MK Deception: Dairou FAQ Version 1.00 Completed on Friday 4th February, 2005. Written by Minty Fresh Death ************************************************* TABLE OF CONTENTS ************************************************* I Table of Contents II Introduction A Version Updates B Preface and Legalities III Dairou A Why Dairou? B About Dairou C Dairou's Costume Descriptions D Dairou Unlockables III Playing as Dairou A Controls and Basics B Wing Chun C Escrima D Autumn Dao E Special Moves F Fatalities / Hara Kiri IV Kombos A Wing Chun B Escrima C Autumn Dao V Strategy VI Frequently Asked Questions VII The Final Word (Thanks Section) ************************************************* INTRODUCTION ************************************************* --------------- VERSION UPDATES --------------- 1.00 - The very first version. Updates to come. ---------------------- PREFACE AND LEGALITIES ---------------------- Yo there. After feeling bored one Tuesday night, I decided to write the lowdown on one of my favourite characters on the awesome computer game Mortal Kombat: Deception (hearafter referred to as MK: Deception or MK:D) - Dairou. This version of the MK: Deception - Dairou FAQ (Version 1.00) is exclusive to GameFAQs. You are NOT allowed to post any version of this FAQ on any other websites WITHOUT my given permission. My e-mail is under "The Final Word" section if you wish to contact me. You also may NOT copy any of the things you see in any version of this FAQ and stick it into your own. You are also not allowed to plaguerise any versions of this FAQ (don't steal the information and type it up in your own way) and you are NOT allowed to use it in any way to gain profit. If I catch anyone who has violated these rules, legal action will ensue. You have been warned. This FAQ / Walkthrough is not property of Midway and is not written or supported by them. All trademarks and copyrights contained in this document are owned by their respective trademark and copyright holders. Copyright 2005 by Dan Gallagher, AKA Minty Fresh Death. ************************************************* DAIROU ************************************************* ----------- WHY DAIROU? ----------- Put quite simply, Dairou is an awesome character to play as, and is often overlooked as one of the 'new' fighters, most likely because his style and special moves can be quite tricky to learn and master. However, those who stick with it are well rewarded, for Dairou is an incredibly powerful kombatant when used correctly. And as another bonus, he has some of the best Fatalities in the entire game. :) The purpose of this guide is to help those who read it become Dairou masters by detailing his moves, specials, combos and strategies you can use when playing as him. ------------ ABOUT DAIROU ------------ WARNING: Spoilers are going to be unveiled in this section. If you don't want to spoil Dairou's story for yourself, I suggest you skip past this section of the FAQ. Origin: Realm of Order (Seido) Alignment: Neutral Allies: Darrius, Damashi Foes: Hotaru Difficulty: 5 (In game) Fighting Styles: Wing Chun, Escrima, Autumn Dao The following quote is taken from the MK: Deception website in reference to his trading card: "A former member of the Seidan guard in the Realm of Order, Dairou is a mercenary and takes no sides in the war between Order and Chaos. His most recent contract is for the death of Hotaru..." The following is Dairou's biographies, taken from the game itself. First Person Bio: "I was once a member of the Seidan Guard. I believed in the power of Order and lived by the strict codes of my superiors. I had saved many lives during my years of service. But when I killed an assailant in a fit of rage. I was arrested and sentenced to a life of incarceration. For all the good I had done, the event that had come to define me was that one moment of chaos. I eventually escaped during a riot incited by the Resistance." Alternate Bio: "I emerged from prison a changed man. No longer would I follow orders of the Seidan. Neither could I bring myself to give in to Chaos. Instead, I opted to serve myself. I became a mercenary, a