I was bored and drunk so I wanted to make a short thread of all of the 9i strikers in DOA6 and what their general strengths and weakness are to kinda shed a bit of light on why it is or isn't always sunshine and rainbows using them since the general thing I see is that they're "broken", so I'll begin:
~Kasumi is probably the most complained about. Compared to other 9i strikers, she's pretty well balanced with her kit: She has strength from her combos, good general reach, versatility and mix ups and she also has her wall carry and good evasion and speed to make her a top pick. However, she's lacking in terms of general safety and can be punished easily, and besides the safe moves she has, her more distance space tools are generally unsafe when caged near a wall, and she lacks any real guard pressure unless she's in a stage with a wall for her special 7P wall attack. She has to generally play the most honest stun game since she lacks fall stuns besides her fatal rush and fatal sit down. Because of her popularity and status as the main protagonist of doa, you'll see her alot and it's often an uphill battle fighting her.
~Christie is another one, although in 6 she's alot more tame than her LR era. She has the 9i strike and 11i mid to make her annoying, and she also has the evasion with Jakeiho to avoid alot of attacks that don't track and she also has quite a few nasty mix ups and GB pressure moves from that stance too. She can apply pressure from several of her strings, and she has resets throws, and the appropriate stuns to make her a horror to fight since a few cause a knock down unless the opponent holds. However, her lows are generally awful and she generally needs a stun to get her nastier stuff going, and she's overall unsafe unless the Christie commits to her Jakeiho transitions to end on a safe or + note and her safe or plus enders are usually easy to hold if the opponent catches on. Her throws and holds are also mostly roughly average if not slightly below average. Probably the most aggressive out of the 9i strikers. While she's not as used as a Kasumi, she's fairly popular and is a common pick for when people want someone who is "broken" on paper.
~Nico is a fresh new 9i striker. When 6 first started, she was probably one of if not the best in the game before the future patches mellowed her out. Out of all the 9i strikers in 6, she's the more beginner friendly one as she has simple strings, simple combos, and simple and rewarding damage and wall carry, she doesn't have to work so hard up close. She is also blessed with + GBs which is usually a rarity among the faster characters, and she's mostly safe and doesn't ever really have to worry about punishment which the others do. She is good at mid close range, and evasion is good thanks to her liking of avoiding highs to start her own offense. She also has quite a couple of stuns that cause a fall if you don't hold, AND she has a fatal sit down. Her only weakness is that her kit is limited and her range isn't all that, as she generally is more suited to being in your face. Her throws are roughly average too with her her "grapple" one being her main highlight as she can go into backturned set up. Her holds are also about average as well. Generally one of the cheaper 9i strikers. Quite often pocketed due to her ease of use, but not as much as early DOA6.
~Phase is a more popular underrated 9i striker. She's basically a Kasumi 2.0 in terms of the beefed up teleport cancel options while sacrificing her normal string options. She has the 9i/11i/12i neutral to make her on par with her, but her lack of ways to open her foe up safely are what hurt her since she's way unsafer than Kasumi, and her numerous 2-in1 and 3-in-1 attacks that can't be cancelled usually unless she hits the foe on normal hit keep her relatively leashed. She also lacks the wall GB that Kasumi has, but her Hoshinpo stance has better follow ups, from a tracking high that can be teleport cancelled on hit, a low throw, a mid that crumple fall stuns on hit, and much more! She also has a quick ranged 9P teleport slice attack that can leave her plus, and she has numerous cancels and stuns that can give her absurd stun and crumples, making her very dangerous. Her throws are just as lethal as Kasumi as she has even a low throw from her Hoshinpo, a reset throw, and she also has her share of lethal holds, even having a lethal high expert hold that gives her guaranteed damage. Probably one of the more dangerous 9i strikers, but her lack of safety and her limited non teleport mix ups are what gate keep her at high level, you generally won't see her as much as Kasumi. Still a generally popular pick tho, and if you see a Kasumi main, there's a 3/5 chance they have a Phase as a sub too, although her added difficulty in 6 has lessened this compared to LR.
~Mai is a more underrated 9i. She has the speed to make her lethal. Her stuns are dangerous as she has a sit down fatal stun, crumple stuns, and special cancels and mix ups that make her absurd to defend against. Her range is possibly the best among all the 9i strikers, and her throws are decent and she has a launcher throw that's only 10i. The only things that hurt her are her lack of GB pressure, limited kit, her lackluster lows(aren't as bad as Christie's), her meh tracking and how she has to play the neutral game more honestly compared to others. Her holds are also roughly average, but the range distance given to her usually bandage this. An easy but underrated pocket, so you won't see her as much as a Kula.
~Kula is the bandwagon 9i striker since she's easy to pocket main since most feel she's strong. I consider her like a more ranged Kasumi; she has speed, range, safety, and the needed mix ups to make her a threat and she has some of the more dumb but rewarding whiff punishes and ranged attacks in the game. Her wall carry is stupid good, and her diamond ice breath will secure alot of matches against people who aren't familiar with her. Her only real weakness is that she lacks good tracking attacks, as alot of her tracking moves are in string or unsafe unless the opponent steps or is counter hit. Her stun game is also even more honest than Kasumi since she doesn't even have a fatal sit down, and she has GBs but they're mostly +0 at the most, and her peak on block pressure is +1. A good 9i you'll likely see a lot but her limited kit and one trick pony type vibe might prevent you from seeing her as much as a Kasumi. Very common as a pocket.
~Honoka I feel is the black sheep of the 9i strikers since no one really knows how to categorize her since she takes from so many playstyles and attack types. She has speed, strength, wall carry, offensive holds, crushes, and even on block GB safety and mix ups from both her forced stance transitions and normal strings to make her a headache. Her throws are the fastest of the 9i strikers with most labeling her a grappler now since the recent patches made her throws super quick. She also has a slow fatal sit type stun and a several deceptive, albeit more honest ways to cause a crumple stun in stun although her style favored more general stance transitions and higher stuns to get her offensive going. Her only real weakness is her range, which is hands down one of the worst in the game, as the lacks safe ways to move like Kasumi and Mai, and alot of her stuns pushback the opponent unless she's in a smaller stage. The main reason you don't see Honoka as much is because they trade offs usually scare most from committing to her, which is a shame since she has the potential to be the best 9i striker in the game if one were to fully master her. Her throws and holds are also pretty good with her speedy throws being a major strength she can abuse, especially since she also has an easy reset throw and a few other special punish throws!
Out of all of them, who do you feel is truly the strongest 9i striker taking into account of how their strengths function in 6, and not on general paper?
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