Razor Rush

Lei’s razor rush is one of his key moves. It’s his go to mid to approach, open up turtles and other niche uses. I’ll do my best to explain this move’s uses and when to do each variation from a match up, game state and the knowledge of your opponent.

Let's take this thing hit by hit.

f,n,1

Standing opponent hit: +4

Crouching Opponent hit: +11

On Block: -2

Mid left punch. Punch itself is 12 frames but notation makes it slower, as fast as possible at 14f. 9 damage. If you hit this on a crouching opponent, you can get an i10 string for free. Fn1 into 1,1 or fn1 1,2.

f,n,1 u_d Snake

Standing opponent hit: -2

Crouching Opponent hit:

On Block: -11

This adds a side step into snake. This is decent if you have long sets with your opponent. Once you got them freezing via your other options. But a sharp opponent can down jab you and force you to block or be counter hit and leave the stance. However, this puts them at -5 in fc which puts you in arguably a better or similar strength position than if they didn’t otherwise. It does remove the opponent’s confusion which is understandable for a player to make this decision.

However, for a character like akuma, who has different down jab inputs, we can impose a knowledge check on their down jab. Requiring them to know that they also need to do a certain version of their down jab. So not only will they have to be sharp, have the knowledge and be unfazed by the razor mix ups, they have to have it in their lizard brain on the right version of their down jab. Akuma’s down jab can be back-swayed with snake 1+2 as well. Gigas down jab can’t be.

Some characters don’t have access to a down jab from standing. Ling, Yoshi with sword and Noctis. While fighting those characters or someone who is unaware of this tactic, you must show them that you can keep the pressure despite the frames.

They might want to jab you. Snake 3 will crush their jabs. Depending on when and the characters jab, snake 3 may be free here.

Depending on the character, Lei can tap forward and walk forward to move forward in snake, in certain match ups, this can avoid their jab and if you commit to it get a free snake 1,2,1. This is a hard read though, they can hop kick and you’ll run right into it. But given enough games, this should be trained out of them as a valid option.

They can use a 1,2 and it will poke you out of your snake movement. But if they do, they will get launched if you do snake 3. You also avoid some highs by stepping into panther and apply a mix-up.

This is another reason is strategy is for long sets or people you fight often to have some experience with the match up.

Snake 1+2 can avoid some jabs as well. Yoshi’s for example.

Once random jabbing is beaten out of their system. Snake 1 here will trade with moves that are i13. As that's the speed of most character’s main poking mid tool, this is where you need matchup experience to make your read worth it, you can make anything i14 or slower into a bucket for reads that don't have a high crush.

Depending on the match up, you will be able to make a read and animal step here to avoid their quick pokes. This strategy should be applied carefully on smart players that have good tracking pokes to both sides. Example, Bob, he can use df1 and df2 by knowing which move to use depending on which way you side stepped. Note with Bob both are slower than i13.

Also if you make the read of their hop kick since it will beat both your d4 and another fn1, besides doing fn1,2 if you know the tracking of that particular hop kick, consider going into snake in that direction and whiff punishing with either snake 1,2,1 or snake 2 string.

f,n,1,2

On hit: +1

On block: -12

Right punch follow up. 18 damage combo. Easy hit confirmation from 1st hit. This as well as every punch in this string can be heavily delayed. This is how you can get away with stuff like fn1 d4 to close rounds. However if you delay this punch, it will open you up to being sidestepped and punch parries. If you read the sidestep, you are basically at plus frame even on block. You can delay a certain amount that will track some characters sidestepping at certain distances. I would not delay in hopes of catching people trying to sidestep, if it doesn’t track, you get launched. If it does, you get 9 damage and are left at +1.

If you notice that they’re side stepping left after fn1, this is a sign they’re familiar with this part of the string at least. It’s much easier to side step this part left. D4 will track here. Other things track here but rave spin ain’t one. They can sidestep and then duck d4. My suggestion if you see this option being used often is to do fn1 into another fn1.

