Hokuto no Ken/Rei

Overview Combos Matchups Strategy

Introduction

Rei is a speedy, movement-based character, having access to a wide array of air moves and the ability to triple jump. He has very powerful normals, many being jump-cancelable, which allow him to keep up the pressure without the use of gauge. He has a strong defense as well, with a great uppercut reversal move as well as his Danko super, which essentially works to deny the opponent the chance to do a wakeup mixup on you. His star-taking ability is quite good, but he also has very practical 100% combos. While using Rei to his full potential requires a great deal of player skill and ad lib, he is also the perfect beginner character, with an easy to understand offense as well as relatively simple and damaging combos.

That being said, let us start this section off by listing Rei's main strengths and weaknesses.

Pros	Cons
Is the only character is the game with an air throw and the ability to triple jump Good at getting out of pressure thanks to his dragon punch and Danko super Most of his normal moves can be Jump Canceled Decent star removing abilities Has many practical 100% combos	Has the longest crouching recovery in the game; some character's have crouching-Rei-specific infinites

Rei
Character Data

Before diving right into the combos be sure to familiarize yourself with Rei's special/super moves and important normals.

Normal Moves

Close

cl.A

cl.A

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Hit Adv	Block Adv
-	Mid	5	3	-	-	+2
Jump cancelable. Tied for one of Rei's fastest buttons. It is mainly used as used as an anti air against low airdashes and combo filler in midscreen combo routes.

cl.B

cl.B

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Hit Adv	Block Adv
-	Mid	8	4	-	-	+3
Jump cancelable. Low kick that is a mid. Not much usage from this button due to it's lack of hitstun.

cl.C

cl.C

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Hit Adv	Block Adv
-	Mid	7	6	-	Launch	-3
Jump cancelable. Excellent anti air. Whiffs on crouching characters.

cl.D

cl.D

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Hit Adv	Block Adv
-	Mid	9	4	-	-	-3
Jump cancelable. Excellent button for pressure with a lot of blockstun. Can go into instant airdash or 2D. Combos into banishing attack except on crouching Jagi where you would use 2D. Also combos into IAD j.B.

Far

f.A

f.A

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Hit Adv	Block Adv
-	Mid	5	3	-	-	+4
Jump cancelable. The other 5F normal. Same usage as close A but is smaller vertically. Whiffs on Mamiya, Rei, Shin, and Jagi crouch blocking. Whiffs on Souther and Toki neutral crouching.

f.B

f.B

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Hit Adv	Block Adv
-	Mid	7	4	-	-	+4
Jump cancelable. Excellent midrange poke. Confirms into 2D except on crouching Jagi.

f.C

f.C

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Hit Adv	Block Adv
-	Mid	12	4	-	-	-2
Jump cancelable. Not really used as a poke. Mainly combo filler.

f.D

f.D

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Hit Adv	Block Adv
-	Mid	14	3	-	-	0
Low invulnerable button. Can confirm into banishing strike by kara canceling 2D into CD as 2D~2C. Also confirms into Grave Shoot. Surprisingly not jump cancelable.

Crouching

2A

2A

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Hit Adv	Block Adv
-	Mid	6	3	-	-	+1
Jump cancelable. Faster crouching normal.

2B

2B

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Hit Adv	Block Adv
-	Low	7	3	-	-	+6
Jump cancelable. A good low that is jump cancelable and plus. Confirms into 5D and 2D. 2B 2D doesn't work on crouching Jagi.

2C

2C

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Hit Adv	Block Adv
-	Mid	12	4	-	-	-2
Cancels into itself. Combo filler.

2D

2D

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Hit Adv	Block Adv
-	Low	14	5	-	Launch	-5
Jump cancelable. Rei's furthest reaching low.

Air

j.A

j.A

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Hit Adv	Block Adv
-	High	4	16	-	-	-
Rei's Fastest air normal. Good as an air to air.

j.B

j.B

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Hit Adv	Block Adv
-	High	5	20	-	-	-
A very active air normal that is great for air to airs and the fastest button that will hit a crouching character from an instant air dash.

j.C

j.C

You whiffed your air throw

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Hit Adv	Block Adv
-	High	9	6	-	Launch	-
Hits above Rei. Mainly used to hitconfirm from 2D.

j.D

j.D

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Hit Adv	Block Adv
-	High	11	5	-	-	-
Air to ground button that has a lot of blockstun and hitstun.

Command Normals

6A

6A

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Hit Adv	Block Adv
-	High	24	4	-	-	-4
No real reason to use this but it's there if you want to.

Universal Mechanics

Throw

Throw

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Hit Adv	Block Adv
-	Throw	4	-	-	-	-
Jump cancelable.

BD Throw

BD Throw

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Hit Adv	Block Adv
-	Throw (whiffs vs. crouch)	9	4	-	-	-
Jump cancelable.

