The Official Dead or Alive 5 Tier List with Discussion thread

Sly Bass

Well-Known Member
Premium Donor
I'm not gonna say Christie is bad, but top tier? in the same league of Sarah? Well, I don't know in detail all her matchups, su that could be where I fail to see her up there.
For all I care she can be low, mid, top or whatever. I'm gonna use her anyways.

Let's see if I can list out the reasons why Christie is better than Sarah.

1. A low SS that can crush mid tracking moves.
2. That same SS can follow up with a low tracking sweep or a punch that launches.
3. She has two throws when used against the wall that put you in a sit down. If you try to SS out of it, she can either grab again, hit you with her tracking H+K kick, or her charged Ralph Machio posing punch which tracks until it's released.
4. If her back is to the wall, she has a throw to put you in that same sit down state.
5. When played right, she is safe on all her moves she chooses to free cancel. The ones she isn't, she'll SS out of or beat out your next attack with a 9 frame jab or low crush attack.

I could keep going if you'd like.
 

Hades

Member
Well I don't quite have time to break down ALL the matchups but here are a few that really pop out for Rig IMO

vs. Helena
6-4
For the most part Helena has a lot of trouble once Rig gets a solid stance offense going because his 2K in the stance prevents Bokuho evasion. Also Rigs 6KK Pops her out of Bokuho and prevents her from starting a blender game. But if Helena starts her offense before Rig gets his its practically GG because of Rigs very poor defensive options. This matchup almost becomes "who gets the first stun game going"

vs. Sarah
3-7
This is simply an almost unwinnable matchup for Rig. Sarahs Mid parry and all around offensive options just fuck Rig over so much. Also she crushes anything he throws and he really just doesn't have much hope against her.

vs. Bayman
4-6/5-5
Well Rig has better options against Bayman when it comes to offense making this matchup better, yet Bayman can still get around Rig with that Tank roll when it comes to pressure with the Stance. Yet Rig does have his 8K which will hit Bayman's tank roll. So Its all about being able to outplay your opponent when you're the Rig player in this matchup. I'd say its like a 5-5 but with a slight disadvantage but still very winnable.

vs. Bass
6-4
I think people disregard a lot of Rigs tools when it comes to characters that play like a Bass or a Mila. Rig gets around Bass' ground game fairly easy and with Rigs sit down game it gets very irritating for Bass. Also Rig has his BND stance grab and with Bass' catch grabs it puts Rig back into his offense and easily can control the match.

vs. Ayane
4-6
Rig has a lot of difficulties with Ayane's Evasive tactics, and Ayane wins the match if she can keep her distance. But once she gets into Rigs area of attacks then it all kind of shifts. Rig can really force Ayane into an area of uncomfortablility due to her lack of ability to crush Rig and she's Vulnerable to his offensive tactics. Her biggest tool that will help her is the advanced Mid kick counter as it kills Rigs offense and put him back in to his uncomfortable position he was back in.

vs. Jann Lee
5-5
This matchup is very awkward because it is just like the Helena matchup, however Rig doesn't have near the advantage as he does against Helena. Also Jann Lee's pressure isn't as good as Rig's but He does have the infamous Draggon Gunner which will fuck up rigs momentum and Irritate the living hell out of him.

One last matchup I wanted to discuss.

vs. LeiFang
4-6/5-5
Prior to contrary belief, I know this matchup is very even in terms of having a solid Offensive character versus a solid Defensive character. Leifangs Sabaki's are a great tool but given the circumstances and thrown at improper times and Rig can capitalize with a Mix up or just a free grab. Lei Fang does have the infamous mid kick counter and the annoying parries but with Rigs mixup it's just to random to actually "predict" what's coming and most of the time it's a lucky "guess". Now here's where it's irritating. Most of Rig's launcers are in fact a Mid Kick. BND Stance 8K. 33K, 8K, 2KK. It can become they can just wait out a launch and just get their free Mid counter. However Rig is NOT a character who needs to launch his opponent all the time, He can play the stun game throught the round if needed.

I will go back and break down these matches more once I have time.
 

Forlorn Penguin

Well-Known Member
Premium Donor
From the Bayman matchup thread regarding the Bayman x Rig MU:

Bayman has a few decent high crushes to deal with Rig's mostly high strike game, like 1P, 2H+K, or good ol' 2P. And of course, we can't forget tank roll. Then there's also the super effective expert high holds, as well.

Bayman x Rig matchup favors Bayman greatly because all of Rig's pressure comes from Bending mixups.

Every option out of bending, save one, can be beaten with tank roll into STF. That turns what is normally a pressure situation into a huge liability.

