This guide is intended for use by "the Tekken community".
It may be freely distributed as long as the contents remain
intact, credit is given to the author for his contribution
to Tekken knowledge in general, and no monetary compensation
is received. All non-official information contained in
this document are copyright (SUISA) joe nickerson, April 1, 2000.
"Strengths"
Deception
Decent Speed and Power
Amazing Array of Moves, Stances
"Weaknesses"
No WS, FC or RC moves
Difficulty in getting to the Stances
Difficult to master all the myriad possibilities
"Bread and Butter"
f, N+1, 2, 1, 2, 4 _ 3 The delay-able Razor Rush.
SS+1+2, 2, (JG) f+1+2, 2 About 50% damage if you land all
of this one!
SS+3, 3, BK, D+4, (JG) SNS, 2, 2, f+2, PNS, 1, (JG) 4~4, 3, 3
Side-stepping really restores a lot of this great moves
potential and helps Lei to two powerful juggles using the
Rave Sweep to Snake bites juggle, then the Rolling Kicks.
db+4, D, (JG) SNS, 2, 2, f+2, PNS, 2 (JG), f, N+1, 2, ,
1, f+2, TGS, 1, (JG), f, N+1, 2, 1, 2, d+4, CRN. It's just
way cool to juggle from Snake Stance and then bounce 'em
off the ground in Tiger for another round of juggling!
"Style and Strategies"
Lei is meant to be played intelligently - offensively but
also deceptively played. On defense he's not a stopper
with heavy counter strikes, rather he's a mover and clever
counter puncher. On offense, making full use of the Razor
Rush, with its delay and stance switching possibilities as
well as its 2 different endings (the low sweep or the
knock-down mid kick) is at the center of Lei strategies.
Deceptively, Lei has a full bag of tricks - including not
only the 4 prone positions, back-turned stance, 5 animal
stances and 2 special stances, but also quite a few
acrobatic moves such as the Tornado kicks, back-flips,
and Clean Sweep (from standing or prone position). His
mix-up game is second only to Xiaoyu, especially when
using buffered techniques. Bringing all aspects of Lei's
game together into a cohesive, coherent whole is the
key to success with Lei.
Most of Lei's best power moves are to be found more or
less equally distributed amongst the stances so combining
moves that do damage, change stances (to BK or Prone positions)
or get Lei into the 5 Animal and 2 Special (Phoenix and Drunken)
stances is the secret and passion of every dedicated Lei player.
Juggles after almost every starter can lead to the Razor Rush
stance changing cycle:
Lei can go directly into the Razor Rush as his juggle so he
can get to stances quickly, or he can use any of his other
juggles, and get to Snake Stance afterward as well:
Following the df+2 uppercut juggle is a buffered version of
Lei's Hook-Punch to a second spinning uppercut juggler, the
Spiral Upper, followed by a switch to Snake Stance via a
second buffer.
In the second example, Lei's Rush Combo, doesn't go very far
before a quick drop to PLD springs the Kangaroo Kick loose to
pick up some major style points for the Cannonball head-butt juggle.
NOTE: To explain the use of the bracketed buttons above:
[1] must be held to get the Hook-Punch (BK) and [2] must be
held to buffer into SNS. In the Rush Combo [4] must
be held until the Kangaroo Kick input is completed.
See my Buffering Guide at this same site for a more detailed
explanation of buffering as well as a longer list of Lei's
buffering possibilities.
"Fighting against Lei"
Because of the vast number of Lei's widely varied techniques
it's almost impossible to know what he'll do next. "If you can't
beat 'em, join 'em" is a wise old saying: The best way to beat Lei
is to join him - learn his moves, learn to recognize his favored
moves in order to evade or interrupt them. Of course if you learn
all Lei's moves, you might WANT to join him! Don't hesitate to
try side-stepping the Razor Rush and then counter. Also don't be
afraid to block then power counter if your character can. Use
low attacks liberally to knock him out of prone positions and
stance changes but watch out for his low parry. If you can
avoid Lei's juggle starters you can limit his stance changing,
thereby reducing the number of possibilities you have to face.
"Little known Tricks"
"After Jumping"
Or AJ. I never saw this in any FAQ but I noticed it in play.
After Jumping is the same as While Standing (yes, WS!) Ironically
this has nothing to do with Lei, who has no WS moves, but if you
like to play Hwoarang, Law, Paul, Julia, Xiaoyu, Jin and a few
others as I do, then you can imagine how many more opportunities
this presents to bring out the Tsunami Kick, Skyscraper Kick,
Rising Double Axe and many other favorites. It has about the same
timing as a WS move, obviously if you land and then input you'll
get a normal standing move. Just credit Nicky Quick with this one
please - for the history books.
"Ha-ha Steps"
I first saw this step used by the 1999 world-champ, Seok, in
final round matches against Mike Nappi. In his new Lei FAQ,
Slice calls this the Ha-Ha step. Have a look at his explanation
for the details, I simply "juggle" the B and 3+4 buttons listening
for the correct Ha-ha sound to come from the toggled controllers
- that's right, it's a great name for a useful addition to Lei's
mobility. Make sure to avoid pushing 3+4 faster than B or you'll
get the not very Ha-ha Backflips, Tornado Kick, or if you're
luckier the Clean Sweep - in fact, all kinds of great moves can
come flying off the end of these laughing, staccato steps!
All the ways you can get to Snake Stance including buffering
but maybe not including every Snake coming off of buffered
combos and mix-ups:
f, N+1~u _ d
df+4, D
BK D+4
SNS 1,1,1,1,1,f+1
[2], SS+3
[3], SS+2
[2], F+3
[3], F+2
[1], SS+4
[4], SS+1
SS+2+3
F+2+3
SS+1+4
"Big Misconceptions"
That Lei is Jackie Chan - Lei is LEI! As much as I like Jackie
Chan, Lei is not a clown, he's an Ass-Kicker! Jackie Chan
is a great kung-fu artist, acrobat and comedian - but too sweet:
does he ever look like he wants to really hurt somebody? Forrest
Law acts, looks and plays like Bruce Lee, but Lei - Jackie?
No way! Lei likes to play, but your ass has to pay!
Thanks to Abrar and Reverend C. at Inside Tekken for the format
used in this FAQ - cool people and great site in Auckland, NZ.