warrior for hire, and have become revered in Orderealm's secret underground. My neutrality has been put to the test, however, as my current contract is to find and kill my former guardsman, Hotaru." Now, here's my explanation on everything the game tells us about Dairou: Dairou is a resident of Seido, also known as the Realm of Order. He once worked as a member of the Seidan Guard, protecting it's civilans from anything that would disrupt the order of the realm. One day, Dairou's family were killed by a hired assassin. Dairou tracked the assassin down and slew him in a fit of rage. In the Realm of Seido though, assaulting a perpetrator without consent of a superior officer is considered a serious offence. The law itself turned on Dairou, ignoring all the good he had done in his service to the Seidan government and defining him through that one moment of rage. He was sentenced to a lifetime of imprisonment. Some time later, a riot led by the Seidan Resistance allowed Dairou to escape prison, but his experience left him jaded and cynical. He vowed to never work for the Seidan Guard again, but could not completely turn to the path of Chaos. Instead, he chose a middle ground and decided to work as a mercenary, lending his services to the highest bidder. One of these bidders was Damashi, or a representive of him (seeing as Damashi was nothing more than a projected image of Onaga's conscience), who hired Dairou to break Shujinko out of prison in order for him to complete his task of finding the six Kamidogu. Dairou located Shujinko being kept in a holding cell awaiting trial and easily killed the two guards keeping watch over him with a surprise attack. After commentating on how easy they were to take care of, Dairou left Shujinko to complete his task. Some time after that, Dairou was recruited by Darrius, leader of the Resistance, and paid many koins to do his bidding. What Dairou does not realise, however, is that the man who hired the assassin to kill Dairou's family was Darrius himself. At the time MK:D begins, Dairou has two contracts to furfill. The first is to steal the Declaration of Order, the most prized possession of the Seidan government and deliver it to Darrius. The second, and more important one, is to find and kill his former commander, Hotaru. TRIVIA NOTE: Dairou was originally going to be in Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance, as a hired bodyguard of Shang Tsung and Quan Chi. His story for that game was that he was a samurai who was too bloodthirsty to abide by their code of honour. The time factor in releasing MK:DA meant that he had to be omitted from the game, but he can still be seen in the production art that can be bought in MK:DA's Krypt. The following is Dairou's ending, which is shown once you complete Arcade mode as Dairou: (Note - The ending is narrated by Shujinko. What appears in [] parenthesis is a description of the picture displayed that accompanies the words spoken.) [Scene - The Living Forest in Outworld, daybreak. Hotaru and Dairou are facing each other, both in fighting stances.] "Normally, Dairou took no risks and ambushed those he had been hired to kill. But in this case, he felt compelled to announce his intentions to kill his fellow Guardsman, Hotaru. There still must have been some code of honor left in his cynical heart." [Hotaru lies next to a tree, battered, bloody and moments from death. Dairou is crouched beside him.] "Hotaru was defeated... but before Dairou could reveal who had commissioned the attack, Hotaru drew his dying breath." ---------------------------- DAIROU'S COSTUME DESCRPTIONS ---------------------------- Dairou's primary costume resembles a monk of sorts. The front half and top of his head are completely bald, and on his forehead are red markings. The back half of his head is a very long black ponytail. He wears a brown costume made mostly of cloth. Dairou's alternate costume is also brown, but consists of a more metallic armour plating than the cloth of his primary costume. His arms are now bare as well. ------------------ DAIROU UNLOCKABLES ------------------ The following items relating to Dairou can