Additional Topic: Making a Weak Hit a Starter For Strong Offense (AKA How to Counter Hit Your Way to Further Victory with Dee Jay)
Dee Jay has a number of tight link combos that require excellent timing and dexterity to land. A great example of this is his crouch Jab into crouch Strong which is a 1-frame link (in other words, the tightest link for a combo that you can have in SF4). Because of its inherent difficulty, most players never used this combo a lot, including me (who usually chose to go from a low Jab to a stand Forward because the timing was easier and thus more consistent). However, there is at least one excellent application of this combo that Dee Jay can use quite effectively in USF4 for quick and heavy damage. This being off a counter hit Jab.
A counter hit in SF4 refers to an attack that strikes an opponent during the early parts of their attack animation and before it reaches active frames. You will know you have achieved such a hit because the game will make an auditory bell sound as a cue, as well as have a counter hit notification show up on your side of the screen. The advantage of a counter hit is that, in addition to greater damage, it adds additional frames of hit stun to your counter hitting attack . . . which, in turn, makes some combos easier and some which would otherwise be impossible entirely feasible under these circumstances.
In Dee Jay’s case, the best counter hit move I have found is his low ducking Jab. As mentioned elsewhere in this journal, this move is quick to animate, has a nice hit box in front of it that makes it excellent for interrupting an opponent’s attack, and is also a more difficult attack for the opponent to whiff-punish. In addition, the attack has very little push back upon hitting, making it the perfect move to follow up with additional attacks. Why use the Jab for the counter hit, then? Because it greatly minimizes Dee Jay’s overall risk level while also allowing him to go into some pretty hefty additional hits and combos. Here are some examples of how:
a) When a counter hit Jab connects and you see the counter hit text box appear on the screen, immediately follow up with Dee Jay’s crouching Strong. As mentioned, this is ordinarily a tight link (one frame) but is made a lot easier when the initial crouch Jab creates additional hit stun from the counter hit. The follow-up low Strong also has Dee Jay’s elbow hit a fair bit forward, making it easier to follow up with this low elbow strike after the counter hit Jab connects.
b) From there, your main cancel is likely going to be into a version of a Dread Kick, as it is the one of the few moves that will connect in a combo from the Strong at further distances. You could possibly substitute this with a Air Slasher, but generally this is not advised as it does less damage and stun than the sobat kick does. Furthermore, the first hit of the Dread Kick can be further extended into Dee Jay’s Super and Ultra if you have them stocked.
c) If you manage to connect the counter hit Jab from closer to the opponent, you can sometimes follow up into a crouch Fierce for good stun damage (although it is somewhat character-specific) . . . or, alternatively, you can link (not cancel) straight into Dee Jay’s EX Upkicks. These closer combos tend to be much more situational, however, so 9 times out of 10, your follow-up will be the crouch Strong into Roundhouse Dread Kick.
Regardless, this is a little known way to get additional
heavy damage from one of Dee Jay’s weaker attacks. A potential game-changer in
the making!