How to Play Dead or Alive: Dealing with the Defensive Hold

Dealing with the Defensive Hold







There are two types of situations in the game where Defensive Holds aka Counters/Reversals show up in the game. This is inside Critical and outside of Critical. Outside of critical is pretty much when you or your opponent are able to move around freely and attack one another. Inside critical is basically when one of you has become staggered by an attack and this is when you are trying to break free of the stagger so you can fight again, and at the same time your opponent is trying to hit you with more attacks to deal damage or set you up for more damage either with a launcher, knockdown, knockback or bait you into a throw for even more damage.






I hope this helps some of you players understand more so how Defensive Holds work because a lot of people tell me how they dislike the hold and the primary reason is because they don't know how to properly deal with it.



Outside of Critical:
To avoid getting countered you have to properly mix up the way you attack and not rely on the same hit level and formula of attacking. Also try to use attacks that are harder to react to while of course throwing in attacks they are a little bit slower to throw off your opponents timing. Also it is a lot easier to get countered low or high because there isn't a mix up between punches or kicks like their is for middle attacks. Middle attacks are really good to use for poking. Use lows and highs when you see your opponent is trying to hold you mid to throw them off and discourage them from trying to hold you. You can also mix in throws.

Inside of Critical:
Inside critical holds deal less damage so you can take advantage of this. You want to make sure you are mixing up your launchers and or knock down attacks if your character doesn't have a launcher to cover a specific hit level. For example Kasumi has a high kick, a mid punch and a mid kick launcher and she also has lows that knockdown as well.

The opponent only has a 25% chance of choosing the correct counter and of course they can "try" to react but it is hard. The more options you character has of course the better and then they still have to worry about reacting too fast and then getting thrown. On top of that you can option select their hold with a regular standing grab and a crouch grab and then follow up with an attack, a throw or a offensive hold.

Attack will counter hit their attack if they happen to try to slow escape out of the critical stagger, but the attack can still get countered of course. The throw will catch them if they decided to slow escape and then block or slow escape and then counter. The offensive hold will pretty much cover all bases but it works like a throw as far as whether they are ducking or standing, but the offensive hold will catch their attacks, grab them out of their guard and grab their holds. It will lose to throws though, but if someone is slow escaping into a grab they are really being risky lol.


The next entry will cover dealing with the start of the round.

Learning fighting games

The important part to learning a fighting game is figuring out all of the attack and defensive options in a game.

For example take a game such as Tekken.

Ways to attack are high, mid, low and throw.

Ways to defend are guard high, low, sidestep, 8 way, back dash, reversal, parry.

Attacks all have different properties such as their advantage or disadvantage on guard/hit.
Does the attack launch, knockdown, wall splat, slam down, cause a stagger?

And then you have ways to counter your opponents defensive option.

Opponent guarding high? Hit them low
Opponent guarding low? Hit them middle
Opponent sidestepping or 8 waying? Use a tracking or homing attack
Opponent backdashing a lot? Use an attack that has long range or get near them via dashing or running.
Opponent using Reversals or Parries? Use a knee/elbow/head attack because those can't be parried.
Opponent using certain attacks in a range to keep you out? Move in and out of that range to cause a whiff then punish.

Fighting games are all about finding the option to stop your opponents option.

When it comes to determining which characters are top tier its all about seeing which character makes the most out of choosing the correct options.

For example Bryan. Great keep out game with 3+4, good lows, tracking attacks, whiff punishment, wall game, combo damage, single hit damage, pokes, mids. He has everything. His only downside is that his punishment when guarding attacks that don't have a lot of disadvantage for their risks such as a hop kick is only like a 1,4 which isn't much it gives advantage but its not as juicy as a knockdown punisher. That is just an example, but that is minor compared to the rest of his tools that he possesses.

Excited for DOA Dimensions being on Nintendo 3DS

I will admit that I was a bit bummed when I first found out the newest DOA game would be on handheld for obvious reasons its not on console lol so I thought it may not be as good as previous games, but up until now I realized why it will be a great thing!


There are a bunch of things that tournament goers and hosts will no longer ever have to worry about.

1. Needing x amount of setups.

We all know running a tournament is hard but getting all the proper equipment and setups is an even bigger hassle. Especially having television sets not only television sets but the proper ones. There have been a lot of tournaments in the past where we have had to deal with slow latency on monitors, but with Nintendo 3DS that will be no more! Everyone will be using the same setup regardless and its cost effective so running an event won't be so much money out of each others pockets!

2. Being able to play anywhere whenever you want to.

I know I hate it when I am travelling to a tournament and I can't do anything but listen to a MP3 player or play a different game on a handheld system, but now we are able to practice on what we are playing on! The possibilities are endless.

3. The DPAD

I personally dislike Microsofts Xbox 360 DPad and I am wish I didn't have to play on arcade stick for certain games such as Street Fighter. I would definitely still be playing on a pad if it wasn't a 6-8 button game but whatever. DOA has always really been a 3 button game and you can add with p+k, or f+k but usually can just press those all with one thumb. Anyway Nintendo has always been good with making proper DPads especially the SNES pad so I am looking forward to playing on it. Also N3DS has 6 buttons X Y A B and L n R.

4. I know everyones biggest gripe is that we can't play it on console (mainly a big TV) but Nintendo has an adapter that you can plug into the regular Nintendo DS that hooks into a TV so you can play games through your TV. Now I know that DOAD won't look as good on a regular TV but if you have a 3D tv then maybe we might get the same effects? Not sure we will have to test it out. This will also work well for streaming too so it covers all bases.


Now last but not least
5. Really good internet latency because Nintendo's netcode is really really solid. I know people who have played Tetris with players from Japan and experienced very minimal lag, so this will be great for our game. Seems like Team Ninja is always ahead of everyone else with or without Itagaki. Honestly I personally am a big fan of Hayashi especially learning that he had a lot to do with DOA3's development.

Oh by the way guys for people who are talking about the health bars. They were like that in DOA2 for the stun threshold. I think it was like that in DOA3 as well I can't remember.

DEAD OR ALIVE DIMENSIONS!!!

I am stupid hype for this game! I don't care if its on Nintendo3DS this game looks freaking good!

It seems like they have put in every stage from all the past DOA games from DOA2-DOA4 and put in some new stages as well like that boat stage.

Raidou looks freaking mean! Finally I get the super evil type character, but when I saw Jann Lee I got really hype. I can't wait to play this game. I hope N3ds can connect to a tv so we can play it in tournaments cause that would be great!

Can't wait and since Hayashi is the head of development now (he had a lot to do with how DOA3 was made) that guarantees the game will be great.