all be found in the Krypt and the coffins that make it up. Each of these unlockables is uncovered in their own unique way, so keep reading. Dairou's alternate costume is in coffin QI, which needs a key to be unlocked. To find the key for this koffin, you must play Konquest mode. While in Konquest, journey to section D-8 of the ChaosRealm. You will find the key for coffin QI in one of the houses in that area. Coffin EL contain's Dairou's story board, which is a detailed pencil drawing of what happens in Dairou's ending (without narration notes). To unlock it, open the coffin with 199 Jade Koins. You will then be able to access the story board by looking in the Production Art section. ************************************************* PLAYING AS DAIROU ************************************************* ------------------- CONTROLS AND BASICS ------------------- From this point onwards in this FAQ, I will be using a lot of abbreviations, symbols and numbers to help describe Dairou's moveset. I will define all of these in this section. Note that, as my only game console is a Playstation 2, these basics only refer to the buttons on the PS2 control pad. If enough people holler at me I may consider making this part of the FAQ X-Box compatible, but until then... NOTE: These are the default keys when you start up MK:D. All directional references refer to the D-Pad of the PS2 controller, not the analog stick. |-------------------------------------------| | DEFINITION | ABB | BUTTON | SYMBOL | |-------------------------------------------| | Sweep Distance | - | - | (s) | | Close Range | - | - | (c) | | Long Range | - | - | (l) | | Followed By | - | - | , | | At Same Time | - | - | + | | And / Or | - | - | / | | Forward | F | -* | - | | Backward | B | -* | - | | Up | U | Up | - | | Down | D | Down | - | | Attack 1 | 1 | Square | - | | Attack 2 | 2 | Triangle | - | | Attack 3 | 3 | X | - | | Attack 4 | 4 | Circle | - | | Throw | TH | R1 | - | | Block | BL | R2 | - | | Change Stance | CS | L1 | - | |-------------------------------------------| * = The buttons used for Forward and Back depend on which side of the screen your character is on. If they are on the left, Forward is Right and Back is left, and vice versa if your character is on the right. Now I'll go into the basic moves of every stance that Dairou has to offer, along with some brief comments on the stances themselves and how much damage each basic attack does. If you see a star (*) next to the damage percentage of a move, this means that move can knock opponents into Death Traps NOTE: All attacks were performed on Dairou. This is important as different characters take different amounts of damage from moves. --------- WING CHUN --------- Wing Chun is Dairou's primary stance. This is the same stance Mavado used in Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance, but the version used in MK: Deception is much more deadly. Dairou has some good striking moves to choose from here - the 3-D Slap is particularly good as a counterattack move. The only real con of this stance is that it lacks a good sweep. Pressure Fists: 1 (7%)* Long Arm Punch: Up + 1 (12%)* Ducking Low Punch: Down + 1 (3%) Overhead Knock: 2 (8%) Uppercut: Down + 2 (13%)* Sideways Smack: Back + 2 (12%)* Side Kick: 3 (7%)* Digging Heels: Back + 3 (7%) Walking Stomach Kick: Down + 3 (3%) Train Kick: 4 (7%) 3-D Slap: Up + 4 (11%)* Low Spin Kick: Down + 4 (3%) ------- ESCRIMA ------- Escrima is another style from MK:DA, and much like when it was in Quan Chi's arsenal, it can be rather difficult to use correctly. Dairou moves MUCH slower when he's in this stance, so be wary. Much like Wing Chun, Escrima's basic strikes also lack good sweeps, but it does have some nice pop ups and powerful hitters though. Forearm Strike: 1 (12%)* Lifting Skull Cracker: Back + 1 (10%) Low Chop: Down + 1 (4%) Pak Fist: 2 (10%) Upward Sky: Up + 2 (6%)* Hanging Arm: Down + 2 (13%)* Abdominal Strike: 3 (12%)* Wild Attack: Back + 3 (10%)* Short Elbow: Down + 3 (4%) Knee: 4 (11%)* Turning Foot: Down + 4 (4%) ---------- AUTUMN DAO ---------- The Autumn Dao is remarkably similar to Kung Lao's