Characters "Purity" A Kasumi Guide for Beginners(WIP)

[KasumiLover]

Hello everyone, It's Kasumilover again and as a sort of retro throwback to the older games, I decided to touch up this scrapped DOA4 guide for Kasumi and help anyone getting into the series for the first time learn her back when she was reluctant to fight but was more a high risk high reward character. The table of contents will be listed below:

Table of Contents(WIP)​

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Frame data explanation(WIP)​

Kasumi's Pros & Cons(WIP)​

What's new with Kasumi(WIP)​

Kasumi's full Move Set Breakdown(WIP)​

Kasumi's Throw(WIP)​

Kasumi's Holds(WIP)​

Kasumi's Basic Combos & Set Ups(WIP)​

Kasumi's Offensive Pressure Tools(WIP)​

Kasumi's Defensive Pressure Tools(WIP)​

Kasumi's Ranged Tools(WIP)​

Pros/Strengths​

°Very fast: Has a 9i high jab, an 11i mid jab punch, and a 12i low. Her kicks are also quicker, having a quick 11i high kick, a 14i mid and a 14i low. Overall very quick oriented poke game.

°Easier to use moveset, having a command list and tools that are straightforward and not having any difficult inputs.

°Very great string delays, being able to delay her strings for long periods which can help trip up foes into thinking she's finished attacking.

°Very good at close quarter range, having quick pokes that can easily beat out slower attacks.

°Decent mid range, having attacks that can be used at mid to mid close range when looking to move in.

°Very counter oriented, having ample launches and dangerous properties if her foe is caught attacking at a disadvantage.

°Dangerous stun game, having lengthy stuns that can be risky to hold from if you don't accurately know what she'll do, which forces the foe to either stagger escape to avoid lengthier stun time or avoid holding out of fear of a throw attempt. Her stuns are also even more deadly on counter hit or near the end of the stun threshold which can put the opponent in a situation where they have to guess or fall to the ground.

°Good launchers, having a nice variety of them at multiple hit levels.

°Very good mix ups, having plenty of lows to keep an opponent watching their feet and being at generally risky disadvantages if they aren't wary. She can also combo from most of them as well as quick launch.


°Combos are generally damaging and lethal the longer she keeps the opponent in the stun threshold and the longer she plays the stun game. This encourages and rewards the player for being able to keep their foe guessing in stun to maximize damage before going for her launchers to finish off the combo.

°Good throws, having an assortment of them including launcher throws, a punish throw, and a grapple throw. Overall has throws for every situation.

°Decent offensive holds, throws that also have hold properties and can catch attacks when used at an advantage. She has a normal standing OH, a low OH, and even one that is performed from a jump.

°Good holds, having decent holds as well as two for mid kicks or low kicks that give her the opportunity for quick easy launch damage.

°Has defensive parries that can hold highs and mids or lows if timed right, allowing her to easily go for quick damage if used at the correct time.

°Can transition into a dash stance from specific attacks and strings that allows her to avoid highs and end with a high elbow, a mid kick knee, or a throw, giving her an edge for moving in from a distance.

°Good environmental damage and good wall carry.

°Evasive, having the ability to quickly create distance with her infinite back flip and she can also flip over her foe to evade attacks, and she also has a jump stance that can avoid lows and close gaps.

°Good crushes that can evade highs and lows to avoid being pressured up close.

°Oki and ground game is formidable, being able to easily pressure foes on the ground to get them up and having good true mids(mids that can hit foes on the ground) that can also pester opponents who are afraid to stand up.

Cons/Weaknesses​

°Generally a very unsafe character on block and hit, being very easy to throw punish and strike punish when blocked from most of her attacks. Has very few safe attacks but these tend to be linear. Also has no general safe string enders and virtually no safe free cancels.

°Somewhat difficult to truly master, as her unsafety can be tricky to work with.

°A lightweight so juggles are especially effective against her and can take away more of her health gauge, if she suffers a launch or even worst a counter hit launch or a max stun threshold launch, she's generally at high risk of taking higher damage than heavier characters.

°Juggles and launches are generally less effective against heavier characters; If she wants to deal damage that's viable against heavier weights, she'll have to rely more on playing the stun game which can be a risk.

°Weak base damage, meaning she'll have to rely more on counters and combos to get substantial damage.