Causing annoyance and frustration is one of razor rush’s strengths. Our goal should be to make people think we are just “spamming razor rush” mindlessly. Why? The more they feel like there is no rhyme or reason to use the string when you do, the less likely they’re going to try to understand what your reads are calling and what is happenstance.

Example if you see a king uf4, it's either for punishment, crushing or as a power mid. It is an easy insight you can grasp on what they were trying to accomplish. Things like fn1 fn1 if they don’t understand the many layers to the string can be written off as trolling, spamming, or just simple pressure.

f,n,1,2 u_d Dragon

On hit: +3

On Block: -10

This is the most stable strategy that works at all levels of play to a varied degree of mind games. Assuming your opponent has no idea what’s happening, they may try to swing. Dragon 4,1 is an i10 CH spark confirmable 61 damage knockdown and wall splat (Dragon 4,1,2,3).

Next level would be here to block and deal with that string the way their character can. This is where we use dragon 2. This move avoids a lot of jabs and will counter hit launch. This move is also +4~6 on block and knockdown.

A common option select here is to down jab. Assuming the opponent knows which version of the down jab they need. However when mixed in well, you can end up trading with dragon 2.

Dragon 1 can also come in here, on top of being an odd throw, it has minor evasive power. If they always do a down jab, instead of blocking on read, you can do dragon 1b. This is will evade most if not all of down jab in this situation assuming they are mashing and not mixing up its timing. You don’t get anything free here but you are left pretty plus as well as your opponent will most likely be confused as to why this happened and not be engaged with the game.

This down jab option is not even available to the whole roster. Feng for example doesn’t have a down jab that will track lei after stepping to dragon on hit.

Another common high level option here is to use their character’s version of a d4. These are i12 lows that high crush. Note that not all characters have these from standing. Couple of options we have to deal with these, the safer thing only works on some characters d4s. Make sure to step the right at this level of play.

Assuming you have stepped to the right, some characters d4s will whiff if we do dragon 4,1. What they were hitting before is your front leg. We use this leg to attack and lift it off the ground. Our high kick will whiff if they d4 but our 1 follow up will whiff punish them, example Heihachi. The other is to tap to animal step right into snake. We can whiff punish with snake 2 and your preferred follow up.

Note that if you are fighting Law, he has the option to do d3+4 aka his version of a d4. I have yet to find a way in this situation to not get hit assuming he is mashing it. The d4 strategy in of itself is already a high level understanding of lei. But if they switch to a different character they might not know we have options to beat this.

f,n,1,2,1

On hit: +1 Blocked: -12

Another 9 damage mid heavily delayable punch. If you don’t delay, landing the 1st punch on counter hit will make this natural. If the 2nd punch lands on counter hit, even on some delay, it will combo into this punch. The mix up between delays and them stepping/interrupting still applies here. You can do the same thing with d4. However using fn1 here is kind of hard, this is because your next hit in razor rush is a 1 notation. You will get the 3rd punch instead very often. For this I suggest using b+2. This can avoid jabs and has a decent hitbox. Even if they back dash, the threat of the follow up and going into dragon should keep you safer than using a hop kick.

f,n,1,2,1 u_d Panther

On hit: +2

Blocked: -13 but they have to use a mid

This is where you need to be on point with mixing your opponent up or being careful to counter hit confirm from either the 1st or 2nd punch and go into stance right away. If you do this correctly, your panther 2 (i15) will trade with i13 moves aka their main poking mid most of the time. If you do this perfectly and preserve your frames, if you do panther 1~2, the 1st hit will trade with a i10 down jab. They will be tripped, if you are sharp this becomes a launcher for you (example ws2,1 or ws4).

If you delay your step into stance, to beat a down jab requires you to make a call for that. Here are our choices. 1.panther 3. Will jump over their down jab but you can be late if you don’t mash it so it's the safest but least reliable option. 2. Tapping forward: This will low parry their down jab but it’s risky because a common response to this situation is to hop kick. Since panther 2 is the same speed as a hop kick and it's possible to mess up your frames and you’ll lose and if you do it perfectly you’ll get a float instead of a full launch.

