Ling Xiaoyu Strategy FAQ ver. 2.5 Copyright 1997 Dion A. Madrilejo Any unauthorized use of this FAQ in a print or electronic publication without express written consent will be prosecuted (Or at least flamed liberally.) --------------------- History --------------------- v0.5 First publication of this FAQ v1.0 Lots of text redone First vs. guides added Table of contents added v2.0 Pulled stuff about hopping out of the AoP out of the FAQ Follow-ups to AoP->breakdance sweeps/scissor kicks Added Questions section Little tidbit about facing Eddys added Credits added FAQ locations added v2.5 More anti-Eddy stuff added Dodging section added ------------------ Table of Contents ------------------ *Why? -Reasons why to play Xiaoyu *Where? -Where you can find this FAQ *General Tips -Core Xiao moves -Storming Flower -Art of Phoenix -Turned-away Vert. Hook Kick -Dodging *Vs. Guides -Eddy -Paul -Jin -Lei *Miscellany *Things to do --------------------- Why? --------------------- This FAQ exists because no one at the time had yet to create a suitable playing guide for our gal Ling ;) In case you get into any arguments over who to play in TK3 here's some ammo as to why Ling's the way to go: -She's cute (Well; during the actual match anyway): I personally don't like her portrait but at least she looks good during the fight. -Best win pose: How can you beat a girl doing a handstand splits? -She can taunt: 1+3+4, 2+3+4 or counterhitting with the Storming Flower. -She's a University of Michigan fan: Her 2P outfit shows that she, like Shun Di in VF2 and 3, is a Univ. of Mich. fan. --------------------- Where? --------------------- Here are the places that legally carry this FAQ: (If you find a place that carries this FAQ ...WITHOUT... proper credit being given; please let me know and if you're carrying this FAQ without notifying me, read the copyright notice at the beginning.) Tekken 3 Professional Players http://www.netcomuk.co.uk/~mxavier/TEKKEN3/TK3.HTM Tekken Information Center http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Heights/7811/ Dion's World http://www-personal.umich.edu/~dmad -------------------- General tips -------------------- When playing Ling there are three things you really need to have down to dominate with her: -The Storming Flower -The Art of Phoenix -Her Turned-Away Vert. Hook Kick == The Storming Flower == The power and usefulness of this move is nearly as amazing as Paul's Death Fist. It's fast, counterhits virtually anything and when it counterhits it smacks 'em so far away you can usually get a running shoulder charge in much like Paul. Also since it's only a tap really you can react a lot better with it as opposed to a Death Fist. USE- Former Paul players are pretty much ready to go so they can jump to the CAVEATS part. For the rest of you...you've probably seen Paul players death fisting like madmen. The good ones will counterhit death fist -> shoulder charge with perfection and sometimes finish a round in under 20 ticks. The trick is to, well, understand your enemy. You need to have a feel for which moves take long to execute and/or retract. When the throw a slow move; smack 'em with the SF. As for which moves you should SF, that's something you can only get down with practice. Of course the fact that the SF has some pretty insane priority doesn't hurt either (I hit people out of charges and Hwoarang out of many of his kicks all the time.) I'm not sure about this bit but I think she ducks a bit when she dashes in to SF and thus some high attacks will wiff and thus allow you to counterhit more effectively. CAVEATS- Do NOT go nuts with this move like many a Paul. You cannot use this move with wild abandon because 1) it has a short reach and 2) it has horrible recovery time. You MUST know the range of this move to make it deadly for them. If you wiff (which will happen, especially when ppl will charge in and stop just outside of the SF range) you will eat it...HARD. If you want to SF with maximum safety go for the Hydrangea->SF canned combo (u+1+2,2,1) Although it's fairly hard to hit with all the hits. == The Art of Phoenix == The sheer usefulness of this stance is just that side of amazing. It's nigh invulnerable since just about everything wiffs above her head (Except for sweeps) and you can retaliate in ANY situation with relative safety. There's also the mentality that people have that funky stance = vulnerable so they tend to do stupid things which you can capitalize on. USE- There are many things you can do from the AoP but you'll probably