°Stuns are vulnerable to being slow escaped(Using the D-pad/Analog stick to to lessen stun by rotating it in a circular motion) which can often leave Kasumi at a disadvantage or hurt her stun advantage potential, limiting her optimal options compared to characters with deeper stuns.

°Generally very dependent on openings and counter hits to get her offense going, as her pokes and quicker attacks tend to be negative on hit, and her slower attacks that can score a decent stun tend to be slower and easy to defend against.

°Mediocre reach, having few attacks with good reach and often being more suited to mid close range and close quarters. Can struggle when forced to fight at long range, and her ranged attacks for approaching like 66P, 66K, and 9PK can be linear and prone to being ducked or crushed.

°Throw punishment is somewhat weak, as one of her punish throws for unsafe moves is able to be broken, and her other is average in damage. Throws also lack much environmental damage potential.

-Stun launch game is fairly weak, which forces Kasumi to rely on longer stun combos to get more damage and the best launch height from her launchers. This makes her more vulnerable to being held if not utilizing her mix ups carefully.

-Her move set is littered with alot of 50/50 situations where crouching is able to beat a fair amount of her enders and options. Because of her lack of safety and safe mids, this is a very glaring weakness which makes characters with better mix ups overshadow her.

-Has no real pressure on block besides her charge attack that can be easily held.

-Can be somewhat linear at higher level due to having alot of mid punches and highs that can be held or ducked rather easily if not mixing up correctly.

-Various moves have been nerfed and toned down so they're not as effective as before. She'll have to work harder to open up opponents.


To summarize this, in DOA4 Kasumi is basically the offensive fragile speedster of the roster and the quickest out of the playable ninjas; having speed, good mix ups and versatility, and having ample ways to poke and prod her foes, Kasumi is an aggressive counter oriented fighter who's game plan is to score a counter, keep the opponent in stun helplessly guessing and holding wrong, punish them with a juggle or throw and basically rinse and repeat. She can easily negate her foe by using lows to open them up, and she can be a handful to accurately hold or guard against due to her varying hit levels; She has launchers for juggle, attacks to keep the pressure stuns going, and annoying lows she can use to throw off opponents and knock them down if you want advantage and ground pressure over stun set ups. Her speed allows her to dominate in close quarters with her pokes and strikes, and when she is able to score a stun, she has a variety of things to watch out for from quick launchers, deep stuns and stuns that force a guess or a fall, or even her throws which can easily get you some easy damage from anyone foolish enough to hold. Her holds aren't too shabby either, as they can quickly damage the foe, and she also has her low kick and mid kick hold that can launch the opponent for a quick juggle. She also has two defensive parries that can hold high/mid strikes or low strikes and quickly transition into her Hoshinpo Stance, a new stance in this game that can lead from a crouching dash into a hard hitting high elbow, a lifting jump mid knee kick, or she can go for her signature Oboro teleport slice throw. The stance is also accessible from a few of her strings giving her more edge than before. Various strings have also gained more enders and options making her far more varied than she was in DOA3 as she now has additional new options and enders from her strings, leaving her less helpless.


However, Kasumi isn't as adept as she was in 2U, as she's lost a few of her attacks that made it easier for her to handle her opponent at mid range: She no longer has her 4H+K, her 33K which was distance safe is replaced and her 6P string from her PP6P is no longer a standalone move, giving her less ways to space and play mid range like before making her feel more gated. She's way more unsafe, and can be punished practically from any situation that doesn't involve getting an opening, and her combo damage has also taken somewhat of a hit since she's now forced to play longer stun threshold if she wants to get the same damage she dealt in 2U; Her quick launch game also has taken a hit and she no longer will be dealing as good damage as she did before, she'll have to work for it and this will be tougher against heavier weight opponents. Her teleport parries are also somewhat gambles to use since she's forced into her Hoshinpo stance, meaning you'll have to be even more careful to avoid getting counter hit or punished if you want to truly land a hit.

Kasumi however isn't a bad character, as her speed and evasion can make it very easy for her to dominate slower foes, and because of how varied she is, accurately stopping her can be a task since as long as she has an opening, she's generally always going to be an annoyance. If you want someone in DOA4 who's quick, has quick pokes and close quarters tools and who can easily trip up reckless foes, Kasumi is the character for you! Her skill gap is actually pretty simple as her strings are not complex and she's pretty straightforward, but players who take the time to learn her set ups fully and her max damage combos will definitely get the most out of her.

