I know the guide states that Dee Jay’s wake-up game is insufficient at times, but I believe that the statement pertains to vanilla Super if I remember the guide’s previous edits correctly. What have you fellow Dee Jayers resorted to in wake-up situations?
I am also curious about Dee Jay’s block strings – what has been most successful, and how have you best used them. Sorry for the questions, but I have really taken a liking to Dee Jay of late. I look forward to acclimating myself to the Dee Jaying community!
Dee Jay has a kind of weird set of wakeup options. There are a lot of options, but they’re really narrow in their application most of the time and not really that great all up.
Aside from the typical block/crouch tech/backdash kind of options that everyone has, you can upkick (EX or otherwise), EX Machine Gun Upper, and LK or EX Sobat.
Upkicks are great if your opponent is jumping in carelessly, but against a grounded opponent it’s a limited option. It can beat standing normals/throws, but whiffs crouching. The MK version can be good for getting out of the corner and escaping some mid-screen situations/amibguous crossups. Risky choice in general, though.
EX Machine Gun Upper has a small amount of startup invincibility that means that you can use it to beat some attacks, though it’s a narrow timing range to not get hit out of it. On block you do at least get pushed back pretty far so punishing it is a bit harder/more character specific.
Sobats as a wakeup option are really weird. The EX one is sort of like the Psycho Crusher’s crappy little cousin because you can’t just blast out of the corner with it, and it’s punishable at close range on block. I’m not really clear on what this typically beats, so I rarely resort to it as an option. LK Sobat can “hop” over low attacks on wakeup, but again, it’s tricky to not get knocked out of the startup.
I’m not really great with blockstrings, so I’ll leave that to someone a bit more knowledgeable.
DeeJay wake-up is bad but he is good at preventing auto-pilot ambiguous mixups (C.Viper, El Fucko, Cammy, Rufus etc). But still one of the worst in the game. DJ wakeup was better in Super because lk sobat was unthrowable. Against good players, Dj has to block and if the character continues the pressure, DJ can be locked down. DJ has a horrible back dash and it can be punished easily without OS. Also DJ 5 frame cr.lk gets exposed.
i hate comparing deejay to other characters, but i’m going to do it anyway. If the Final Fight crew can have 3f shorts that reach as far as there’s do, then why can’t we have at the very least a 4f short? i hate going for knee shot low and getting thrown. the hell is that?
as for deejay’s wake up options da knut hit it right on the head.
my friends get mad:
"deejay’s wake up is soooo good zomgwtfbbq11!!1!"
if you don’t jump or throw a bad fireball what can you do?
he really does destroy autopilot setups pretty well, but on the ground he gets blown up free
if his overall zoning was excellent i would say its fair because we should be able to keep everyone out, but that’s just not a possibility in this game
Dee Jay has a lot of problems on wakeup, and AE (and AE 2012) haven’t made any of that better. Mike and Da Knut are completely right in their assessments. The most important thing you can do is block more. Understand that although upkicks are a great anti-air, they’re not a good reversal. Unless you know they’re going for a throw, don’t use them.
In terms of blockstrings, Dee Jay has no safe blockstrings as far as I know (ones that pass the Zangief EX SPD test), except for a series of cr. LPs, three at the most. He will have blockstrings that are safe against specific characters with no moves as fast as Gief’s but these change from character to character.
8f invinc lk upkicks - beats all? non ex shoryu, spd, standing attacks.
mk upkicks is good for getting away even if it whiff, this moves only has strike invinc. so you can be thrown out of it in the air.
ex upkicks- hits lower than other upkicks, but makes you look really stupid when you miss.
ex machinegun- 4 frame invinc, good against empty jump low shorts/jab. safe on block for most char
ex sobat- long invinc, good against slow meaty attacks/ overheads, can fadc, good for getting out of vortex (akuma’s), and it catches backdash/focus attack
7f lk super, 8f ultra 2- the only thing dj has that can reversal low jab on wake up (big risk big reward)
some minor ones
lk sobat, low invinc
mk/hk sobat, throw invinc
c. lk,mk lower hitbox
Non-special moves
Just block- this is the best if u ask me
Throw immediately when u wake up- works when u showed them u will always reversal on wake up
mash 3f standing jab- yes deejay has a 3f normal
Backdash
Just backdash a few times, then start using some of the reversal options, then start backdashing again, this should mindfuck most average players already. If your opponent is doing low jab> sweep OS, ex machinegun should counter that. If they are doing 4 frame safejump OS shoryu/ultra (don’t know if thats possible or not), then good luck. Actually deejay has a lot of options on wakeup, you just have to know which one to do.