To make this more risky for your opponent, we have a hard read option. This requires match up knowledge. You have to step into the direction their hop kick’s tracking is weaker and then the animal step into that side direction again creating a whiff. This assuming they are mashing and not delaying the timing. If they delay their timing at all though, panther 2 will beat their hop kick.

f,n,1,2,1,2

On hit: +1

On block -14

Another 9 damage mid right punch. Same mind games apply from the 1st punch with delays. If the 3rd punch lands on a counter hit, the 4th punch combos even with delay. If the 1st punch lands on a counter hit, if you rip this string out with no delays, all 4 punches are a combo. Should be noted that the more negative frames of each punch on block makes the d4 option more risky.

f,n,1,2,1,2 u_d Tiger

Recovery in crouch

On hit: +2

On block: -13 but treat as -15

You know the deal but now, make sure to confirm one of the correct punches so you can mash on the tiger transition. This is less important to do so because even at +2, none of the moves in tiger are poke speed it’s still going to be roughly the same mind game being played.

Hey remember that dumb down jab, its back. D+1 will out speed our only low, and beat our 2. There are the general options to every down jab and a more knowledge match up I guess I would call it an immunity.

Lets just mention quickly the easy one that you use at the wall regardless. Tiger 3 will crush the down jab. Moving on to an almost universal option, you can back out of their range, gigas will force you to block.

Now you can impose a knowledge check upon your opponent, by labbing the opponent down jab. Some character’s down jab without a certain notation won’t track both sides. Example if a king player does d+1 and you stepped into tiger to the left, his d+1 will whiff. Now the king player can use d/b+1 and cover both sides. But why not put the odds in your favor.

Now this isn’t something I recommend playing around but apparently we are considered in crouch for 15 frames at least on block. So highs will whiff in that speed range and certain punishments will change because of this, example genetic df2 won’t launch and master raven df4 will launch.

If you happen to catch an airborne opponent with razor rush, you are gonna want to delay your punches to float and then step left into tiger and use tiger 2,2 to spin.

Fn1,2,1,2,4

On hit: Knockdown/Wall splat

On block: -7

This is primarily used with people who you haven’t had a lot of games in the beginning. Reason is that you don’t know their lei match experience and you want to show them the whole string so they understand that you have many hits so they respect the many hits your razor rush has.

Another reason is you confirmed a counter hit and don’t like the match up options you have for tiger or panther. Or you don’t trust your reads that much on them yet, as both stances can get you launched.

The last 2 reasons I can think of, besides just general mixing it in to keep your opponent on their toes, are for a wall splat and for a round ending mix up with the low.

Supposedly you can step this kick but I doubt it's in every match up and even then it’s difficult if not impossible for people to do it in a game with the other razor rush mixed in. But characters like king can use their reversal and hurt lei pretty good.

f,n,1,2,1,2 u_d Crane

On hit: knockdown

On block: -11

The options from here are limited. If you notice for whatever reason, like you’ve dashed up and did rave spin/mid mix up a lot and they refuse to get up via tech. You can enter this stance in the open on hit and get a “free” crane 4 which is a decent chunk. If you predict the tech roll, you can walk forward a bit and apply a mix up between a crane 4 and crane 1. This is to my understanding the only real use other than the lolz of predicting a low to auto crush it from crane. They can still down jab you and they won’t be crushed here.

f,n,1,2,1,2,3

On Hit: -3

On block: -17

So there are many reasons to use this form. The 1st is to just use a low for mix up reasons as a pure low. 2nd is if you notice that they swing after your 4th punch often, gaining you a counter hit launcher. Can’t even be crushed on block, outside certain match ups, example asuka.

Next we are going out of normal neutral. If you notice you're hitting someone in the back, this form turns razor rush into a launcher, easy follow up with b4,1. Next is oki. Although not as strong in this game it's still a useful tool when you catch yourself using a razor rush predicting they get up for a razor rush mix up. The low can beat their get up kicks and will hit grounded.

The last reason is lei’s max damage wall combo.

