Dong Dong Never Die/Wu Liao Jun

Wu Liao Jun
Character Type: Rushdown/Poking
Home Province: Jiangxi
Power: ⭐⭐
Speed: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Health: ⭐⭐
Spirit: ⭐⭐

Character Overview

Hailing from Nankang City in Jiangxi Province, Wu Liao Jun (无聊君, lit. "Boring Guy" or "Bored Guy") is a feared "snake" in the criminal underworld... or so he says. In reality, he is the mild-mannered owner of a local garment factory. He enters the 2009 Street Fighting Tournament in an effort to break up the monotony and find some excitement in his life.

Wu Liao Jun likes to keeps a balance of all-out rushdown and more reserved poking and space control. At full to mid screen, his primary objective is to use his movement options to work his way in on the opponent, while using his B-Rattlesnake to control their movement and punish whiffs. Once he gets close enough, he can begin leveraging his superior range and frame data on normals like 2A and 5D to outpoke the opponent and keep them on the back foot. And if Wu Liao Jun scores a knockdown at close range and manages to get up in the opponent's face, it's party time: Wu Liao Jun has some of the strongest close-range pressure in the game. While his average damage per combo is quite low, he is capable of keeping up a consistent wall of pressure that makes it very hard for the opponent to avoid getting hit without spending bar.

Wu Liao Jun's greatest weakness is his neutral. While it's not bad per se, many of Wu Liao Jun's neutral options are rather risky. He relies heavily upon staying unpredictable and confusing the opponent with his pokes and variety of movement options. Viper (214C/236C) and Cobra (22A/B) are notable for having ambiguous startup animations and multiple follow-up options, which can allow him to make his way in while being difficult to punish. However, they can both be blown up if the opponent predicts what he's going to do. Wu Liao Jun also doesn't really have a complete enough toolkit to win the game from a distance: he has to get in at some point.

Overall, Wu Liao Jun is one of the easier characters to play, and a great choice for those who want to overwhelm their opponent with confusing movement and strong pressure options.

Strengths

Weaknesses

Amazing Normals: Wu Liao Jun has the best normal frame data in the game, and many of his normals have above-average range. Mobility: Wu Liao Jun has a fast walk speed, a fast step dash, divekicks, a teleport, and a command dash that can be canceled into jump. Mixup Machine: Between his ability to cross up with dash and 22A/B, his highly plus on block normals and fast walk speed, and his ability to combo off an f-shiki instant overhead, Wu Liao Jun can run left/right, strike/throw, and high/low mix in quick succession. Neverending Offense: With his fast walk speed, busted frame data, and the ability to reset pressure against a passive opponent using 236C, 22A/B, and divekick, it can often seem like Wu Liao Jun's turn never ends. Long-Range Conversions: Wu Liao Jun's main combo special move, Rattlesnake, has long range, and he can pick up a combo from virtually any range between 236236D and roll cancel. Throw Combos: Wu Liao Jun can combo off of his forward throw meterlessly in the corner against most opponents, making his strike/throw mix in the corner extremely threatening. Hard to Combo: Some of Wu Liao Jun's air hit reactions have him fall faster or get knocked back faster than other characters, making many combos not work on him.

No Run: Wu Liao Jun doesn't have a standard run, making it more difficult for him to approach and space his moves safely. Committal Neutral: Wu Liao Jun generally has to take risks with high-commitment maneuvers to get in. Low Damage: Wu Liao Jun has below-average damage output on most of his combos. Reactable Moves: Wu Liao Jun's teleports and forwards command dash are reactable and can be beaten out with a properly timed light normal or throw. Poor Anti-Airs: Wu Liao Jun lacks an upper-body invincible attack, and has no grounded normals that cover above him. Wu Liao Jun must either react early in order to anti-air the opponent or use his mobility to avoid being jumped on in the first place.

Character Data

Health: 340

Meter Build per Hit: 8

Meter Build per Hit Taken: 7

Walk Speed: 3.75

Prejump Frames: 10

Unique Properties

Step Dash

Wu Liao Jun has a step dash instead of a run, performed with 66. It lasts for 28 total frames, and is airborne from frames 6-26.

Overall, Wu Liao Jun's step dash is a good tool for closing distance, but is somewhat committal. However, its airborne frames mean that if Wu Liao Jun gets hit out of it, the opponent usually won't be able to get as strong a combo.

WLJ's hurtbox on the final sprite of many of his air hit animations.

Throughout the entirety of the animation, the step dash has no strike box, allowing it to pass through the opponent. This can allow you to surprise the opponent with a crossup attack if they're not ready for it. There are also some ways of setting up truly ambiguous left/right mix with the step dash.

Hit Animation Anomalies

Wu Liao Jun has the following notable properties on his hit animations:

• Heavy air reset has more X speed (6.00 vs 5.00) and base gravity (0.60 vs 0.50) than most characters
• Light juggle has more base gravity (0.6 vs 0.50) than most characters
• Heavy juggle has more X speed (6.00 vs 5.00) than most characters
• Short pause + launch and Long pause + launch have less base gravity (0.50 vs 0.60) than most characters
• Notably small and horizontally retracted hurtbox on all juggle animations (see image on right)

Overall, this is VERY good for Wu Liao Jun. Increased X speed and gravity on air hit animations are generally good to have, as they make the vast majority of combos more difficult. The hit animations on which Wu Liao Jun has these favorable properties are very commonly used. It is important to note that the increased X speed on these animations also increases the pushback applied to Wu Liao Jun's opponent in the corner. When combined with the small hurtbox on juggle animations, these make Wu Liao Jun, generally speaking, the hardest character to combo in the game.

Normals

5A

Damage Guard Startup Active Recovery Hit Reaction Air Hit Reaction Block Reaction Meter Build 10 Mid 6 6 6 Light Ground Hit (+20) Light Air Reset Light Blockstun (+12) 0 Has completely absurd frame data, but is held back quite a bit by its high hitbox. Whiffs on crouch, making it somewhat useless for grounded strings. Mostly useful for juggle combos. Its high hitbox allows it to easily pick up combos on airborne opponents. It is often possible to link a forward jump j.A/j.C > j.2D after landing a 5A on an airborne opponent, provided that they are high enough in the air and gravity points are low. This can lead to excellent damage and corner carry. It is possible to connect a lot of 5As in corner juggles by repeatedly walking forward and pressing 5A. Useful for abare and interrupting slower moves. Also allows Wu Liao Jun to punish some moves that are usually safe, provided they recover with high hurtboxes (such as Dong Dong's Diamond Edge A followup when poorly spaced). Can occasionally be a serviceable anti-air button at farther ranges, and is quite rewarding when it lands, but most jumping buttons will beat it if properly timed.

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