With that, I'd definitely say that it's at least 6-4 Bayman, quite possibly 7-3. Definitely not 5-5, as it is currently listed.
 

ailingeternity

Active Member
I'm going to have some input on Lisa, I have a general idea of what some of her match-ups are, I'll be happy to go into more depth if anybody needs me to, just highlighting some of Lisa's primary advanatges/disadvantages against certain characters...

Helena - 7/3: Lisa's great tracking (1p, 1k) makes Helena's SS game almost redundant. There is also Lisa's amazing 9k which CANNOT be Bokuho ducked and gives a free launch combo. Helena still has her great mixup game going for her which can be a nuisance to Lisa if she gets in close, but 4f+k and throw punishment can easily deal with that to grant her more space. Lisa shuts down so many of her useful tools simply with 1p. 3f+p is also there to tackle her crouching states.

Mila - 6/4: Lisa's superior spacing gives Mila a harder time landing takedown but even at close range 3f+p is amazing at countering this when feints are concerned, leaving her capable to land a seriously damaging combo, all it takes it one good guess to scare Mila into thinking twice about using her takedowns. Mila still has some good spacing tools to interrupt some of Lisa's advances from mid range (4f+k in particular), Lisa just gets bigger damage when punishing certain mistakes.

Leifang - 6/4: As expected the typical spacing issue arises. 1p is always a great instigator to snuff out moves like Lei's 6f+k and 2f+k to try and tackle Lisa's spacing, her holds can negate constant 1p pressure but requires timing, if Lei predicts too soon 1p will still catch her out and she has to deal with the follow-ups. There's also the general advantage of Lei being hold reliant which Deja Vu responds to. As far as Lei's mid kick hold goes qcf k will be what she's looking for but Lisa doesn't have to use it for big damage. In Lei's favour however, she can still punish Lisa's unsafe moveset quite well. Lisa is also very reliant on her mids, mid parry to the rescue!

Ayane - 3/7: Without a doubt Lisa's WORST match-up. The aim of the game here is to out-space the other only Ayane has a much better advantage since she has better range, high mobility and can also contend with Lisa up close since she's faster and has better mixup. What makes Ayane really shine here is her ability to lay the smack-down when it comes to punishment against Lisa. She gets a free launch combo after a blocked qcf p with 8k,k, also after a blocked 4f+k, which is Lisa's main tool for getting pressure out of her face, Ayane can use her own 4f+k for a potential FREE LIMBO STUN equaling massive damage, these alone make Ayane a force to be reckoned with, her throw punishing isn't too bad either.

Hitomi - 4/6: Tomi's constant mid to low pressure game, as well as being able to punish Lisa's 4f+k is great asset to her in this matchup, she can close the distance with moves like 66k and rush her down easily. 1p can come to the rescue for Lisa as it's a great Counter Hit hunting tool, but since Hitomi has an easy time being aggressive it's not long before Lisa is backed up into a corner with few options other than throw punishing to fall back on.

Tina - 4/6: This only just scrapes 4/6. Both characters make great use of the crush system, have great ranged moves and have damaging juggles and throws. What gives Tina the advantage is that she is capable of really giving Lisa some very harsh punishment for her mistakes. Lisa plays the spacing game much better and is capable of throw punishing Tina's mistakes too but doesn't get the damage Tina does. Tina's great oki is also something that works in her favour.

Jann Lee - 4/6: I would put this at 3/7 but I think that's just my inability to deal with Jann Lee well, but this is still a bad match-up for her. Jann has the advantage of being able to fight up close and far away. Jann's safeguard is 6p to keep Lisa under control up close and he has 46k, 6f+k and qcf k for his spacing moves. Since he's fast, it can be very difficult to apply pressure without him interrupting. Let's play who can get the Counter Hit first!

Bass - 4/6: In theory Bass should have the stronger match-up as I don't have much experience against him, he is similar to Tina when against Lisa, but without the superior ground game. Bass can't punish Lisa as hard as Tina can but he is still able to dish out hefty throw punishment against her more unsafe choices. His 66k will punish a blocked 4f+k, which is great when environment is involved. Being of the heaviest weight class also shuts down a lot of Lisa's damage potential since she has crazy juggle damage.... but not against Bass.
 

UncleKitchener

Well-Known Member
Standard Donor
I'm surprised to see a Lisa player rating her so low despite the buffs and the tools she has making her braindead. This character is so goddamn annoying and has so many parlour tricks that even if you do figure out her tricks, you still have trouble punishing her as a slow character because she can just cancel or transition into something else the next time.

