DOA5LR Honoka's Matchups

KING JAIMY

Well-Known Member
I've been playing Honoka since day one now and I'm enjoying playing her. However, I feel a need for more knowledge about her matchups. What are her toughest matchups and easiest matchups? Personally, I'm struggling a lot against Ayane and Jann Lee, i.e. I have trouble against characters who excel at controlling space. I'm also wondering what kind of characters are favorable to fight for Honoka? Please share your comments, ideas and thoughts below.
 

Tempest

Well-Known Member
From my experience fighting her, she struggles against characters that can control space like you said. When I play Lisa, Momiji or Kokoro I feel like I don't have much to fear from her since my ranged options will beat hers out without much difficulty. All of Honoka's spacing tools are inferior versions of other characters, and none of them seem to provide much reward on hit. I guess she'd have the best matchups against slower characters, though she has a lot of -5, and -7 moves an attentive grappler could capitalize on. Can't imagine brad having much fun fighting her.
 

iHajinShinobi

Well-Known Member
Standard Donor
Ayane, Momiji, Hayate, Jannlee, Hitomi, Lisa, Kasumi and Raidou are by far her worst match ups. Each of who I mention can all lame her out very effectively. Ayane, Hayate, Momiji and Raidou all have several high, mid and low hitting moves to make her guess a lot when she's trying to approach.

Ayane has PP and BTPP which are dangerous tools during footsies since both have very good follow ups that can scare you into not approaching her, along with 3H+K, 3P, 6P and 2P.

Momiji has her 5K and H+K to force you get around it, along with 66P, 2K, 2H+K and 3K.

I have probably 200-300+ matches against Honoka as Ayane and Momiji combined at this point, and to be completely honest; the only time Honoka is a threat is if she does a 6T. Literally, there isn't anything this character has that threatens me.

I imagine her match ups against other i9 jab characters are either fair or somewhat strange. Because even the rest of the i9 jab characters are pretty good during footsies.
 

KING JAIMY

Well-Known Member
the only time Honoka is a threat is if she does a 6T.
Could you elaborate on this point, please? I have done 6T countless of times but it seems pretty useless to me if your opponent knows how to fuzzy guard.

Thanks for your input, by the way.
 

iHajinShinobi

Well-Known Member
Standard Donor
She's a threat with 6T because she gets a free mix up for just using 6T. Sure, you can fuzzy guard but someone who knows you'll do it after some time can bait the fuzzy guard and make you guess for a bit. The only time its actually safe to press buttons during the 6T mix up against Honoka is when you've been shown a pattern, rather than mix up.

Example would be 6T > 6T > P+K, if I've seen this at least twice, I know it will be the same thing or an occasional mid kick. This will mostly only change once I have caught onto it and read the pattern.

Outside of this, block is your best friend in the match up until you find openings to back away or get damage. The match up feels more like a timer on Honoka's end. Because her options to keep up the pressure without 6T are limited, making it easy to learn when you need to press buttons, and where.

This is at least how I approach it, and it's been a good ride.
 

Darkslay

Well-Known Member
She does struggle really hard against Jann Lee, i mean, have you seen how hard she losses to his neutral :K:? Poor little thing lol.

In CQC she can be a little harder to deal with since even though her range is absolute garbage her speed can be up to par with characters like Christie and Kasumi.

It seems as if though she can also be decent at the spacing (yeah you read that right) seeing she has :2::3::6::P: and her own dragon kick, i've seen some people play her that way.
 

Tempest

Well-Known Member
It seems as if though she can also be decent at the spacing (yeah you read that right) seeing she has :2::3::6::P: and her own dragon kick, i've seen some people play her that way.

Nah her 236P has less range and damage compared to Hitomi, there's no reason to respect it considering it's also throw punishable. A Honoka player who wants a spacing battle isn't playing to her strengths as a fair amount of the cast will blow her out of the water at the ranged game.
 

Darkslay

Well-Known Member
Nah her 236P has less range and damage compared to Hitomi, there's no reason to respect it considering it's also throw punishable. A Honoka player who wants a spacing battle isn't playing to her strengths as a fair amount of the cast will blow her out of the water at the ranged game.

