs. Leave you in Hitman- a pity, because they cause enough stun on hit to allow a standard jab to hit (but not any Hitman move). 2 Hitman Uppercut **** = ~5 (immediate tag out) Also fairly fast. Hits mid. Juggles. Low recovery when blocked. Much longer reach than it looks, since Lee takes a big lunge forward. The primary reason for using Hitman Stance. Follow it up with f+3+4 for the most simple, yet stylish, juggle in Tekken. And decent power too. 23 points of damage for the uppercut, plus 80% of the Silver Sting damage equals 47 points... not bad for something so simple. Whether or not it hits, you leave Hitman Stance after the uppercut. 3 Scatter Kick ** Somewhere in speed between the jabs and the uppercut, this kick hits high. The damage is decent, particularly if it lands on counter, which makes it trigger a cool throw. Recovery is not so hot, but not so bad it would allow that benchmark, the WGF. Still, you're usually better going for the uppercut, since the resulting juggle does more damage than the kick-throw and it's more likely to land anyway. 4 Ship Slicer * Another move that lots of people seem to like for no reason. In all fairness, it's the move to trap people who stay standing against a Hitman attack. In all fairness, most good players should be able to block this very SLOW low sweep and then strike back during the really awful recovery. Lee has plenty of other height mix-ups to attack with. Hitman isn't used for that purpose. Leave this sweep alone, except against scrubs. ==== 1h. Unblockables Lee does not exactly rely on unblockables. But his are not completely worthless either. d+3+4 Silver Cyclone The faster of Lee's two standard unblockables, it takes a full second to wind up and perform, but Lee ducks down and avoids high attacks while winding up. It's duckable, and has a noticeable wind-up (lightning flashes etc.). It can catch out someone tagging in if they're a little slow off the mark. d/b+1+2 Silver Fang A bit slower, and doesn't duck down while charging. Lee rushes forward and does a big punch. It can't be ducked. It's basically the same as Law's unblockable with one BIG exception- no big shiny charge up. Particularly from the 2P side, where Lee has his back to the camera while charging, Lee doesn't look like he's doing anything in particular. If done while your opponent is standing well back, they might well rush into it... you hope. d+4,N+4~3 Low kick->High kick->Silver Cyclone Only the Silver Cyclone is unblockable. The 3 triggers the Silver Cyclone, no different to the usual one. Since you'd do this combo at close range, you're in even more danger than usual of being punished if yo try it, but an unblockable in the middle of a string like this DOES get a big more of surprised value. You might be lucky. You hope. d,d/f+4,2~2~1 Silver Tail sweep->Silver Demon punch Only the Silver Demon punch is unblockable. Silver Demon can only be done with Kazuya as Lee's partner. If the Silver Tail hits, Lee follows up with an unblockable punch that resembles Kazuya's Glory Demon Fist. I guess this is meant to be inspired by Lee's anger with his stepbrother, or something. Useful if you're a Kaz player. ==== 1i. Specials. Only two at this stage- Firstly, the infamous Lee Mist Trap. b+3~3~4 A Feint Mist Wolf kick is performed. If the kick is blocked, and you hit 4 on the exact frame it's blocked (1 frame=1/60th of a second) then your opponent grabs Lee's foot, and Lee does a sort of unbreakable reversal- effectively, an unbreakable throw. If you can work out a way to get this down consistently, let me know. All Lee players will worship you. A consistent Mist Trap would make Lee really REALLY dangerous, since it would effectively become a high-hitting fast unblockable. Do you duck, risking the b+3 kick, or do you stand and risk taking the Mist Trap? Secondly- the Advanced Triple Fang Rush. The normal Triple Fang is b+1,1,2. It leaves you quite close to your opponent. The Advanced version guard breaks, and so leaves you in a much better position when blocked. Two theories as to how it's done are: B+1 (delay a moment),1,2. The other is b+1,N+1,2 The only difference in the two methods is whether or not you hold the lever back. It's possible that both work. Anyway, if you can confirm the amount of delay necessary to make this work, or whether it needs the joystick held back or not, let me know. === 2. Basic Lee tactics There are 4 main types of Lee player. 1. D+4,4,4,4 scrubs. They suck. 2. "Law" Lee players. Mediocre. 