How to improve your mindgame in Dead or Alive
Introduction
Hello all! As the thread title suggests, this is a topic concerning one of the most important aspects of DOA: The mindgame. Having a good mindgame means that you can read your opponent’s movements, and predict correctly what they’re going to do. Furthermore, having an excellent mindgame allows you to inflict Hi-Counter damage on your opponent consistently, which is devastating when combined with a powerful throw, hold or combo. It could be even argued that a player with a superb mindgame who doesn’t have much knowledge on combos, could win easily from an opponent with amazing combos but who has a poor mindgame.
That being said, the main goal of this thread is helping out people who think they can get better by improving their mindgame. Thus, I will share my personal experience and knowledge as a means to help the community! I hope you will find my contributions and insights useful. I highly appreciate it if you (partly) read this. Keep in mind that these ideas are just my personal thoughts, so any constructive criticism or corrections are more than welcome.
NOTES: I am aware this thread is quite lengthy. Key points are highlighted in red if some of you just want to read the key messages I want to convey. If a specific (counter)strategy for a character is mentioned, I will highlight their names in blue.
The concept of Yomi
First off, I would like to let you know that there is an alternative term for ‘mindgames’ which the Japanese call yomi. It roughly means: ‘Knowing the mind of your opponent’ which is exactly what mindgames are about. Having good yomi therefore equals having a good mindgame. The most essential thing about yomi is that you have to pretend being in your opponent’s shoes. What would you do in a guessing situation if you were the opponent? This is when the yomi layers come into play.
Yomi Layers
As the term ‘yomi layer’ suggests, there are different levels at which yomi can operate. It basically comes down to this:
1. You are in a guessing situation and predict your opponent’s next move. This would be the first layer of yomi.
2. Your opponent knows that you predict that particular move, and plans to do something else instead. This refers to the second layer of yomi.
3. You know that your opponent will react to your initial prediction. So you respond correctly to the alternative plan of your opponent. This would be the third layer of yomi.
And so on… and so on. It’s up to you to figure at which layer your opponent is thinking. You can improve this by experience and improving your ability of estimating your opponent’s skill level quickly.
Now, the yomi layers might seem rather vague, so I will try to demonstrate this with a DOA-related example
Example of Yomi Layers (‘Pretending to be the opponent’)
Picture this: You are playing against a Hayabusa player. You are in a deep hitstun at Critical Stun Level 3. This means that your opponent has an opportunity to land a Critical Burst on you. You are not able to slow escape the whole setup either so you are forced into a guessing situation. What will you do?
1. A common natural response is that you predict the Critical Burst. Against a Hayabusa player this means you would have to hold his mid punch Critical Burst to get out of this horrible situation. In this example, you would think at the first layer of yomi.
2. Your opponent will most likely expect a mid punch hold as they are ‘reading your mind’. Your opponent would probably do the same thing as you, because they are putting themselves in your shoes. Your opponent is smart and is thinking at the second layer of yomi. They think of a way to counter the mid punch hold. This would obviously be a throw. Throws beat holds.
3. As a counter to THEIR counter, you are pretending to be your opponent as well. You know a Hi-Counter Izuna-Otoshi (Hayabusa’s most powerful throw) could be as painful as a Critical Burst combo. You know your opponent is hungry for Hi-Counter damage, but so are you. By thinking at the third layer of yomi, you predict their throw, slow escape and strike to counter your opponent with Hi-Counter damage. Remember, strikes beat throws!
The above shows why the Triangle System is a huge factor in DOA and why it is very important in deciding the outcome of a match. Thus, having a good mindgame is essential for becoming a decent player in DOA.
Try not to be predictable
You can have a good mindgame, but so can your opponent. That cancels each other out, doesn’t it? Not necessarily. Reading your opponent is not the only component of having a good mindgame. Not being predictable yourself can be as important as predicting your opponent. Being unpredictable is the most effective way of countering the mindgame of the opponent. I will demonstrate this with a few examples.
> Do something unexpected. These strategies work best against experienced players. Allow me to explain this. Advanced players have more knowledge of the game and also know when something is guaranteed or not. If you can get something guaranteed, their expectation will probably be that you’ll go for the guarantee. Novices have less knowledge of the game’s mechanics and therefore it’s harder to predict what they’re thinking.
