DOA5U The Official Tier List with Discussion Thread

Matt Ponton

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So what do you guys think about leifang ? America placed her very high in the tiers while japan lists her as B-tier even behind characters like bayman and hitomi while both countries only have a few characters where both think the same way like helena, gen fu and ayane

Japan has her as S tier now. Primarily because Teru Rock's character is Leifang and he keeps winning tournaments.
 

Brute

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I think Lei is good character, but her average speed and linearity forfeit her a much higher tier level. Her holds are great, but imo it doesn't guarantee a win, anyone can simply stun her, and when the Lei player tries to do an expert hold, presto! Instant hi counter throw punish.
She's fast and has great mix-up options. She is also one of the most difficult characters in the game to put in stun due to her mystifyingly advantageous hitbox properties.
 

KasumiLover

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She's fast and has great mix-up options. She is also one of the most difficult characters in the game to put in stun due to her mystifyingly advantageous hitbox properties.
By linear this is what I meant, sorry if I didn't exactly clarify:
Tempest said: ↑
Leifang is very linear: You can sidestep most of her strings.

As for speed, she's fast but I don't see her as that fast imo, some of her sabaki follow ups and certain attacks are just not that fast to me, but that's just me.
 

DestructionBomb

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By linear this is what I meant, sorry if I didn't exactly clarify:
Tempest said: ↑
Leifang is very linear: You can sidestep most of her strings.

As for speed, she's fast but I don't see her as that fast imo, some of her sabaki follow ups and certain attacks are just not that fast to me, but that's just me.

Sidestepping is from a read though. There is a 3 part string she has with 3 enders. One is a low and a high, followed by a mid that tracks and launches, she has a few of those. Also the case where hitting someone sidestepping in general is considered CH.

You could sidestep number of characters in the game but you can't sidestep all the time in hopes for results. Especially if the opponent knows you'll SS or throw you for it. Not saying that the post is incorrect or you knowing they can't SS all the time, it's just that I don't consider linear moves to be a big big problem unless you put it out there a lot, though that's more of a player thing. (In response to Tempest mainly).


For my post
Drum roll
Raidou Top 5, let's go.
 

KasumiLover

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Oh don't worry, I meant upon an educated SS, idk who would just randomly do that, it's almost like throwing out a hold from neutral, although for characters like Kokoro you have a much better chance at a successful SS since she has very little tracking. I myself don't even ss often unless I notice a certain pattern from characters I feel brave enough to ss.
 

DestructionBomb

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Oh don't worry, I meant upon an educated SS, idk who would just randomly do that, it's almost like throwing out a hold from neutral, although for characters like Kokoro you have a much better chance at a successful SS since she has very little tracking. I myself don't even ss often unless I notice a certain pattern from characters I feel brave enough to ss.

Well not just randomly sidestepping, that can go for educated sidestepping too. It wouldn't be wrong for the player to SS at a specific time but they could overestimate or expect too much...especially if the opponent likes to throw since they also wouldn't be wrong for doing it and a read on their part.
 

Brute

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I just wish sidestepping was better, it hurts sidestepping a string just to be hit with a followup before your attack comes out.
Indeed. Characters with advantageous sidestep attack hitboxes can really make a huge difference in some scenarios that look solid on paper but execute like shit in the game itself.
 

Rikuto

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This happens because sidestepping is considered an invulnerable state (to anything that isn't listed as tracking) rather than something that actually disables the tracking on an opponent. Granted we try not to ever explain it that way lest we confuse the hell out of the average joe.

Tracking was quite loose back during DOA 3.1 and even a little bit loose during the DOA 5 alpha. I would have to check with Mr. Wah as to the reason (because he remembers, I dont) but somebody didn't like that very much. I thought it was fairly amazing, personally.
 

Matt Ponton

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I would have to check with Mr. Wah as to the reason (because he remembers, I dont) but somebody didn't like that very much.

I was never informed as to the reason they removed the ability to super evade linear attacks. I would imagine based on my experience that someone on the team felt the game became too much use of side step for their liking.
 

