Just figured out there a "stealth nerf" on Leixia's damage. I may be late to notice this, but they made her damage after WS B(BE) scale drastically.
Pre patch, WS B(BE), BT B+K, 3B did 70~75 dmg. now it does 58. That's nearly a 20 dmg dropoff.
It can do 60 if you hit 3B just as they hit the ground. If you air hit with 3B, you only get 58. (keep in mind they made BT B+K juggle higher now so the new 3B timing is different)
Not sold yet?
Pre patch: WS B(BE), BT B+K, CE used to do like 110~115 dmg for spending 1.5 bars. Now? It does 76!That's nearly a 40 dmg drop. To compare, it does the same damage as a raw CE, and less damage than 3B, CE. (Remember, most characters can hit at least 65~70 meterless or more with 1 BE)
It's like they're forcing you to save everything for a 2x CE combo now. C'mon man.
BT B+K CE combos did like 80 to 90-ish damage. It's generally a bad option to CE after both before and after patch.
While you can force resets and random pressure with AA BE K, she doesn't really have much to go on in opening players up to combos. It's best to read your opponents and apply 1A, 44A (and variants) to get combos started. She still has a mix up game, albeit, its much less rewarding.
22K and 22kA... mix-up is gone, but you can still create a nice mix up here with other moves. Plus 22K maintains the same properties on counter hit as before so you can still work something there.
After some more testing, I'm finding 6KK to be... not very good at all. It lacks the oomph in punishing power and the while standing game is incredibly weakened now. Especially against longer range characters who now have plenty of breathing room to counter most any attempt made by the Leixia in attempting a follow up.
Leixia really has to rely on frame traps and guard breaks to really hammer at her opponent now. One issue with many of her frame traps is that they're ferociously linear and they don't really guarantee much, if your opponent doesn't fall for them. Right now, 44K seems to have the best options due to the advancing movement - enough to bring in throw range for threats. Outside of that, WS K and 3B+K yield some good stuff and the aB feints are still good enough to pressure and shut your opponent it.
WS A+B (and variants), WS K, WS A, FC3B (and variants) are all solid options after proper frame traps. WS A is good anti-step and forces a stun on counter. While there's nothing guaranteed after the stun, you still get a lot of time to force some kind of mix up or throw. For example, WS A (step stun), AA BE K. They have to block standing on this one as Leixia is too close for them to dodge the low (remember that the mid hits first, then the low).