A perfect example of doing something unexpected would be when you catch something mid-air with Gen Fu’s 5T. Experienced players will most likely expect the guaranteed 5K afterwards and most likely do nothing or block. If you know your opponent expects this, you can go for a throw to do the same thing all over again. For example, Gen Fu’s 236T launches opponents back in the air and you can catch them mid-air again and force them to guess again between: 1) A throw; 2) The guaranteed 5K or 3) A strike other than 5K (since they will most likely block standing attacks). Option 3 also avoids the risk of being counter-hit as you have advantageous frames. Why doesn’t this work against novice players, then? Novices probably don’t know the guaranteed options and will most likely try to counter-hit you. Option 2 or 3 would therefore be the most suitable when fighting a novice.
The same mindgame can be applied to any throw with guaranteed follow-ups, such as: Zack’s 6T into PP or Mila’s 6T into K.
> Hide your approaches. This is especially important when there’s some space between you and your opponent. If you run up to your opponent, the most likely scenarios are:
- They will expect a running strike, so they will block and if the opponent is smart enough they would attempt to land a throw punish if the blocked strike is unsafe.
- They will expect some sort of (running) throw or low-priority strike, this leads them to try to counter-hit you.
Option 1 will most likely be chosen by a defensive or passive opponent. Option 2 will most likely be chosen by an agressive opponent. If you know the playstyle of your opponent, you can counter the above scenarios by masking your approaches!
For example, you run up to your opponent but stop somewhere in between. If they choose option 1, which is also dependent on your own character, then everything’s alright as the opponent is blocking anyway. Also, you can use running strikes such as Momiji’s running H+K that give you plus-frames on block or you can use unblockable strikes such as Pai’s or Jann Lee’s running K, depending on your opponent’s reaction time to crouch.
If they choose option 2, they will probably whiff (= miss) their strike and you can opt for a whiff punish by retaliating with a strike of your own. Faking out your opponents works exceptionally well against strike-heavy characters, such as Rig.
Tips and Tricks
This section entails tips and tricks you could use to induce mindgames:
> Opt for two Critical Bursts in a row, in which the first one is a stun extender and the second one is the real Critical Burst. This strategy works better against advanced players provided you’re a good player yourself. Advanced players generally don’t expect ‘beginner tactics’ from other advanced players.
> Occasionally go for: Low strike, low strike, low throw. Try to get into your opponent’s head and make them think you’re going for another low strike when you’ve already done a few lows. When you think they’re going to low hold or block low, go for a low throw! Don’t use this setup too much though as it will give away a pattern and you’ll make yourself predictable.
> Do some strikes, then a Power Blow. If you have 50% or less of your health bar left, you get access to your Power Blow. The best way to land a raw Power Blow is by playing mindgames with your opponent. So a good setup would be that you do some strikes which get your opponent into hitstun, and after you predict a hold on their part, charge your Power Blow and release it on the recovery frames of their hold!
> Learn the resets of your character(s) in depth. When learning a character thoughtfully, you should consider all their tools and moves. Most DOA players I know, ignore reset throws or reset holds because of the little damage they do. However, reset throws like Kasumi’s 46T or Helena’s BT 5T are wonderful for creating mindgames. Some characters have parries – Gen Fu, Eliot, Lei Fang and all Virtua Fighters (Jacky, Sarah, Pai and Akira) – which pretty much serve the same function. Other characters have reset holds, like Marie Rose with her BT OH.
Have a good mindset
Having a good mindset is a final but by no means unimportant part of improving your mindgame in DOA. Studies in Psychology have shown that your self-fulfilling prophecy plays a huge role in predicting outcomes of particular situations. In simple words, this term implies that an expectation of an outcome will eventually lead to that outcome. If you expect to win, you win. If you expect to lose, you lose. It may seem obvious, but when your opponent has a lead of 2-0, don’t expect to lose no matter how challenging the situation! There’s always a chance for that wonderful comeback. A last piece of advice is that you should NEVER underestimate your opponent. Treat every opponent as if they were your toughest enemy.
Concluding thoughts
I hope this guide helped and if it didn’t help, I still appreciate for taking your time to read this. I was inspired by several DOA veterans to make this guide as they have shown me the importance of the mindgame in DOA. As I said in the introduction, feedback is always welcome!
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