Additional Topic: How to Be A Jamaican Force of Nature From All Distances (AKA The Art of Whiff Punishing Dee Jay Style)
One aspect of Dee Jay play that has often been ignored in USF4 is the art of whiff punishing; that is, the art of punishing an opponent's whiffed attack during its brief moment of recovery frames. It seems that most Dee Jay players completely ignore this important element of footsies in favor of just bullying opponents with as many hits as possible (noted several times before in this journal as one of the prominent sins of bad Dee Jay players in SF4).
Myself, I have also been guilty of omitting this vital dynamic of gameplay, preferring instead to throw attacks at ranges that I am certain will always be within striking distance. This is a huge blind spot that Dee Jay players have adopted, though, since it arguably dilutes your footsie game by about half. Simply put, you will have unnecessarily trained yourself to only throw attacks at those ranges where you are certain they will hit. So what happens when you come across an opponent who then throws attacks from ranges where your normal attacks won't reach? Well, it means that your opponent will have a huge ass-kicking advantage throughout the entire match while you will simultaneously suffer a huge disadvantage due to the restrictive way in which you choose to use your normal attacks.
What's more, this barrier is needless, given that Dee Jay actually does have an effective (though underexplored) whiff punish game, one which not only has huge applications but the potential for huge damage return as well.
Knowing this, why have Dee Jay players chosen to ignore this aspect of the footsie game? There are a few reasons. One, most of Dee Jay's buttons are not particularly useful for whiff punish play (though there is at least one significant exception). More importantly, to get good damage from a whiff punish requires you to expend charge for a special attack, which means that you WILL invariably lose charge for a moment anytime your whiff punish misses (a behavior which has also been mentioned in this journal as another of the gaming sins that Dee Jay players commit). This doesn't mean that you can't incorporate whiff punishing into your play, mind you, only that you can't be as liberal with the tactic as some characters; rather, you have to be much more choosey/selective about when you are going to try it (specifically, only going for it in situations where you expect the whiff punish will likely work).
So let's look into Dee Jay's whiff punish possibilities in USF4 a bit more closely, shall we?
The Essence of Whiff Punishing
The main requirements for effective whiff punishing are to know the proper distance and timing with which to perform it. The first condition (i.e., proper distance) is variable, of course, and dependent on the specific normal attack the opponent tries to hit you with. Whiff punishing a roundhouse sweep from Ryu will require a different distance than will whiff punishing his low Strong punch, for example. In all cases, however, the key thing to keep in mind is that your attack must come out at a distance where it would miss if the opponent throws no attack at all, but IS within range to hit the opponent's hurt box immediately following their whiffed attack.
The second thing to keep in mind is that your whiff punish must always come out AFTER the opponent's whiffed strike, during his/her earliest recovery frames. Note that this technique requires a fair amount of practice to get the feel of, since the tactic runs counter to what your human mind would believe. In short, our brains are trained to believe that a punish will only successfully hit when it overlaps with the opponent's whiffed strike. When whiff punishing, however, you will often hit an opponent at ranges where your eyes are convinced the move should actually miss.
The best way to understand why this works is to remember that, as an opponent's move retracts, the hurt box around his/her body fattens and, for a very brief window, is extended beyond the actual perimeter of their character sprite. This was the element of whiff punish that I personally had the most trouble wrapping my head around and, truth be told, the only way I managed to get it was to practice it against various opponents' normal attacks in Training Mode until I intuitively understood the timing and distance requirements involved. For this reason, I would suggest you do the same before incorporating whiff punishing into your regular play, as it is a technique that is impossible to learn on the fly.
The last thing to note is that different normal attacks from your opponent provide different windows for potential whiff punishing. Generally, the longer a move takes to recover and the longer range it has, the easier it is to whiff punish. In contrast, very short, quick moves (such as Blanka's low Short kick) are very difficult to whiff punish effectively. Again, what this ultimately means is that you shouldn't build your whole game around whiff punishing but, rather, know how to capitalize on it when you and your opponent are at ranges where it will be most successful. On that note, let's now consider Dee Jay's best options for whiff punishing in USF4.
Normal Attack Options For Whiff Punishing With USF4 Dee Jay
As already mentioned, most of Dee Jay's attacks are rather poor for whiff punishing, either because they are too slow to reach active frames, are too slow to recover, or have poor windows for cancelling into further special attacks for greater damage. There is, however, one notable exception and it is upon this one exception that Dee Jay's whole whiff punish game is built.
Enter: Dee Jay's low Strong punch
When Dee Jay performs this move, it is actually less of a punch and more like a low-to-ground elbow attack. The reason this move is so powerful as a whiff punish tool is because the very tip of it (i.e., Dee Jay's actual elbow) has a nice hit box for striking an opponent. Furthermore, the move has a lot more range than it appears to, making it deceptively potent as a whiff punish weapon. Lastly, Dee Jay's low Strong provides good damage as a beginning strike as well as lots of frames to cancel into either a special attack or super when it connects (but, just as importantly, do no such follow-up attack when the Strong itself misses). All of these features of the Strong punch make it THE perfect tool for Dee Jay's whiff punish game and, once you see the many options available around it, you'll come to understand just how unknowingly great it is.
