SkatanMilla
Member
Slow Escape
Your main defense should consist of a solid slow escape, a.k.a struggling for those of you from other games. If you end up in a stun, you can hold down guard and mash directional, punch and kick inputs to get out if it faster.
Dead or alive 4 also has a hidden 'stun meter' that can't be seen, but what it does is that it accumulates all the slow escaping you've been doing so that it becomes easier over the course of the match to slow escape fast, making it possible to get out of deep stuns faster than you could have without it. So my recommendation, from a personal standpoint, is that you buffer slow escapes at every point possible to build that meter, this also applies to when you get hit into walls.
Low Hold
The low hold is the best defensive hold in the game, it recovers faster than any of the other holds and it ducks under highs, which tend to be a characters fastest attack and also their regular throws.
So what the low hold is used for, aside from actually holding low attacks, is that if you get put into a stun you can quickly go into a low hold to get out of it much faster than you would have if you had just done nothing. There's also a good chance if they whiffed something above you, you will be able to punish them for it. Pretty much the only thing that will punish this technique is a low throw, since mid launchers tend to be too slow to get the job done.
Option Select Hold
This is a technique used to deal with characters that use multiple hit moves to force a launch mixup. There are several of them, Hayate 4KK, Hayabusa 6KK, Helena 9K and Zack 6PP/6KK are a few of the ones I can remember from the top of my head.
The basic principle of this technique is that there is no delay in between how fast you are able to input several holds in between each other as long as the stun is renewed in between.
As an example let's use Helenas' mixup between 4K (high) and 9K (mid,mid).
Initially she is mixing it up between launching you with a high kick and a mid kick, however, to get access to that mid kick launcher she has to use one which has a built in followup. Since it is possible to cancel hitstun into a hold you are able to input a high hold and then buffer a mid kick hold afterwards. This way if she tried to launch you with the high she will get held high, but if she used 9K you will get hit out of your high hold, and your buffered mid kick hold will come out to catch the second kick.
This forces your opponent to start baiting you with stun extenders so that they can hold your buffered hold rather than working on a direct launch mixup. If they are punishing your first hold with throws that means you are allowed to use slow escape instead to get out of the stun since they are looking for holds at that point.
Buffered throw escape
This is a very basic concept to safeguard against people that use 5f throws. Whenever you have put yourself in a situation where they can punish you with a throw you should be buffering a throw yourself near the end of your recovery. This way if they did go for the 5f you will have broken it, and if they didn't you will be able to guard just like normal. It is important to also use this when you are punishable by slower throws like 7f and up, because players have a tendency to choke and go for the 5f sometimes, this let's you escape those slipups.
Fuzzy Guard
Fuzzy guarding means that you input 33-G when you are -6 and less to avoid any 5/7f throws they might be going for. If they did go for any of those throws you will be able to punish them with a launcher or a throw of your own afterwards. There are a few different ways to punish someone for using a fuzzy guard, either you can use a slow throw like your 12f throw or your offensive hold, or you can use a low attack.
Your main defense should consist of a solid slow escape, a.k.a struggling for those of you from other games. If you end up in a stun, you can hold down guard and mash directional, punch and kick inputs to get out if it faster.
Dead or alive 4 also has a hidden 'stun meter' that can't be seen, but what it does is that it accumulates all the slow escaping you've been doing so that it becomes easier over the course of the match to slow escape fast, making it possible to get out of deep stuns faster than you could have without it. So my recommendation, from a personal standpoint, is that you buffer slow escapes at every point possible to build that meter, this also applies to when you get hit into walls.
Low Hold
The low hold is the best defensive hold in the game, it recovers faster than any of the other holds and it ducks under highs, which tend to be a characters fastest attack and also their regular throws.
So what the low hold is used for, aside from actually holding low attacks, is that if you get put into a stun you can quickly go into a low hold to get out of it much faster than you would have if you had just done nothing. There's also a good chance if they whiffed something above you, you will be able to punish them for it. Pretty much the only thing that will punish this technique is a low throw, since mid launchers tend to be too slow to get the job done.
Option Select Hold
This is a technique used to deal with characters that use multiple hit moves to force a launch mixup. There are several of them, Hayate 4KK, Hayabusa 6KK, Helena 9K and Zack 6PP/6KK are a few of the ones I can remember from the top of my head.
The basic principle of this technique is that there is no delay in between how fast you are able to input several holds in between each other as long as the stun is renewed in between.
As an example let's use Helenas' mixup between 4K (high) and 9K (mid,mid).
Initially she is mixing it up between launching you with a high kick and a mid kick, however, to get access to that mid kick launcher she has to use one which has a built in followup. Since it is possible to cancel hitstun into a hold you are able to input a high hold and then buffer a mid kick hold afterwards. This way if she tried to launch you with the high she will get held high, but if she used 9K you will get hit out of your high hold, and your buffered mid kick hold will come out to catch the second kick.
This forces your opponent to start baiting you with stun extenders so that they can hold your buffered hold rather than working on a direct launch mixup. If they are punishing your first hold with throws that means you are allowed to use slow escape instead to get out of the stun since they are looking for holds at that point.
Buffered throw escape
This is a very basic concept to safeguard against people that use 5f throws. Whenever you have put yourself in a situation where they can punish you with a throw you should be buffering a throw yourself near the end of your recovery. This way if they did go for the 5f you will have broken it, and if they didn't you will be able to guard just like normal. It is important to also use this when you are punishable by slower throws like 7f and up, because players have a tendency to choke and go for the 5f sometimes, this let's you escape those slipups.
Fuzzy Guard
Fuzzy guarding means that you input 33-G when you are -6 and less to avoid any 5/7f throws they might be going for. If they did go for any of those throws you will be able to punish them with a launcher or a throw of your own afterwards. There are a few different ways to punish someone for using a fuzzy guard, either you can use a slow throw like your 12f throw or your offensive hold, or you can use a low attack.