broadsword from MK: DA, except that it looks a bit more deadly thanks to the various cuts made into the metal of the blade. Easily the best of Dairou's stances, this weapon does loads of damage and has a great mix low and high attacks. Do remember that you take 25% more damage if you're hit while in this stance, so watch out. Gut Slash: 1 (10%)* Wushu Spin: Forward + 1 (9 + 7%)* Thigh Slash: Down + 1 (5%) Upward Wind: 2 (10%)* Upward Launcher: Back + 2 (9%)* Double Handed Slash: Down + 2 (15%)* Melon Cutter: 3 (11%) Crouching Cyclone: Forward + 3 (11 + 8%)* Tornado Spin Cutter: Back + 3 (9%) Low Long Ranged Stab: Down + 3 (3%)* Chest Stab: 4 (7%)* Blender Slice: Forward + 4 (6 + 4 + 3%) Foot Chopper: Down + 4 (4%)* ------------- SPECIAL MOVES ------------- Now I'll go into a description of Dairou's specials. In this section, I'll give a quick explanation of the move, give it a rating and then add some personal comments on it. ARM SNAPPER - TH (5 + 5% damage) Description: Dairou grabs his opponent by the arm, snaps it by the elbow in a direction it shouldn't go in, and then throws the opponent to the floor some distance from him. Sadly, the opponent's arm relocates itself by the time they get up. Rating: 3/5 A fairly weak throw, not nearly as heavy hitting as some of the best damagers in the game (Kenshi, Bo Rai Cho, Liu Kang) nor with any potential for setting up juggles (Nightwolf, Shujinko, Havik). It's good for getting distance between you and your opponent and can be used to set up the Tombstone Drop, but unless your opponent is a block frenzy maniac or constantly in close range proximity, you're usually better off using Stealthy Shadows. TOMBSTONE DROP - Forward, Back, Down, 1 (7% damage) Description: Dairou spreads his arms out and slams himself backwards into the ground as hard as he can. The impact from this propells the opponent high into the air and they almost cut a flip in the process. Dairou bounces back up instantly after hitting the floor while the opponent falls towards him. Note: This move will always do damage and propell the opponent into the air as long as they are touching the floor. Rating: 5/5 Master this move. Don't be put off by the low damage and complex button sequence, MASTER THIS MOVE. This is Dairou's best and most dangerous move, because not only is it the perfect juggle starter, not only is it so fast it's practically instantaneous, but it is also unblockable. The only way to avoid taking damage is to jump in the air. Human players will almost ALWAYS get caught in this regardless of their skill because it's impossible to telegraph and even the higher difficuly CPU has trouble avoiding it. If you wanna become a great Dairou player, you will need to execute this move at will from either side of your opponent. Combining this move with the Autumn Dao combos is a great way to take your opponents health down quickly. One Tombstone Drop plus the Blood Letter combo does over 33% damage. That's a third of the opponent's health gone in an unblockable 5 hit combo, people. Now do you see why I love this move so much? :) The Tombstone Drop is also a great counterattack move. Missed projectile? Tombstone Drop. Out of range special? Tombstone Drop. Whiffed combo? Tombstone Drop. The only cons of using the Tombstone Drop is that if you do it too close to your opponent, they'll fly over your head and this may ruin your chance to hit a big juggle, or that some of Dairou's dial-a-combos in Wing Chun and Escrima may not hit your airborne opponent with every move. But hey, that's what practice is for, isn't it? So get practicing! STEALTHY SHADOWS - Up, Down, 3 (N/A) Description: A puff of yellow smoke surrounds Dairou as another surrounds his opponent, then the two exchange their current positions on the screen. As the smoke clears, the opponent is confused for a second and looks around to get their bearings, leaving them open for an attack. Rating: 4/5 Another great move in Dairou's arsenal. While Stealthy Shadows does no damage, the split second it gives you will allows you to deliver either a quick Tombstone Drop if your opponent is mid to long range from you, or allow