That is quite true, she would have been way better with her moveset before she was actually released. Funny she turned out to be a close range character without being a grappler lol.
 

iHajinShinobi

Well-Known Member
Standard Donor
236P isn't a spacing tool, it's for whiff punishment. This move gets put on block, it gets punished. Same for dragon kick.

Honoka's best and most decent tool during footsies/spacing is the 4K. The rest of what I've elaborated on in my tutorial are kind of meh.
 

Jyakotu

Well-Known Member
Standard Donor
I've been training with Honoka on and off, and when I finally got my groove with her, I took her into battle. Like many have said, she struggles against characters who are good at controlling space. Her range still pisses me off, especially since the moves she does know from other characters are inferior versions and most of them are only good for combo filler. Against the slower characters, she stands a somewhat better chance, if only because of the :P: strings that she can mix up with.
 

KING JAIMY

Well-Known Member
I believe 46P / running P is a good move for pressure too. It's +0 on block but most players do not tend to guard after they get hit by the guard break. Since Honoka is 9/11/13 in speed, you can create frame trap setups with this move against characters with a slower neutral strike speed than Honoka's.
 

RenderingStar

Well-Known Member
I've recently picked up Honoka, and I would have to say she has a tough time against characters that can control space(as said above). I personally feel you have to play a very footsie heavy game, I generally poke with 1P,PK and 4K. Also a match up I really struggle with is Zack. Honoka is only a little bit faster than Zack and from my experience this MU can be a nightmare unless you know how to properly punish. Zack will almost always beat Honoka out due to his 6P having more damage and it reaches further than Honoka. Yes I know that I can space him out etc but when it comes to CQC you really have to think about what your gonna due regardless of which character your fighting.
 

Darkslay

Well-Known Member
I believe 46P / running P is a good move for pressure too. It's +0 on block but most players do not tend to guard after they get hit by the guard break. Since Honoka is 9/11/13 in speed, you can create frame trap setups with this move against characters with a slower neutral strike speed than Honoka's.

I think she can rely heavily on her GBs to play the spacing game since, interestingly enough, she has extremely good GBs (4H+K, 1H+K, 66K, 236K, running P+K) @iHajinShinobi also mentioned this in his tutorial.
 

KING JAIMY

Well-Known Member
I think she can rely heavily on her GBs to play the spacing game since, interestingly enough, she has extremely good GBs (4H+K, 1H+K, 66K, 236K, running P+K) @iHajinShinobi also mentioned this in his tutorial.
8H+K is a good one too (+3 on block). PPPK is also a good pressure string which is +1 on block. She can be really threatening at advantage since it makes her strikes even faster.
 

Nikotsumi

Well-Known Member
The only character i REALLY have trouble fighting is definitely Ayane.... i always lose against her as Honoka, i only won against her a couple of times. Even if you get close to her she will eventualy spin away again or crush everything with 4P. Hayabusa is pain too, but not as much as Ayane.
4K is indeed her most useful spacing tool, but i also find really good H+K, 3H+K, which are safe on block and 236K. 8P has also a decent range and i like to use it even if its -6 on block.
 

KING JAIMY

Well-Known Member
The only character i REALLY have trouble fighting is definitely Ayane.... i always lose against her as Honoka, i only won against her a couple of times. Even if you get close to her she will eventualy spin away again or crush everything with 4P. Hayabusa is pain too, but not as much as Ayane.
4K is indeed her most useful spacing tool, but i also find really good H+K, 3H+K, which are safe on block and 236K. 8P has also a decent range and i like to use it even if its -6 on block.
I find H+K really good after 6T since it stuffs sidesteps and is safe on block. Too bad it can't be followed up with anything if the opponent slow escapes. 3H+K is indeed very good for whiff punishment and is a nice wall splat. Ayane is still a pain for me as well. I usually pick someone else if I know the other person is going to pick Ayane.
 

iHajinShinobi

Well-Known Member
Standard Donor
I can definitely confirm Ayane (and Momiji) to be one of Honoka's worst match ups. In this game, normally I don't see most characters having such awful match ups, however this does not comply with Honoka at all. The character has some real issues that really affect her match ups.

One thing I will say though is that Honoka actually will teach players footsies if they are really trying to learn it. Because you have to play that way since match ups are not always going to be in close range. That's why she has the best walk speed.
 
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