i’ve been using duo lon since day 1 and i can honestly say that duo lon is not that good. he dies to some character for free and that alone makes him B class and/or below.
his LDM is not bad, but theres a lot of LDMs that are just as good, if not better.
i still cant see it being used like genei jin/V-ism because
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unlike 3s, theres alpha counters in this game
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the playing field is huge.
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the duration is pretty short compared to genei jin/v-ism for the meter it takes. it can last longer but you’ll have to be pressing buttons. pressing nothing shortens it dramatically.
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doesnt air juggle like genei jin/v-ism/a-groove, only ground juggles
that being said, you cant just walk up, activate and expect good things to happen
without qs, the only practical way to land his ldm is off his qcf+lp, f+lk, qcb+hp rekka. the biggest problem with this is that it only combos off point blank. add in a c.lk before you do c.lp into the chain, the qcb+hp whiffs completely.
i’m sure close hp into d/f+hk into ldm works too, but you can see that setup a mile away.
so to sum it up, the only practical way to land his LDM is off a high hit or a QS.
other LDMs are much easier to land, although it might do slightly less. oswald, K’ and kim’s ldm juggle off anything. you can anti air them (or even trade), then do ldm and it’ll still connect. sure it might not do as much damage but its certainly more versatile. gato’s ldm doesnt scale and can be dream cancelled from his kick or punch super. not to mention its safe on block and crushes your guard majority of the time. its definitely possible to roll out but you have to be anticipating it first.
duo lons biggest strength and weaknesses in order
+ c.lp of doom, and to an extent, c.lk.
no other character has as much range as his c.lp. its fast, its abusable, its bufferable, it chains to itself, it links off c.lk easily. whats more to be said? this move fucks up people that abuses rolls good.
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- sets up qs combos really well and finishes qs combos really well.**
his rekkas sets up tag combos really well for the incoming character. since he has the c.lp of doom, he should have no problem setting one up. when coming in from a qs, j.hp into qcf+lp, f+lk, qcb+hp, c.lp, qcf+px3 will always connect and does pretty good damage
+ really good mixup game off his teleport and to a lesser extent, dive kicks and command grab
although hes been dramatically weakened from kof2k3. his rushdown game is pretty good.
+ 100% LDM.
not gonna deny that he can kill anyone in one combo off his LDM, but other things are more important
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-no reliable anti air**
the best anti air he has is lp, e and the phantom wall super (hcbx2+p). all of it are pretty spotty and situational. that being said, he dies to a few characters for free because he has no way to get them off of him. in 2k3, he can just teleport out of their opponents jump in or phantom wall super since that move had complete invincibility back then.
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-does little damage without meter or qs**
without meter or tag combos his rekkas does shit damage hands down.
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-doesnt build meter well on his own**
since he was overpowered in kof2k3 like malin and ash, he couldnt build meter on his own by whiffing. you’ll be lucky to build even one bar while gato builds like 3.
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-cant qs out of any of his supers, shitty dreamcancel.**
it would be great to qs out of his phantom wall or even kick (ground) super, but unfortunately you cant. so while you chip your opponent for like 5% with the phantom wall, prepare to eat the fattest combo your opponent has dished up since duo lon will just stand there like an idiot. (you could ss out but thats a waste of two skill bars). he has the most useless dream cancel in the game. (phantom wall into ldm) once you dream cancel, the opponent will be knocked too far back for you to follow up with anything. no big deal anyways, since the only useful dreamcancel is gato and maybe silvers.
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- really bad hard ground normals.**
his hp and hk on the ground are pretty shitty. slow coming out and slow to recover. doesnt matter too much, his hard ground normals weren’t too good to begin with in the first place
anyways, my rankings:
the “l” next to their name means they are significantly better when used as leader, if not, they drop one rank down
SSS: gato(l)
SS: kula
S: eiji, oswald(l), kim, clark
A: duck, ralf, K’, ash, maxima
B: jenet, jazu, kyo, ryo, kensou, adel(l), duo lon(l), gai
C: malin, shen, ramon, yuri, terry, elizabeth(l), silver, vanessa, benimaru, iori
D: athena(l), king, kasumi, tizok, b. mary,
E: whip, shingo(l), hayate