Thank you guys, that helps. Here's what I discovered:
This is the Hayabusa "OH Unholdable setup" that I was testing:
8KK > 8T
The only way to escape it is to crouch OR throw. This is where shit starts getting weird:
- responding with 6P will keep the frame data display at 0(0)0
- responding with 66K even though it is instantly Crouching = 0(0)0
- responding with a OH = 0(0)0
- responding with a standing throw = successfully avoided, since the startup frames of throws are OH-invincible in DOA5LR (I still can't fully explain why the throw starts at all though)
- responding with 3P or 3_P, which are still midP strikes with no crouching frames at all = 1(0)0!
It would appear that doing 3P or
any input that involves the Down direction after a Tech Roll will "inject" Crouching status to the unholdable frame, the 3P will happen for 1 frame, and then it will still get caught by the OH on Hi Counter multiplier because Hayabusa's 8T has 3 active frames.
This is the list of animations that are playing (internal addresses I can see using Cheat Engine) on the Bayman side in that situation to better understand what's going on, in chronological order:
Code:
animation 8564 - universal back tech roll - for 35 frames
animation 1 - universal crouching - for 1 frame - Crouching status
animation 179 - 3_P - for 1 frame - Standing status
animation 431 - Hayabusa's 8T has connected - for 77 frames
This seems to me a poor attempt by Team Ninja to mitigate the issues caused by Unholdables, instead of fixing Unholdables themselves.
Btw,
8KK 8T is pretty good. Seems to work on every character except Alpha, on any launcher height, on any Tech Roll direction. When the timing is not a true Unholdable, it's still a meaty air OH so it will beat most of the options anyway or it will at least be tricky to punish. In case of no Tech Roll, it's still mostly safe because 8T is always a great option to avoid the wake up game entirely. The only downside is that 8KK must be done from pretty close range to work properly. If they don't respect the setup and decide not to Tech Roll after 8KK, 7K is guaranteed which happens to be one of the most damaging Force Techs in the game too.
TL;DR
Unholdables coming after a Tech Roll will transfer 1 frame of Crouching status into the unholdable frame IF that move contains 2 anywhere in its input. How can this knowledge possibly be useful? Well, for example, a valid answer for Bayman in the above GIF is to Tank Wheel using 2P+K but not 8P+K because it will not work! So if your character has a unique sidestep-like move, use its 2 version and not the 8 one.