go for the following: 1+2 Double forearm bash: Decent damage and it juggles. Go for this when they wiff a heavy attack over your head like Paul's death fist. u/f+4,4 scissor kicks: Comes out fairly quick and good against people who try to smack you out of the AoP with a low attack. d/f+4,4 breakdance sweeps: If they wiff high but it's not a heavy attack do the sweeps since they come out fast. 4~3 ground scissor sweep: Good reactionary move since it executes even quicker than the breakdance sweeps although you really can't follow it up except with the prone ankle kick. u/f+3 and u+3,3 pop-up kick and pop-up side kicks: Great surprise value and you land on your feet after execution. I have yet to get the second side kick to connect although it does keep people from rushing in if you wiff the first kick. The straight pop-kick has a lot of lag if you wiff it so make sure of your range before execution. ...and the most important attack from the AoP... 1+3/2+4 THROW: It's the fact that you can dodge safely and throw that makes the AoP so sickening to your opponents. Basically you knock them away, AoP, and when they come in, wait for them to do just about ANY move and you roll out of the way and throw them. Also remember that the breakdance sweeps AND the scissor kicks can go straight into the TA uppercut->VHK (2,4) Besides looking damn cool and dealing some great damage, getting hit with all of this (just imagine Xiao connecting with both scissor kicks, then an uppercut, then the VHK, then a low sweep) can be awful demoralizing. You can also tack on the 2,1 turned away punches before the VHK. HOWEVER, there is some pretty ugly lag between the TA uppercut and anything following it, ergo...an aware opponent will see the oppourtunity and kick you in the back or something more hideous. CAVEATS- Do not hang out in the AoP for long periods of time at close range since people will only stupidly try to hit you high for a short period of time. Pauls will sweep, Leis will rave spin, Nina's will double-palm, etc, etc. == The Vertical Hook Kick == Right behind the SF; her VHK (Turned Away 4) is almost like Jun's f+2 uppercut in TK2. When not working on slapping people silly with the SF, work on getting to the VHK and following it up. USE- Basically you need to get your back to your opponent to use this. You can do this via Butter the bread (d/f+1) or the downward slap (u+1) but the usual way to turn is via the Raccoon Swing (f,f+3) although abusing the Raccoon Swing->VHK can get you swept so mix it up with the (d/f+1) and the (u+1). When you do land this move (which will hopefully and happily happen often) you can follow up with an SF (Hard to time) or use these followups: 1,2,SF 1,u+1,f,F+3+4 1,u+1,2,1,4 Some people also swear by using the four-hit flurry for juggle hits but I have yet to connect well with it. *shrug* MISC- Remeber that when you're turned around you can insert two rev. punches (2,1) before the VHK but you have to be pretty close to do it but it looks really cool when you land all the hits. == Dodging == This is where things get silly. While Xiao already has an impressive arsenal of attacks, you're bound to get in a rut and your opponents will know what you're going to do so how do you make things interesting for your opponent? Dodges. For me I've basically been just getting into dodges and the ones I currently use are: The dive roll (f+3+4) The cartwheel (f+1+2) The skyflip (f,F+3+4) If you're familiar with the way dodges work in VF3 then you should understand most of the basic mechanics but for those of you who aren't familiar let me explain. Dodging is basically what turns a 3-D fighter from just being a 2-D fighter with a nifty graphics engine into a full 3-D game. A term which you'll need to know is "tracking". Tracking is basically the ability of a character to continue to face you as they execute a string of attacks. Generally a character's ability to track depends on how far away you start your dodge, what kind of move your opponent is doing, and if you opponent is attempting a string of moves. In TK3 characters have a great tendency to move in a linear direction when attempting any sequence of moves, be it a "canned combo" (e.g. like the hydrangea->SF combo) or a 10-string. However there are certain cases where their sequence will not necessarily travel in a straight line, usually this occurs when you attempt to dodge at too far of a distance and you only end up being slightly off-axis from your opponent as opposed to directly to the side or behind