Lei counterplay

Some of Lei's commonly used punishable moves.

Overview of threat and purpose of the 5-gates stances.

• Lei's jab tracks to his right, and many of his good moves track that way as well, so in general stepping right is better.
• f+3,1 has 10 frames to hit confirm, but if this is done too much f+3 can be punished. When f+3,1 is delayed, i10 buttons interrupt it.
• d+4,4 recovers far away, so need to use a good range -15 punisher.
• f,F+3 is -14 or -8 BT, so an i13 mid punishes both options. It has a high extension to beat punishes, but if he does it he won't get a combo on hit, so you generally don't need to respect this.
• FC.df+2,1 is only natural on CH and the extension (FC.df+2,1,4) can be interrupted by i11 attacks.
• The third hit of Defense Breaker (f,n,2,(On block).1,2,1) can be beaten by most characters with a sidewalk right with precise timing. Some sidestep buttons can interrupt it as well. A punch parry or 6 frame challenge (such as Kazumi b+1+2 or Yoshimitsu Flash) can also interrupt on reaction.
• Mid option from Razor Rush (f,n,1,2,1,2,4) loses to ssr vs most chars. After stepping, a whiff punisher needs some tracking to catch the stance transitions (f,n,1,2,1,2,4,u_d).
• BT.1,1,3 is not a combo and can be launched on block. The forth hit (BT.1,1,3,2) jails so you can mash out the punish after blocking. The second hit is -7 BT on block, so if you guess he won't do the low you can punish with an i12 mid.
• Lei can't block during PHX, but he can transition to DRU to parry punches or challenge with a launching powercrush (PHX.2).
• CRA.4 is extremely unsafe. This is common after a wall combo ending in ub+4 since the CRA mixup after tracks both tech rolls and the low hits grounded.
• DRU.3 has short range and the extensions lose to ssl, so can avoid getting mixed by this stance with a backdash into ssl.

Wolf Rush

Wolf Rush is a strong CH tool that can be done from neutral (f,n,4,...) or Dragon (DRG.4,...). The 4th hit is guaranteed on CH for an easy hit confirm into a knockdown and damage roughly equal to a magic four.

Key aspects to defending vs it:

• The first hit is weak to ssl and the second hit is slow, so if you want to kill him on a read you can do either ssl or duck into a launcher to interrupt the second hit (or punish if he only does the first). This is generally only a good idea vs DRG.4, since in neutral he could kill you easily with df+2 for those options.
• The third attack (f,n,4,1,2) jails, so you can every time act as if he stops at the second without worrying about the string. It's only -1 though (and has a -3 TGR transition) so don't get too eager.
• The third attack is unsafe but has a non-jailing high extension, so there's a basic guess between going for the punish and ducking the high.
• The fourth attack can be a jailing mid (f,n,4,1,2,2) or a non-jailing high (f,n,4,1,2,3). The only attack not jailing is a high, so there's no reason not to duck if you're gonna wait, and so no reason to ever block the high.
• The fourth mid has a non-jailing low extension, so there's another basic guess between punish or duck.
• The fourth mid is -12 without a transition or -4 going into DRG. Lei can block highs or mids during DRG but can't exit the stance quickly or block lows, so generic d+4 is a guaranteed punish. If you want a stronger punish you've gotta guess right.
• The low after the fourth mid is -17 and Lei can't block or challenge from the stance transition, so it can be launched without a low parry (unless you're Steve).

External links

• Defending Lei's TGR Stance - 1-MINUTE MATCHUPS