you to start a vicious dial-a-combo from close range. It's also very useful as a counter to projectile attacks. However, this move CAN be blocked, and if it is, your opponent will exchange places with you, but will be in block mode and will not be temporarily confused. This is the only serious con of the move and the only thing preventing me from giving it a higher score. Don't overuse it, and it'll work wonders. IRON LEG - Down, Back, 2 (9% damage) Description: Dairou extends his leg towards his opponent as if going for a kick. An orange star-shaped projectile then shoots from his foot, leaving trails of orange energy behind it. Upon impact, the projectile dissipates. Rating: 2/5 To be fair, this is better than most projectiles in the game, but not by much. The Iron Leg travels fairly fast and has a good recovery time, but cannot be used to knock opponents into Death Traps and doesn't do a great deal of damage. Even though the recovery time is fairly quick compared to most specials, you're still left wide open for teleport attacks or sidestep counters. At long range, you have much better options than this. ---------------------- FATALITIES / HARA KIRI ---------------------- As most of you will no doubt be aware by now, the Mortal Kombat series is notourious for allowing you, once you've defeated your opponent, a few seconds to finish them off in a particularly gruesome fashion. Fortunately, MK: Deception does not disappoint in it's Fatalties, and Dairou has some of the best in the game. To perform a Fatality, you must be a certain distance away from your opponent (refer to the definition board above if you don't understand the symbols) and pull of the requisite button combination, which I will go into more detail on below. The Hara Kiri, for those unaware of the term, is another way of saying "suicide", and basically allows a defeated kombatant to kill themselves rather than letting your opponent do it for you by inputting a button combination once you've been defeated. Because you're standing in one place when you're about to be finished off, you don't need to worry about being a certain distance to do the Hari Kiri. FATALITY 1: Down, Up, Back, Back, 1 (c) Description: Dairou slips behind his opponent and places his foot firmly in the small of their back. He forces them facedown to the floor and then grabs both their arms, pulling their upper body back violently in a Surfboard Stretch. Dairou suddenly lets go, sending the opponent's upper body back to the ground with such force that it explodes and splatters blood and entrails over the arena. Dairou backs away from the opponent's legs and the pile of blood in front of them and lets out a cry of "Yea!" while pumping his fists, before standing up straight. Personal Comments: If you like blood, you'll love this. Easily one of the more Gore-tastic Fatalities in MK: Deception. 5/5 FATALITY 2: Down, Down, Back, 3 (c) Description: Dairou turns his opponent around to face him, and then suddenly drives both his arms through the opponent's torso. Dairou's arms re-emerge holding two of the opponent's rib-bones, and he gouges these into the opponent's eyes. The opponent screams in pain and falls to the floor, where a pool of blood appears around their face. Dairou does a quick kata and then stands up straight in celebration. Personal Comments: Best Fatality in the game in my opinon. But then again, it's also my personal favourite. Still utterly gruesome whichever way you see it. 5/5 HARA KIRI: Back, Back, Back, Down, 1 Description: Dairou falls backwards, but while doing so he snaps his lower back at a 180 angle, sending his upper and lower body falling in different directions. Dairou screams in pain for a bit as a pool of blood appears around him before falling silent. Personal Comments: If you get defeated and wanna shock your friends, use this. Absolutely brutal to watch every time. 5/5 ************************************************* KOMBOS ************************************************* And now, we get to the meaty section. In this bit, I'm going to show the button combinations needed to pull off Dairou's combos and also show you