Grave Shoot

Grave Shoot

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Hit Adv	Block Adv
-	Mid	16	7	-	Grave Launch	-4
Good hitbox that also reflects projectiles. Also moves slightly forward.

Heavy Strike

Heavy Strike

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Hit Adv	Block Adv
-	Unblockable	41	4	-	-	-
Pretty standard heavy attack unblockable.

Banishing Strike

Banishing Strike

Version	Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Hit Adv	Block Adv
Uncharged	-	Mid	18-33	4	-	Banish Launch	-8
Version	Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Hit Adv	Block Adv
Charged	-	Mid	34-38	4	-	Banish Launch	-8

Special Moves

Hien Ryubu

Hien Ryubu
j.236A/B

Version	Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Hit Adv	Block Adv
j.236A	-	All	11	Until ground, 25 (after reflection)	-	-	-
Version	Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Hit Adv	Block Adv
j.236B	-	All	11	Until ground, 90 (after reflection)	-	-	-
A version bounces upwards off the ground. B version glides across the floor. Excellent air to ground projecctile with utility in: stalling in the air to mess up anti air timing, having an active projectile to follow behind in order force a response from the opponentand start pressure, and being a mixup tool with boost.

Nanto Gekisei Kakubu

Nanto Gekisei Kakubu
623A/C (Air OK)

Version	Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Hit Adv	Block Adv
Ground 623A	-	Mid	8	14	-	Launch	-
Cancels into air special moves. No invincibility.
Version	Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Hit Adv	Block Adv
Ground 623C	-	Mid	5	22	-	Launch	-
Rei's invincible reversal. Often used in basket combos.
Version	Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Hit Adv	Block Adv
Air 623A	-	Mid	8	14	-	Launch	-
Not commonly used.
Version	Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Hit Adv	Block Adv
Air 623C	-	Mid	9	25	-	Launch	-
Has some invincibility. Mainly used as a reaction to the universal guard cancel while still in the air.

Nanto Jinshu Suizan

Nanto Jinshu Suizan
j.236D/j.214D

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Hit Adv	Block Adv
-	High	15	Until landing	-	Launch	-
Used as combo filler and an overhead option. Is airdash cancelable if at jump height. Wall bouncess on counter hit.

Nanto Kyoukaku Shoubu

Nanto Kyoukaku Shoubu
j.214C

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Hit Adv	Block Adv
-	Mid	26	Until landing	-	-	-
Rei creates a shield around himself with a hitbox that disappears when Rei lands on the ground, it hits, or is blocked. It eats some projectiles such as Souther's 623A.

Nanto Kakuyokujinzan

Nanto Kakuyokujinzan
j.236C

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Hit Adv	Block Adv
-	Mid	19	20	-	Launch	-
Jump cancelable. Wallbounces on counter hit. A rushing mid attack done in the air that knocks up on normal hit and wallbounce on counter hit. Integral in all of Rei's combos by airdash canceling or jump canceling with a button and itself.

Nanto Koharyu

Nanto Koharyu
214C~214C

Version	Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Hit Adv	Block Adv
214C	-	Mid	20	12	-	-	-9
Version	Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Hit Adv	Block Adv
214C~214C	-	Mid	12	5	-	Grave Launch	-11
A two part move mainly used to beat guard cancels. 1st portion of the move has armor. 2nd input launches the opponent in a grave shoot state.

Super Moves

Nanto Seiki Mouha

Nanto Seiki Mouha
236236A

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Hit Adv	Block Adv
-	Mid	38	27	-	Launch	-
Uses 1 bar of Aura. Reversal super with some invulnerability, great damage, and good hykuretsu combo potential. Attacks in the super can also beat projectiles.

Danko Sousaiken

Danko Sousaiken
236236C

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Hit Adv	Block Adv
-	Mid	30-143	50-200	-	-	-
Uses 1 bar of Aura. Rei charges up the attack with one hit of armor, flies up with invincibility, and then throws 3 projectiles that bounce around the screen. Charging the super increased the damage and the duration of the projectiles on the screen.

Kubuenrizan

Kubuenrizan
j.2363214D

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Hit Adv	Block Adv
-	Mid	37	4-24	-	Launch	-
Uses 1 bar of Aura. A super mainly used to take as many stars as possible after A+C or 214C 214C at the end of a round. Has a little bit of invul that can go through guard cacncele but it isn't generally used in this manner.

Fatal KO

Hishou Hakurei

Hishou Hakurei
236CD

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Hit Adv	Block Adv
FATAL KO	Mid	13	30	-	Launch	-
Requires the opponent to have 0 stars. Cannot hit OTG. If used too late outside of a banishing strike combo the gravity may be too severe for the 2nd hit too connect.