Kasumi is rather well rounded besides her range and safety, as she does have the defensive tools and even offensive holds to help her in situations that need them. While she's not going to easily dish the amount of damage she did before and while she's far more unsafe, Kasumi in the right hands can give even the best players a run for their money, and because of this she's very popular and quite often used online alongside the other ninjas and characters like Helena!

Section 3: What's new with Kasumi?​

-For a quick rundown of what's different about Kasumi if you're used to her older iterations, Kasumi is generally the same, but here's some notable adjustments so you're aware of what's different if you're either coming from a new game or older game in the series:

°Kasumi's overall style has been changed from a counter focused fighter into more an unsafe but versatile offensive counter fighter.

°Some stuns Kasumi has like her P+K and 3PP have been toned down and instead are now counter hit stuns. P+K and P6P are an exception since they leave you with a +1 stun on hit, but these can only combo into P6PP, P6PK or P+KP and P+KK in this normal hit situation.

°Her 6K is no longer the counter hit launcher 15i mid knee, instead it's now her old 9K which is slower at 18i. The move also no longer knocks down, instead being a stun but it will cause a bounce launch in stun or counter hit making it a useful mix up from her mid punches. It also has an ender now, two to be exact; a twin flip kick that knocks down and a high elbow that can lead to even more stun damage, but neither options are safe. The 6K original string still exists but it's gated in her PP and 4PP strings.

°Her 66P string from 2 and 3 no longer exists, and has been replaced with her high elbow that is present after various strings as an ender. Can lead to stun set ups and has reach but is unsafe and rather easy to crush..

°Her 2H+K low standing attack is now 1K, and her 2H+K is now the slow 28i low sweep stun from her previous 6PK2K string. This gives her more standalone lows to work with since it knocks down.

°Her 6P is now a longer ranged 11i jab that can help her better fish for a stun at mid close range rather than close range. While the move itself is better, the string options are also more varied but the older moves are now only possible from PP6P string and similar strings. Her enders are lift stun high, a counter hit launcher mid jump knee with a high kick ender and a low sweep similar to ones from 3P. All enders however are unsafe, giving her one less distance safe string to work with.

°Her teleport parries have been changed: rather than just simply teleporting behind her foe, she will enter a new special dash stance known as Hoshinpo where she can use either her high elbow ender, her mid jump knee from 6PP/33KK, or she can go for a T throw for easy damage. The catch is however that since she's forced into the stance, it's a riskier choice than usual to use it, making it more a gamble than before when she could teleport behind them and use the advantage given depending on the attack.

°Besides her 6K(formerly 9K) having two new enders, several strings like PP6P, PP6K, PPP, 3P, 4PP(Same strings as PP), P+K, P6P and 4K have all received new string enders which will be addressed more closely in the move section break down. While they're not safe, this gives Kasumi more choices so her strings don't leave you as "stuck".

°She has gained a new 1P move, which is a low 16i jab. Semi safe on normal hit and block but this is a useful way to crush the foe's highs and fish for a counter stun for advantage which can be comboed into as long as the foe doesn't slow escape. Also has the high lift ender from 6PP but it's unsafe and everything in this static string(A string with only one possible ender option) can be ducked to avoid it. The 1P also requires a counter to cause a stun.

°Her 2K and 3K have both gained a new ender to them which are both high kicks. 2KK is a counter hit launcher which is perfect in stun as a quick launch and 3KK is a jumping vault high that can stun. Both are unsafe and can be ducked due to them both being easy to react to but this gives the moves an edge so they're more risky to try to throw punish as they can be delayed to throw off opponents.

°Her original 33K is replaced with a new jumping mid knee kick, unsafer and has not pushback on block, and it's recovery makes it harder to use as a standalone launcher besides in deeper stun.

°Her original H+K from 2 is now 6H+K, it's been replaced with a quicker 17i jump high kick that has a high and low ender(same as 1K), and a transition cancel into her Hoshinpo stance.

°Her 7P backflip was buffed as she can now infinitely backflip across the stage rather than once.

°She has the ability now to jump high with 9K! If done away from her foe, she'll he left backturned but this can also flip over the foe!