how much damage they do. Before I go into detail on this, I'll also briefly talk about the combos themselves and how to use them effectively. --------- WING CHUN --------- Just about all of Dairou's combos here are easy to execute and do good damage, however they lack the variety of hit areas that Escrima and the Autumn Dao excell in. I wouldn't advise combining these combos with a Tombstone Drop started juggle - often you will fail to connect on the more complicated combos. Note: All Wing Chun Combos that can knock opponents into Death Traps do so on the final hit only. Trapping Hands: 1, 1 (7 + 3%) Lock Down: 1, 1, 1 (7 + 3 + 2%)* Stick Fists: 1, 1, Up + 1 (7 + 3 + 3%)* Reaver Strikes: 1, 2 (7 + 5%) Junk: 1, 2, 4 (7 + 5 + 4%) Long Legs: 2, 4, 3 (8 + 5 + 4$)* Iron Horse Legs: 2, 4, 4, 3 (8 + 5 + 4 + 3%)* Razor Legs: 1, 2, 4, 4 (7 + 5 + 4 + 3%) Whispering Tail: 4, 4, 3 (7 + 5 + 4%) Doom Attack: 1, 2, 4, 3 (7 + 5 + 4 + 3%)* Wonder Thunder: 1, 2, 4, 4, 3 (7 + 5 + 4 + 3 + 2%)* Changing Winds: 1, 2, 4, CS (7 + 5 + 4 + 7)* ------- ESCRIMA ------- Escrima contain's Dairou's best combos, no question about it. Some of them may be difficult to execute, but are nonetheless effective. Chaos Strikes is the most damaging combo to use at close range, and Sharp Spin Action ends with a nice low hitter. When using the Tombstone Drop to juggle, I find Warrior of Chaos and Sonic Air Wave are the best to use, as most of the time you can get all the moves to connect...IF you time it right, that is. Escrima combos are also brilliant for Death Trap situations, as ALL of them can knock an opponent into one on ANY move. Double Trouble: 1, 1 (12 + 4%)* Trap Those Hands: 2, 3 (10 + 4%)* Hand Lock: 2, 3, 4 (10 + 4 + 3%)* Secret Knees: 2, 3, 4, 4 (10 + 4 + 3 + 8%)* Chaos Strikes: 3, 4, 4 (12 + 11 + 8%)* Deadly Fu: 4, 4 (11 + 8%)* Path Walker: 3, 1, 1 (12 + 4 + 4%)* Open Passage: 3, 1 (12 + 4%)* Warrior of Chaos: 2, 3, 1, Up + 2 (10 + 4 + 4 + 3%)* Hidden Evil: 3, 1, Up + 2 (12 + 4 + 3%)* Sharp Spin Action: 2, 3, CS (10 + 4 + 5%)* Sonic Air Wave: 2, 3, 4, CS (10 + 4 + 5 + 4 + 3%)* ---------- AUTUMN DAO ---------- The Autumn Dao is the weakest of Dairou's stances combo wise, but that's ok as you'll only ever need to perform one combo when you select this weapon, and that's Blood Letter. As I said earlier in the FAQ, when combined with a Tombstone Drop, 3 Blood Letter combos equals a match victory. Use and abuse. :) Tiger Slashes: 1, 1 (10 + 7%)* Beast Power: 1, 1, 2 (10 + 7 + 3%)* Blood Letter: 1, 1, Forward + 3 (10 + 7 + 6 + 4%)* ************************************************* STRATEGY ************************************************* Koming Soon (in the next version). ************************************************* FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ************************************************* Koming whenever people decide to ask me questions. :) ************************************************* THE FINAL WORD ************************************************* Well, writing this FAQ / Walkthrough took a lot longer than I thought it would. And heck, I haven't even got round to the next version yet! :) Feedback is welcome provided you can write in good English. My e-mail address is keepinitfresh@hotmail.com, but be warned: my Hotmail account can get quite filled with junk as well, so PLEASE ensure that any mail you wish to send me has the words "MK: Deception - Dairou FAQ" clearly printed in the subject title somewhere, otherwise I might mistake it for spam mail and delete it! Thanks go out to the following people: Me (no one reads this bit, so why not) for taking what spare time I have in this world to constantly update this FAQ. :) Midway for producing this great game! GameFAQs for allowing me to put the initial version of this FAQ on their site. And finally I give thanks to YOU, the adoring fan / Mortal Kombat fanatic who decided to read all the way through this FAQ of mine. You guys are the reason I do and will continue to update this FAQ until literally nothing more can be said about the man known as Dairou. So then, all that's left to say is "Laterz, Dudez." Minty Fresh Death