NOTE: The other main option for Dee Jay's whiff punish game is his standing Short kick. While this move also has some useful whiff punishing properties, it falls behind the overall effectiveness of his Strong punch. Specifically, it does less overall damage, requires you to be closer to the opponent than the Strong punch to work as a whiff punish, and it is much more difficult to confirm into either a follow-up special attack or super when it hits without also accidentally activating these moves when the initial Short kick misses. For these reasons, your main whiff punish normal of choice will 9 times out of 10 be Dee Jay's low Strong.
Dee Jay Whiff Punish Combos
Once you know the proper range to punish an opponent's whiffed attack with your low Strong, you will then want to optimize your damage to make the counterstrike worth your while. In Dee Jay's case, this means comboing into either his Dread Kick from the successful Strong, or directly into his Super. All of Dee Jay's other special moves either lack the range or speed to hit an opponent before they recover from the initial Strong punch (2022 Update: there is at least one other sneaky exception that works particularly well when the opponent is in the corner but can pretty much be done anywhere; see here for details).
While this sounds rather limited on paper, Dee Jay has many very damaging pathways that he can go into following a successful whiff punish. In all cases, you need to have a charge stored at the time you are doing the punishing Strong. If you are following the cardinal rule for Dee Jay play (here's a refresher if you've forgotten), you will usually have such a charge ready to go in all whiff punishing situations. Which means you only need to know those moves you can go into from your connecting whiff punish.
In order from low super meter investment to high, here are the heaviest damage ones you should become familiar with:
No Super Meter (Note: Can Be Done On Any Successfully Whiff Punished Move)
Whiff Punish Strong -> Cancel Into Roundhouse Dread Kick
Two Bars of Meter (Note: Must Do Whiff Punish Close to Opponent to Get Follow-ups)
Whiff Punish Strong -> Cancel Into First Hit of Forward Dread Kick -> Cancel Into Level 2 Focus for Crumple -> Dash Forward -> Low Punch -> Roundhouse Dread Kick
Whiff Punish Strong -> Cancel Into First Hit of Forward Dread Kick -> Cancel Into Level 2 Focus for Crumple -> Dash Forward -> Low Punch -> Cancel Into Hyperfist
Whiff Punish Strong -> Cancel Into First Hit of Forward Dread Kick -> Cancel Into Level 2 Focus for Crumple -> Dash Forward -> Ultra 2 (Climax Beat)
Whiff Punish Strong -> Cancel Into First Hit of Forward Dread Kick -> Cancel Into Level 2 Crumple -> Dash Back -> Dash Forward -> Ultra 2 (Climax Beat)
Three Bars of Meter (Note: Must Do Whiff Punish Close to Opponent to Get Follow-ups)
Whiff Punish Strong -> Cancel Into First Hit of Forward Dread Kick -> Cancel into Level 2 Focus for Crumple -> Low Punch -> EX Upkicks
Whiff Punish Strong -> Cancel Into First Hit of Forward Dread Kick -> Cancel Into Level 2 Focus for Crumple -> Low Punch -> EX Hyperfist -> Juggling Upkicks
Whiff Punish Strong -> Cancel Into First Hit of Forward Dread Kick -> Cancel Into Level 2 Focus for Crumple -> Dash Forward -> Low Punch -> Cancel Into EX Hyperfist -> Dash Forward -> Ultra 2 (Climax Beat)
Four Bars of Meter (Note: Can Be Done On Any Successfully Whiff Punished Move)
Whiff Punish Strong -> Cancel Into Sobat Carnival Super -> Cancel Into Ultra 1 (Sobat Festival).
Whiff Punish Strong -> Cancel Into Roundhouse Dread Kick -> Cancel Into Sobat Carnival Super -> Cancel Into Ultra 1 (Sobat Festival)
Lastly, to see a visual demonstration of each of these whiff punish combos, both in terms of their requirements and their damage potential, check out the video below:
FINAL NOTE: Again, it's important to remember that whiff punishing is merely a tool that Dee Jay can occasionally use, though not to the same extent as many other characters (in particular, motion-based characters). You will never win a game by trying to do nothing but whiff punishing with Dee Jay all the time. Rather, you should learn to use your jumps, normals and special attacks in ways that will encourage your opponent to throw out their normal attacks in desperation at the perfect range where your strategic whiff punishing attempts are most likely to connect. Once you learn to do this, you will put fear in your opponent at a range that they previously had full reign over. Handcuffing them in this way will then allow you to increase your own options for success tenfold, so knowing how to whiff punish (and where) is a valuable technique for any Dee Jay player wishing to up his/her game in USF4.