Dead or Alive 5 Last Round/Hitomi/Introduction

Introduction

Hitomi is the main karate practitioner of the Dead or Alive series. Having access to long strings with many mixups, good long range options, above average movement and a strong keepout game while also possessing some unique defensive options, Hitomi is known to be a very beginner-friendly allrounder character who's effective at all levels of play and rewards good fundamentals.

Strengths

Weaknesses

Keepout: Hitomi's above average movement, combined with her strong long range tools, makes her a menace at controlling midrange footsies and whiff punishing. Pressure: Once she's in, Hitomi can start establishing strong pressure with many very delayable strings that lead into scary frametraps, and a strong reset throw. Beginner-friendly: Hitomi's simple execution, combined with equally simple gameplan and the ability to utilize all important mechanics present in DOA5LR, makes her a great character to learn the game with for newer players.

Lack of safety: Having a large amount of strings doesn't come without a price, as many of them are unsafe on block no matter if they are finished or stopped short. This makes predictability a death sentence for Hitomi, as bad utilization of the long delay windows on her strings and not mixing up freecancels will lead to getting punished. Slow mids: Despite having some disgustingly fast and long range mids, Hitomi's fastest mid is 13f, putting her on the below average side of the cast. Weak to patient defense: Despite having access to many lows, many of them are actually quite bad on hit. Even her most common and strongest sweep can be made negative on hit by using stagger escape, creating situations in which Hitomi will need to take high risks in order to open a defensive opponent up.