KasumiLover

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This is a theoretical tier list and is certainly based on knowledge of the game which is great in exploring in-depth the character match ups. There should be a tier list based on tournament placings balanced with total sets won. Calibur Blades has proven that eliot is not a low tier. Great parry's and counters, High damaging simple combos, wall oriented and has a moveset designed to corner an opponent and get them to a wall to either approach aggressively or maintain indirect pressure through medium and long range attacks, grabs that space opponents perfectly for his move-set with a launch grab for multiple frame trap set ups or high damaging combos on a counter or hi counter, Unpunishable guard breaks with an opportunity to predict a move for a counter and play guessing games with opponents, Great at tech chasing, Combos with forced tech opportunities, Great forward crouch cancel and reverse crouch cancel.
I'm sorry but I'll have to disagree. Just because a player wins a tournament with a character doesn't make the character good. Kwiggles has won with Phase 4, yeah but she's still a low tier character, he just knows the ins and outs of how she works and he was able to project his game knowledge into her to secure the win, same with XCalibur Blades, Eliot is definitely not one of the best characters but he was able to utilize Eliot effectively enough to win, same with Alpha 152. Generally speaking, just because a character wins doesn't suddenly make them good, people for example will still call Naotora garbage and not good even if she won 15+ tournaments XD.(Not me of course). It's all gameplay and the tools they are given, not necessarily tournament wins as any decent player can possibly win a tournament with even the worst character in that game respectively.
 

KasumiLover

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Thats not a very accurate way to view the potential of a character. If a player can with a character on tournament level where money is at stake and where theres no input lag then that character deserves a higher placing on the tier list because that players shows the tools a character has in particular match ups against certain reactions and a variety of playstyles and movements in relation to the characters chosen in high stakes realistic situations showing the effectiveness of the player's gameplay in correlation with the effectiveness of the characters tools essentially turning theory into practicality. If Naotora won 15 tournaments that would make her an incredible character. Does that mean anyone else can pick her up and repeat the same results? No but it just shows how effective that character is in the use and analysis of her tools and that some of those strategies can possibly be replicated by other players and the results would speak for themselves making that character a higher tier because of the possible threat she brings
That's just it, even with no lag there's still gonna be bad characters. Here's some examples:

☆Phase 4- Great combo damage and scary when she TPs but is very unsafe, hardly any tools to open up her opponent and slow neutral. Basically a stronger but less versatile version of Kasumi.

☆Eliot- Has the tools like you stated but is still pretty linear, average in speed, and overall there are characters who can outdo him with similar tools, specifically his master Gen Fu.

☆Naotora- Great Damage and combos but is way too linear and slow up close to be a threat...she can win if played defensively and carefully, but it requires a lot of mind game and thinking/technicality, in the long run it's not worth the effort when there are better characters than her for damage output and pressure.

☆Alpha 152- High damage output and possesses the most damaging throw in the game, but is a glass cannon who can't WU kick and has crummy no damage holds(Aside from the two that have to be made on a good read and guess outside a stun).

In tournament settings, yes these characters can win, but it doesn't take aways from the fact that they are still bad. I myself don't care much about tiers as I use whoever I like, but still generally speaking the only way to determine how high a character places is by tools and match ups, tournament wins don't necessarily dictate who is the best. Tira from SC and Lili from Tekken have won tournaments at one point or another, but that doesn't sugarcoat the fact that they are very situational and weaker tier characters, it just can't be helped.
 

KasumiLover

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Theoretical to me sounds more like just personal placement imo which is fine, since everyone has their own opinion on where characters should be placed, but alas it can't be used officially. Basically it's like lemons: you can use a lower quality lemon to make lemonade, but that doesn't make it a good lemon either, same for the DOA characters. And I don't think there's really any strategy to beating high tier characters, you just....you know, fight the way you do like any other characters, just adjust a little XD. Like I'm not gonna lie, I'm more "scared" and nervous around fighting Honokas and Ryus, while I absolutely do not fear or really worry in matches against say Leifangs and Akiras since I know what they can do, the main thing is making them think I'll do what they want me to do so I can get the reaction I want so I can do what I want.
 

XZero264

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Tier lists also assume two players are of equal skill level. XCalibur and Kwiggle are both phenomenal players who outrank the vast majority of the players that show up in tournaments. If you watch the 2016 Festival Top 8 where XCal used Alpha up until Grand finals (where Alpha is considered to be extremely low tier in Japan and just low in NA) it really looked like he was fooling around the entire time while taking every match he played. A lot of what people see in tournament play is more player skill level than character capability. Imagine if Ein won a major tournament, would you consider him a top tier character when he is definitely in the bottom three characters? The same happened when E-mann won a major with Kokoro, people started shouting how OP she is when she's mid at best.
 
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