3. "Hwoarang" Lee players and > Good 4. "Nina" Lee players. This is just talking about character-specific skills. A master will play like a master no matter who he uses, but a master who mainly uses clan Mishima and the Chang family is unlikely to be too hot on the fine points of Bryan play, for example. Similarly, someone may be good, and they may be winning with Lee due to being generally good, but they may have room to improve on their Lee skills. Get what I'm saying? The thing about Lee is that he's no-one's first character (except maybe absolute newbies). Everyone who takes him up seriously comes from some other character. Most commonly, Law. Lee does not play anything like Law. Law has decent defensive abilities with his punch parry, and great juggling abilities, plus some power moves. Lee has none of that, but has many fast pokes and mix-ups that Law lacks. Nonetheless, Law players see Lee's Law moves and conclude they can play him much like Law. The F+2,2 punch rush isn't bad, but the rest of the Law moves aren't so great (Lee's flipkicks are nowhere near as effective as Law's for the most part, and the 4,3,4 Shaolin Spinkicks are not good). You simply can't play Lee as a turtle, and that's where Law excels. As such, most mediocre Lee players are primarily Law players. At least, I've always found so. The better type of Lee player has come to Lee from Hwoarang or Baek, sensing another "kick" character. These players play a fast pitbull-type game, not going for juggles much, but just keeping the pressure going with a mix of fast punches and kicks. They usually pick Hwoarang or Baek as their second character, so they can keep the pressure up even when they tag. Lee players I've known who use this style are noticeably more effective than the Law sort, since this sort of speedy attack is Lee's specialty. If you play as Hwoarang or Baek or any other pitbull type, you already know how to do this better than I can describe it. Basically, you don't use any move that will take a lot of recovery if blocked, since that would leave a pause in the attack. The other sort of better Lee player is my own composite style (boasting or what?). A lot of it comes from Nina, though, since I'm primarily a Nina player from T3, forced to branch out due to what Namco did to the poor girl for TTT... grrr. There's still a lot of the Hwoarang-type Lee in there.. it's just that this style isn't 100% fast pitbulling. Anyway, as you might have detected from the discussion of the moves, my style works in a lot more counter-hitting, psychological mix-up sort of stuff. I'm not the best player, but I know the people I'm playing aren't perfect either. Throw out f+4 or 4,4,4 a lot and hope it interrupts something. Use those d+4 and d+3 mix-ups. Don't be afraid of D+4,4,4,4 every now and then. Go for fast bursts of poking, and then back off and jump in again with a f+3+4. Use those b+3, d/f+3 and b+4 kicks sometimes so that your opponent doesn't feel he can duck all day. Backflip back, and run in again with the shredder or a throw. Go into Hitman and make them come to you. Etc. Just don't get predictable. A Paul or a Mishima can be predictable and still win. A WGF isn't less effective because you know it will come. But Lee relies on always doing something different. Anyway, from practical experience, both the "Hwoarang" and "Nina" style Lee work very well, so go with whichever one you're comfortable with. == 3. Some combos to keep you going. 3a. Okizeme The Dragon Slide and (if at range and you really must) the delayed Dragonslide are the obvious way to attack someone on the ground, as is the Silver Tail sweep. The Slice Kick if you're daring and they're close. However, Lee's okizeme strength is attacking when they're getting off the ground. No matter which way they roll, the Silver Tail sweep will get them as they get off the ground, perhaps even knocking them up for the 2~2~1 unblockable if Kazuya is your partner. So the Silver Tail is Lee's safest Okizeme. The D+4,4,4,4 is often seen as useful, but it only hits if they get up. So if they twitch, go for it. if you're feeling lucky go for it. Use the delays built in to the D+4,4,4,4 to stop yourself if they don't get up. If they always roll forward or back or get straight up (the standard behaviour of most people, in other words), and they aren't right next to you, my favourite okizeme move is the f,f+3 axe kick. High damage, puts them right back on the floor, and usually allows for a D+4,4,4,4 follow up for extra damage before they end up on their back again. And that puts them the perfect distance away to repeat. If they keep getting up immediately, you can do f,f+3, D+4,4,4,4 to them all day. 3b. Against tagging in people. Three choices. f,f+3,D+4,4,4,4 OR f+3+4 OR d,d/b+4 This really depends on how far away you are from the place they tag in. The f,f+3 combo is