I haven't read everything you posted here, but in 90% Leixia's mix-ups consist of
a) a fast mid that does almost no damage
b) a slow mid that does normal damage, rapes guard and is + on block (but steppable, interruptable and easily JG'able)
See, every time I say "Leixia has sub-par mix-ups", people either go "You're a scrub!" or "No! Because!" and refuse to elaborate on why. Because they can't. And then the best Leixias in the world step in and say "Actually, her mix-ups are subpar". People who think Leixia has good mix-ups need to learn the friggin' match-up.
I suck at mirrors and I suck at lag, but my muscle memory and reflexes can be awesome at times. Whenever I play mirrors, I keep doing stuff on reaction that completely destroys the opponent. If the opposing Leixia does 6[A], I will reflexively AA or BB them on reaction. If they 6BA, I will 44B+K them on reaction (if they 6BaB, I think Leixia will have moved too far away for the aB to hit).
Because they aren't actually reliable mix-ups against good opponents. On a lag-free offline match where both players are high level players, Leixia's mix-ups will get blocked, dodged, stepped, interrupted, GI:ed and aGI:ed all day long.
It's the reason why the mix-ups touted as good and useful by people who have no clue how Leixia really works are never used in High Level matches. Because it'd get those Leixias raped.
And it's not helping me when I go to her soul arena to find Fallen waving the "Leixia is the worst character in the game" flag once again.
Actually, in my defense:
1) I have never claimed Leixia to be the worst (or even one of the worst) character in the game. I have only claimed that Leixia has been over-nerfed, that her mix-ups are sub-par and that her
lows are among the worst in the game.
2) This actually started out with me arguing against Synraii on the Cervantes-Leixia match-up. I claimed that Leixia has trouble block punishing Cervantes. Synraii said that Leixia is excellent at it because she can punish with AA/BB/6KK/any move that gives +frames on hit and then mix-up for more potential damage, at which point I busted out the "What great mix-ups she has" argument. I didn't just come out of nowhere for no reason.
My improvement has been hampered severely by Leixia's questionable viability being a constant presence in my mind, and Fallen is partially to thank for that, having been waving the "Leixia is shit" flag for months now.
She's not shit. But she just keeps getting worse due to patches, her short-comings aren't magically going to vanish in the future with the discovery of some new awesome stuff (because they are flaws in her fundamental game!) and in my opinion, one should keep a Pocket Secondary if one plans on maining Leixia, possibly Mitsurugi since he's basically Leixia only better at almost everything.
Ok. So I'll probably have to do a lot of moving of posts soon. But before that let me make something perfectly clear about this game.There are more to mixups than Mid/Low or Mid/Throw.
But even those mix-ups of Leixia's are mediocre to sub-paar.
1. Do you... kill their step or kill their Gauge? (ie: 44A vs 66B/44K or 22A vs 33B)
2. Do you... kill backstep (like 66BB) or kill aggression with fast or evasive moves at disadvantage (like AAB, 44B).
3. You also have reverse mixups after people block your moves, especially if Lexy's in FC.
4. As people have said, she has a lot of mixups on wakeup. (see Ep 2 of video guide)
1) 44A is i25. If they're stepping, they're probably not going to be open for that many frames. You can block it on reaction, quite easily. The only way to catch step with 44A is if they're throwing out a High (be it 8wayrun or not). A much better stepkiller is 3A+B (i17), though its range is a bit laughable. 44A is highly risky and gives very little reward because it's -13 on block and only inflicts 20 damage unless it's on CH, at which point you can combo for some minor damage. 3A+B meanwhile inflicts 32 damage and is only -10 on block. That said, bad range. Leixia's stepkillers are either High, Special Mid, sluggish and/or give little reward. 33BB can be stepped in the opposite direction, 22A is High and yields laughable damage.
2) AAB can be stepped. 44B i highly unsafe and yields mediocre damage. And you're not going to be able to rely on those two against High Level players. You can catch them with them once or twice a round, maybe, but it's nothing something to rely on.
3) Reverse mix-ups are just that, reverse mix-ups. And even in FC it's a bit laughable since Leixia's mix-ups are still "Mediore low vs. Mid". And you're basically counting on the opponent falling for frame traps. Not gonna happen (much) at higher levels.
As for what Leixia needs (some or all):
* More useful cancels. Especially less gimmicky ones. Her cancels now are either aB feints or cancels which come off slightly slow moves so you can block them on reaction for the most part. I miss SCII Xianghua. Cancels, cancels everywhere. Why did they remove 6B+K (I think that was the input, you know the one where she lunges at the opponent with a vertical slice?)?
* Make WR B cancellable, the way Xianghua's 66A+B was in SCIII. It's still a WR move, so it'll be less broken.
* Give us 11_99B and its cancels back. God I miss that move!
* Low throws. Seriously, Xianghua's low throws were pretty finely balanced.
* More damage. They gave Viola a damage boost. Why not Leixia?
* More lows. Why did they remove Xianghua's 3A? It's not like it was broken. Why remove the 6BB/6BA mix-up?
* Bring back aB (i.e. the aB feint, only as a standalone move)
* Give us non-gimmicky step catchers that are mid. Some people have pretty fast ones that can friggin' combo!
* Gimme back bK or whatever the heck that SCIII-IV move was where Xianghua lay down and breakdanced. That move was hilarious.
* Give us some Just Frames. Why doesn't Leixia get any Just Frame combos/moves? Xianghua had, like, 1, and they removed it (because they removed the throw).