you opponent which is where you want to be and thus you end up recovering from your dodge attempt just to eat the rest of their combo. You have probably noticed that not all attacks execute in a straight line. These attacks are the bane of a dodging character since these attacks occur in a horizontal circular arc, they have the possibility of smacking you clean out of your dodge. Characters with significant circular attacks are: Law: Dragon's Tail Paul: the d+4 sweep Jin: Hell Sweeps Eddy: (Way too many of his attacks) The cartwheel (f+1+2) Fast and it looks good. Dodges into the screen when facing right. The dive roll (f+3+4) Not as fast as the cartwheel but it's a lot more practical. Why? AFAIK rolls right under Eddy's legs when he's in the handstand splits. Dodges out out of the screen when facing right. The sky flip (f+F+3+4) Yes I have this as a dodge. While it does count as an attack, the chances of landing this in extreme combat situations is fairly low. Good thing to use for sheer confusion and the landing is fairly safe since most people have a hell of a time judging where you're going to land and if they're too close to where you're coming down they'll either take the block or take the hit. ------------------ Vs. Guides ------------------ This will be pretty sketchy to begin with but I'm working on it. == EDDY == This is probably the guy you'll run into the most. The big problem that people have with him is that he's damn annoying in the hands of a scrubby buttonmasher because it's hard enough getting a feel for the attack levels of his moves when you're facing someone who knows what he/she's doing, much less someone who doesn't know what they're doing. However there are really only two things you need to keep in mind when facing Eddys 1) They're coming in low and 2) They're gonna swing for awhile. A LOT of Eddy's combos end up with a bunch of low hits; block them and retaliate as desired (SF when you can, flapping wings (d+1) when you're not sure). Also Eddy combos will last for what seems like days. The trick is to recognize the points in the combo where he's just swinging his legs around for show as opposed to an actual attack. Usually if they go into the floor exercise gymnastics moves you can SF after you block their kicks or you can make them wiff since he has a tendency to stick as opposed to move during his combos. Also if they hit you with a move which you block but are not pushed back very far, go for the SF or flapping wings since Eddy has some pretty bad recovery time on his moves. The other thing you need to do is pay attention to your life bar. One thing I've noticed against Eddys is that they can hit you with a combo that doesn't look like it's terribly nasty but if you look at your bar you're down a good 40%. When you get drilled by Paul you know it, Eddys will kick you to within an inch of your life and you'll barely notice. As many of you have probably found out, most Eddys will go for the handstand splits for extended periods of time. The problem with this is that his reach nearly doubles yours and therefore you get smacked and feel silly that you can't effectively retaliate. The SF goes right over them and the legs just barely hit mid so you can't really come in low. Fortunately there is an answer, the forward thrust kick (f,F+4) The first time I tried using this against an Eddy, he was just stunned that he couldn't handstand at will anymore and I won the round (unfortunately I lost the match due to an unblockable, but I digress) Bad things about the thrust kick: it telegraphs like a mutha and it's slow to come out. Great things about the thrust kick: smacks the buhjeezus out of Eddys who think they're untouchable when swinging away. == PAUL == Good Pauls are pretty scary since they will death fist you at just the right times. They will also falling leaf combo, tile splitter->death fist, or sweep->dashing elbow at will as well. For those of you not familiar with the EXTREMELY nasty falling leaf combo, it's a tile splitter, sweep, and then a dashing elbow (The tile splitter is basically a downward hammer punch.) Anyhoo; the best strategy against a Paul is this...AVOID GETTING KNOCKED DOWN. Unfortunately this is what a lot of Pauls will try to do; especially with the sweep. Sweeping Pauls are basically a pain in the ass since the sweep 1) is really fast 2) reaches rather far and 3) flows into the dashing elbow. The other problem with Pauls is that if you wiff ANYTHING you will take a death fist to the chest. So far the best technique