I've made a list of moves I think are punishable, so have a look:

http://www.freestepdodge.com/threads/the-throw-punish-thread.2597/page-3#post-88898

There are some really weird ways of punishing her, but I don't think that really elevates the match-up, simply because she has great crushes, speed buff, mix-ups and 80-90% of her unsafe moves are only around -7 (DOA3 :4::h::+::P:, I miss you).

Lisa-Bass 6-4. 5-5 on a good day. If anyone disagrees, let me know why and it better be a very good reason otherwise you are a certified liar in my book.

One funny thing about Lisa is that she is the most susceptible to being circumvented by Bass' :236::P::+::K: as a lot of her moves involve being in air state, including her jumping OH (yes, sometimes, even the normal one can be stepped), so I'm kind of wondering how the whole matchup against Momoji is going to be like since her gimmick appears to be her jumping mix-ups. Wah, could you test this out if you get your hands on any future builds? ;)
 

synce

Well-Known Member
That's funny, I don't think Lisa has a single bad matchup in 1.03+. Back in 1.02 it was way too easy for me to win with Alpha, but in 1.03+ that honor belongs to Lisa.
 

Matt Ponton

Founder
Staff member
Administrator
Standard Donor
Based on the current in progress match-up chart, here are the current tiers:
May 26, 2013 12:36 PM (GMT - 5)
S: Ayane, Leifang, Kasumi, Christie, Sarah
A: Jann Lee, Akira, ALPHA-152
B: Brad Wong, Lisa, Pai, Hayabusa, Gen Fu, Mila, Helena, Hitomi, Kokoro, Bayman, Hayate, Tina
C: Zack, Rig, Bass, Eliot
 

TRI Mike

Well-Known Member
Rig is low now¿ Whatever happened to his guaranteed CB stuff¿ What the hell are Fu and Helena doing there¿ Wasn't Helena a "dumb whore" that could get away with anything thanks to her FT¿
 

Kitsune

New Member
Rig is low now¿ Whatever happened to his guaranteed CB stuff¿ What the hell are Fu and Helena doing there¿ Wasn't Helena a "dumb whore" that could get away with anything thanks to her FT¿


You really think anyone in this thread knows what they are talking about? This whole thread shows exactly that, hahaha.

Then again, no one plays this game other than a handful (not online). When DOA5U is released there might be a surge of noobs willing to play ( for boobs ofc).

Also stating that their is an S tier is simply wrong, the constant changes of characters placements show exactly that. Christie,Sarah and Kasumi - EVEN Ayane were all placed way lower by the majority of these users - now see where it is. Hell it could change again, so don't take this tier list serious - not even one bit.
 

Kitsune

New Member
Rig has been considered low before those posts if I remember correctly. Something I can agree with in the placements (as sad as it is).

Remember when everyone QQ'd about Helena's pseudo game but threw out B.Wongs pseudo game, now B.Wong is higher than Helena lul.
 

Rapham0n

Active Member
I think the words "in progress" should be set to flash random colours since people keep ignoring it. Anyway, the list looks as it is since only a few of the characters have been thoroughly discussed.

I think what confuses people is that characters who have not been thoroughly tested yet are included in the list. Perhaps it would be better to leave the ones out that have not been tested yet and just put a note at the end of the tier list stating that those characters still need to be tested. That would certainly clear up some of the confusion.

Also I must admit I am a little confused as to how the tier list could change so drastically. Eliot went from top tier to garbage tier. How did that happen? I realize tier lists change during the life span of a game as players learn the game more, but such a huge change is rather disturbing.
 

Forlorn Penguin

Well-Known Member
Premium Donor
Also I must admit I am a little confused as to how the tier list could change so drastically. Eliot went from top tier to garbage tier. How did that happen? I realize tier lists change during the life span of a game as players learn the game more, but such a huge change is rather disturbing.

Actually, I don't think that Eliot was ever top tier. Pre-launch he sounded like a God based on what Dr. Dogg told us of his frame data, but if I recall correctly, he was immediately considered low tier once we all got our hands on the game. Then 1.03 came out and he became even worse because he wasn't really buffed well and the overall changes to the sidestepping gave him an even harder time than he had previously.
 

Matt Ponton

Founder
Staff member
Administrator
Standard Donor
I think what confuses people is that characters who have not been thoroughly tested yet are included in the list. Perhaps it would be better to leave the ones out that have not been tested yet and just put a note at the end of the tier list stating that those characters still need to be tested. That would certainly clear up some of the confusion.

On the right-hand side of the match-up chart it says if a character is still in progress and if a character is in the final draft...
 
ALL DOA6 DOA5 DOA4 DOA3 DOA2U DOAD
Top