CaliJared's Ayane Guide For Beginners

Posted by: MarkDolven

Written by Jared "CaliJared" Reyes

Of all the characters in Dead or Alive 4, Ayane is far and away the most unique. It takes great patience, spacing, and understanding of all aspects of her moves to become proficient with her. She is not a character you can just pick up and expect to win with right away. She is, in fact, considered by many one of the hardest high tier characters to win with. However, once the player learns and evolves with the Ayane, the mastery of the character shows. Winning with her becomes very satisfying, and you will be glad you took the time to really hone your skills with this petite powerhouse. Fortunately for you, I'm here to give you a guiding hand, a shining light to help brighten your Ayane career and put you on a fast track towards those ever satisfying wins. This guide will not divulge every Ayane antidote, but I will give those players new to Ayane a foundation to work off of and create a style of their own.

The first thing you need to know about this guide is that I will be using the number system for representing directions. The number system works like this:


Each number represents a direction, and each direction is referred to as if the player executing the move is on the left side (player 1 side) of the screen. For example, the 4 would represent left, which would mean "back" or "away". So if I were to say "4p" it would mean to press the back direction and punch at the same time. The "1" notation would be down and away at the same time, "2" would be down, "3" would be down and forward at the same time, and so on and so forth.

The first thing you need to know about Ayane is that she is a spacing character. If you want to excel with Ayane, you are going to need exceptional spacing skills. This means knowing the range of your opponent’s character, the range of your moves, and exactly how much space you need between yourself and your opponent to make sure your attack hits when you make your opponent whiff. This is how Ayane gets the majority of her damage, and can do this in a variety of ways, many of which I will be going over later in this article.

One of the most basic ways to make your opponent whiff is Ayane's special movement; her spins. From her front turned stance, the spins are performed by pressing 11 or 1[1] (brackets around a command mean you have to hold the button or direction inside the brackets). It is very important to know which spin you want for the situation at hand. Inputing the 11 command will give a short, quick spin that leaves Ayane back turned. This is useful for getting away quickly and mounting a counter attack before your opponent knows what's happening. The 1[1] spin also leaves Ayane back turned, but is a much longer spin that moves her further away from her opponent. This is used to get away from your opponent quickly, or to quickly move away from your opponent's wake up kick after moves that leave them right next to Ayane after you knock them down (which you can also use to your advantage).

These aren't the only ways you can spin with Ayane. You can also go into spins when you are back turned. However, these spins move you towards your opponent rather that moving you away. It may not seem smart at first to leave yourself open to attack while moving toward the enemy, but this deception through pseudo-vulnerability is actually one of her biggest strengths. She has a couple of quick attacks that can come from these spins, such as two low kicks that will set you up for a nice launch situation, and a mid punch launcher that gives a good launch on counter hit and a knock down on normal hit. You can mix these up to keep your opponent guessing, but remember that the mid punch is unsafe and also leaves Ayane back turned which can lead to a lot of damage for your opponent.


Now onto the good stuff; actual attacks. One of her best moves is her 3p. Although this move is unsafe by itself, it has two dangerous follow ups that will freeze your opponent, and often leave you at an advantage if they hesitate for too long. The downside to the follows ups is that when blocked, they are fairly unsafe, so try not to throw them out too much. The best time to use them is to scare an overconfident opponent into wanting to block after they see you use 3p. When the move hits, it gives a fairly deep stun, and stuns on normal hit against crouching opponents. However, be careful not to use this much when you are at a close range because it becomes much less likely to hit, and also will be beaten out by your opponent's quicker moves.

Another one of her best moves, and her back turned whiff punisher, is her Back Turned 6p. This is her fastest mid at 13 frames, but is also one of her most unsafe moves. However, when done at the right distance, the move becomes safe from throws. This is the move you want to do after making an opponent whiff from doing a spin. It gives a nice lift stun on normal hit, and on counter hit it gives you a high launch where you can get a lot of damage. This move is also the reason why your opponent will second guess attacking you when you are just standing there back turned. If they run into this one, they surely won't want to do it again.

One of Ayane's most basic moves is also one of her best. A simple 2p can get you out of many situations, and can also set up many advantageous situations to capitalize from. Along with being the fastest 2p in the game, it also leaves Ayane on neutral ground with her opponent, which can get you out of a situation where your opponent is trying to pressure you. It is a good round starter, and also good if you want to keep pressure on your opponent. Don't be afraid to use this move a lot, but make sure you know how to capitalize off of its advantages, and don't use it when you are clearly at the advantage and this would only reset the situation to neutral.

Ayane's main front turned whiff punisher, while relatively weak, has a lot of range, and can set you up to get damage on your opponent even if it is blocked. Using 3f+k from range is a good way to keep your opponent out, and make them guess whether they should counter attack right away or not. This move leaves you back turned, which is actually a good thing. Because of its safeness, you can do 8p which will turn you around while moving you away from your opponent, causing many of their attacks to whiff, allowing you to hit them in their recovery frames. The only downside to this move is that if done too close, it is unsafe, so it is very important to know at which range you can use it safely.

While these aren't the only good moves with Ayane, they are surely her bread and butter, and can help you build a foundation to your very own Ayane. The important thing to do is to experiment and see what works for you, and what style fits you best. While the things I have written in this article may work for me, there are many other things you can do that you can make work for you. Because Dead or Alive 4 has a heavy emphasis on mind games, it's not as much about what a character has (although it does help), but more about what the player can do with that character. Keep training hard and your hard work will surely pay off.