I've found is to go with the AoP. the death fist just sails right over it and then you can counterattack. Unfortunately you have to get your opponent to go for the fist as opposed to the sweep. If you do the AoP too soon or hang out in it too long they'll sweep and then you're in trouble since nasty Pauls will tile splitter->death fist as you get up and you're pretty much done at that point. Basically you have to be pretty flawless against Pauls since you cannot dish nearly as much damage as they can, all they need are two or three good hits and you're dead. == JIN == While Pauls do heavy damage; the heavy hitting specials require a lot of commitment. Jins on the other hand do fairly decent damage but they can mash buttons all day and not give you a chance to retaliate. However there are a couple of good chinks in their armor that you can take advantage of. First are the Hell Sweeps (a jumping spin kick, three low sweeps, and then a side kick to the stomach). You must learn how to block this since it tracks flawlessly if you try to dodge it. After blocking the last kick go for the Raccoon swing->VHK->SF. The SF alone can be blocked after the last kick and sometimes it will wiff so go for the swing. Thankfully, Jins are pretty much stand-up fighters; Leis, Pauls and Eddys will mix it up high and low but Jins will pretty much come at you high and mid except for two specials; the can-can kick and the three-ring circus. The can-can kick, AFAIK, has to be blocked low for the first hit and high for the second (at least this is how Jun's can-can kick worked in TK2). The three-ring circus is a little easier. While the last kick can either come high or low, block low since if they go low, you block and everything's cool; if they go high the kick wiffs over your head and you can punish them. == LEI == Much like Paul, look out for the low hits since Lei only needs a few rave spins to put you away. You also cannot lie in wait in the AoP for an extended period of time since Lei will just rave spin you for a loop. But generally 9 times out of 10 Leis will be doing one of the following: -Coming at you with a rush of attacks -"Lei-ing" down -Going stance happy If Lei is rushing: AoP out of the way since the rushes AFAIK come high for most of the hits. Retaliate with the breakdance sweeps, a low 3 poke kick, or go for the throw. If Lei is Lei-ing down: A prone Lei is a problem since they can play the guessing game from that position just like you can from the AoP. The trick here is to either make them flinch (stick and move just outside of their sweep range and make them think they can hit you) or if they drop to the ground right in front of you with their head towards you go for the poke with the flapping wings (d+1) or the sweep (d+3). If their head is away from you keep your distance since they can give you a serious kick to head if you're too close. If Lei is going for the stances: Learn to recognize which stances are vulnerable at which levels. Generally you can go low except for the panther stance which I don't currently have a good way to deal with since I don't get a lot of stance happy Leis around here. ------------------ Miscellany ------------------ To shave down your finish time against the CPU try this: knockdown with the SF -> chi charge (1+2+3+4) -> counterhit with the charged SF when they run at you -> running shoulder charge after the counterhit If you can land the SF right at the beginning of the round you have the ability to finish the round just about as fast as a death fisting Paul ;) ------------------ Questions ------------------ Where to interrupt Yoshi's 10-string BEFORE the last three sword swipes? Effective strategies for using the circle stance? Ways to beat a waiting-Jin and ways to beat a button-mashing Jin? ------------------ Things to do ------------------ -Finish up the vs. guides -Adequately explain dodge usage -More general strategies -Detailed moves breakdown ------------------ Credits ------------------ NAMCO.............................for making a fun 3-D fighter SurfBard..........................four-hit flurry VHK follow-up Justin Pierce.....................VERY detailed move FAQ which I use as a checklist for moves to try and test for usefulness -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- +-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=+ | just another.... | Dion A. Madrilejo dmad@umich.edu | | USELESS FACT | URL:http://www-personal.umich.edu/~dmad | +=-=-=-="Stun settings are for people who can't commit" -JMS=-=-=-=-+