usually the easiest. f+3+4 is also high damage, and can be done from further away. Also, it's guaranteed 30 damage, whereas the f,f+3 combo relies on the D+4,4,4,4 being possible afterwards (it isn't always) to go above the basic 23 damage. Finally, if close enough and if you're confident of your juggling, you might try the blazing kick. A good strong juggle added to the blazing kick damage might possibly be the highest damage count of all. 3c. Custom Strings. Invent your own. Unpredictability is the key! OK- some help. String alternately punch rushes and kick combos to keep your opponent guessing. Try not to use moves with long wind-up in the middle of a poking string (although as ender it's fine). Try not to only use high and low moved (this is where things like F+2,2 b+1,1 and b+3 come in). Remember that some moves can string to Hitman and an immediate 2. If close, go for a throw in the middle of a string. Busy holding B and waiting for an opportunity, your opp will often not see the throw until it's too late. Using button buffering (as mentioned in the throw section) can be a big help to fit throws in quickly in a string. 3d. Juggles Other than the Hitman 2->f+3+4 juggle, no other Lee juggle starters have obvious continuations. D+4,4,4,4 is the usual juggle ender. You can often fit in some punches like b+1,1 before you do the D+4 combo. You can experiment with the plain 4 (or 4,4,4) kick and see if it keeps your opponent in position for further juggling- sometimes it works, sometimes no. Probably depends on the timing and the juggle starter. Off the d,d/b+4 Blazing Kick, you're in a position to try out anything you want. Even another Blazing Kick will hit, for what good it does. If you can come up with a particularly good long juggle for Lee, let me know. You'll be credited for discovering it. ==== 4. "Useless" Lee info. Lee has 3 costumes. At character selection, hit a punch button to select Lee's sleeveless blue shirt with black wrist cuffs and black pants. Hit a kick button to select his open tunic with jeans. Hit the start button to select his tuxedo costume. Lee has a couple of win poses, but I forget exactly what they are and I don't know what buttons you hold to select them. That info in a future update. Lee also has special intro win or loss animations with a few people, notably Heihachi and Kazuya. More info on those in future updates. The basic Lee story is- Lee was adopted by Heihachi as a young boy, and raised as a brother to Heihachi's son Kazuya. Lee became the favourite son, and was chosen over Kazuya to go off and study in America. Fighting style-wise, Lee did not adapt well to the Mishima karate style, but developed a style of his own that had a bit to do with his regular sparring partner Marshall Law, but also had a bit to do with Lee's background fighting on the streets as a kid. Eventually, at a big tournament, Lee fought in the final of his division against Law, who he beat. However, Kazuya only drew with Paul Phoenix. Once again, Heihachi preferred Lee over his brother. Finally, Heihachi held the first Tekken tournament. Kazuya requested to fight his brother after the preliminary rounds. Lee accepted- he knew he was faster than his brother. But charged with rage and with demonic strength, Kazuya overcame his brother. After the tournament, Kazuya took control of the Mishima business, and made Lee his lowly assistant. Humiliated, Lee came to dislike his brother. But when Heihachi returned for the second Tekken tournament, Lee conspired with Wang to delay Heihachi, to allow Jun Kazama through to Kazuya. Lee fought and lost to his adoptive father, but it bought enough time for Jun to get through- although in the end, Kazuya and Heihachi still fought. After THAT tournament, Lee was once again his father's deputy, until he was consumed by the Ogre which was gathering the souls of strong fighters... For Tekken Tag Tournament Lee is alive again, as are all the other fighters from Tekken 2 who were meant to be dead, but it is unlikely that they will remain alive for Tekken 4. Tekken Tag Tournament is believed to be outside the Tekken storylines. Credit goes to P. Sartain's Tekken Storyline FAQ for the Lee history information. ==== CREDITS: Castel and the staff of www.tekken.net for providing THE best resource for Tekken on the net, even if they don't have juggle combo lists up for Lee or Nina at time of writing ;) Everyone who's talked about Lee at the tekken.net message boards, for providing me with a few ideas and keeping me enthused about playing Lee. All the Lee players I've come across for showing me tactics and uses for moves that I hadn't thought of yet. And Namco for making Tekken!