Saotome- but really, those adjustments were what changed him from a completely shit character to something amazing. He was great in DR as well btw. The changes you listed well warrant his increased ranking.
The very MAIN thing is easy damage. In 5.0 it was near impossible to be damaging with Lei… and now he is on par with the other characters, and better than most. This is off any launcher. Lei also has fantastic options on the wall now.
Moves like d+4,4 and d/f+1,1 make him awesome at close-range. d/f+1 is ridiculously fast. I was talking to crow about this and even he mentioned you cant fight lei head-on. Only way is to stay away and bait, now. Lets not forget snk 1,2,1,2. Really I use this mostly for the 1,2,1 part into panther. This puts a lot of pressure on the opponent as snk 1,2~f goes into snk; 1,2,1~f is panther… and 1,2,1,2~f is snake again (granted the last hit is high… but its something to use from time to time if they get used to spamming something after the 1,2,1).
bt d+1 seems to be much quicker now(though I could be mistaken… but it beats out a LOT of stuff it wouldnt beat in the previous games) Add to this the damage you can NOW get compared to his previous iterations, and its game time. Also you have your d/b+4. Its tougher to launch with JUST d/b+4 this time around… but d/b+4,4 still knocksdown at any range. However any decent lei player will learn this range quickly and use it to his advantage. D/b+4~snk, ss pnt 2, 2, f n 2, bound? its great.
Another new gem is b+4. This is a very quick low (similar to steve’s db3). b+4~B goes into backturn afterwards. If the b+4 connects, you have a mixup.
Drunken stance is something I also enjoy a lot. Tapping f once will send you flying forward in a very drunkard style dash. The dash will look ridiculously vulnerable… he dashes quickly and stops right in your face with his drunk little fists. think jackie chan (as if you couldnt). Great thing about this is that you can cancel out of the dash at any time. Not only that, you can even cancel regular MOVES out of this. Basically think really long drunken dash… but in the middle of it I can whip out a d/b+4. This just adds a whole new element to this stance and ofcourse makes the opponent think more than twice. Also, I love going into drunken stance after a wall combo.
You can either dru 1 into the wall… do a low… or use dru 1+3 or 2+4. This is his old Drg1 throw. The break for this is now 1+2, though the throw comes out very quickly if youre right at the wall and they are right there. Also, he will attempt to throw twice if the first one misses (though I dont care much for this). Either ways, if you do it correctly, the wr3 on the wall can also CROSS OVER. This means the youre now sandwiched between the wal and the opponent, with your opponent on the floor and youre facing the wall (back to the opponent). This is good news for you. If they roll, bt d+1 will connect. If they use a 3 to get up with, your bt d+1 will connect as well.
And if you want to have the cross over guaranteed after the throw on the wall… a d+4 will do the trick every single time.
There is also the subject of his ground stances. I wont lie… I thought they looked cool and what not, but I absolutely hated them at first. I thought they ruined the only good thing lei had going for him since 5.0. I couldnt have been more wrong… the freedom lei has between all his ground stances is ridiculos. These stances I use more for baiting than anything else. I try not going directly into the stances while close to the opponent. However the fact that I can wake up directly in drunken by pressing 1+2 in any of the ground stances is great.
Simple scenario… say youre on the ground head away feet towards face down. a 1+2 will make you rise immediately into drunken stance… however you will be backturned. Backturn drunken will make your opponents think its open season. However now you can even bust out a bt d+1 while in drunken… and again RIDICULOUSLY fast.
Another thing I like about the ground stances… I could do the typical 4~3 slide… which would cross up the opponent. Typically a 3 is guaranteed after this. However as soon as this slide connects I immediately hit 1+2 again to rise into bt drunken… to give me yet another mixup, again with great damage either ways.
There is a lot more to it than just this. I know the changes arent much… its just bits and pieces here and there… but this has completely changed lei’s FEEL in this game. It actually makes him seem like a complete character capable of hanging with the big boys… which he does.