Vs Power Crushes

Knowing how the particular Power Crush interacts with Razor Rush can at times grant Lei massive damage. Because of the super easy to see effect on the power crushes, you can see the hit connecting as armor. The basic thing to try is to go for the low to get a counter hit and launch off it. Another big thing you can do vs high power crushes is transition to either panther or tiger in order to duck the high and then get a free launcher for a whiff punish.

Razor Rush vs powercrush table

not full, and most really depend on the perspective

Character move	fn1,2,1,2,3	fn1,2,1ss	fn1,2,1,2ss	fn1,2,1,2,4ss
Alisa d/f+1+2	sometimes	No	No	No
Alisa b,f+2	rarely	Yes	Yes	No
Asuka f+1+2	No	Yes	Yes	No
Bob f+1+2	No	ssl only	ssr only	No
Bryan f,f+2	No	Yes	Yes	No
Claudio b+1+2	Yes	No	No	No
Devil Jin d+1	Yes	No	No	No
Devil Jin parry	Yes	ssl	ssl	No
Dragunov	Sometimes	No	No
Eddy both	Yes	No	No
Feng	Yes	No	No
Gigas both	Yes	No	No
Heihachi	Yes	No	No
Hwo df3	Yes	No	No
Hwo RFF 3~4	Yes	Yes	No
Hwo LFS df3	No	Yes	Yes
Hwo LFS b3	No	No	Rarely, ssr only
Hwo RFS b4	No	No	Rarely, ssl only
Jack ub1+2	No	Yes	Yes
Jack ff4	No	No	Rarely
Jin	Sometimes	Yes	Yes
Josie	Sometimes	No	No
Katarina	Yes	No	No
Kazumi f2	Rarely	Yes	Yes
Kazumi ff2	No	Yes	Yes
Kazuya	Sometimes	No	No
King	Sometimes	Yes, ssl only	Yes, ssl only
Bears HBS 3+4	Maybe	No	No
Bears b1	Yes	No	Yes, ssr only
Lars SEN 4	No	Yes	Yes
Lars df1+2	Yes	No	No
Law DSS.1+2	Sometimes	Yes	Yes
Law DSS.F+3	Sometimes	No	No
Law f,F+3	Sometimes	No	No
Lee HMS 3	No	Yes	Yes
Lee b3+4	No	No	No
Leo 1+2	Yes	Yes, ssl only	Yes
Leo BOK 1+2	Yes	Yes	Yes
Lili d1+2	Rarely	No	No
Lili ff2	Yes	No	No
Lucky Chloe db1	Yes	No	No
Chloe b1+2	Rarely	Yes	Kinda
Raven f1+2	Almost	No	No
Raven BT 1+2	No	Rarely, ssl	Rarely, ssl
Miguel b4	Rarely	No	No
Miguel SAV 1+2	Yes	Yes	No
Miguel SAV b3	No	Yes	Yes
Nina	Rarely	No	Yes, ssr only
Paul	Yes	Yes	Yes
Shaheen	No	Yes	Yes
Steve db1+2	Yes	No	No
Steve FLK b2	No	Yes	Yes
Xiaoyu	Yes	Yes	Yes
Yoshi	Sometimes	Rarely, ssl	No
Akuma 1+2	Yes	Yes	Yes
Akuma df1+2	Rarely	No	No
Eliza	Yes	No	No
Geese	Sometimes	Yes,ssl only	Yes
Noctis RDG 1	Sometimes	No	No
Noctis f1+4	Sometimes	Yes, ssl only	No
Anna db1+2	No	No	No
Anna fc f2	Rarely	No	No
Lei	Rarely	No	No
Marduk VTS f2	No	No	No
Marduk f1+2	No	Yes	Yes
AK	Rarely	No	No
Julia	Rarely	Yes, ssl	Sometimes
Negan INT 1+2	No	Yes	Yes
Negan f1+2	Yes	No	No
Negan Taunt	?	?	?
Zafina b3	Yes	No	No
Zafina SCR 4	No	No	No
Zafina MNT 1+2	Rarely	No	No
Leroy	Yes	No	No
Leroy parry	Almost	No	No
Ganryu
Fahk	Yes	No	No
Kunimitsu
Lidia