DontForkWitMe
Well-Known Member
this thread is to specifically detail what we know about Leon in DOA5 Ultimate.
Alright E3 has come and gone and as expected we haven't gotten much info at all on Leon and how he plays now in DOA5U. All we have to go on are little snippets of him in action from the trailer and from a match vid that didn't show much.
What we do know:
Costume Selection
C1: Iconic desert camouflage military attire with Turban
C2: Rambo inspired outfit with red bandanna
C3:Casual style clothing with black tanktop oval shaped shades, and red pants
Character Model
As many people have pointed out once his new look was revealed Leon looks noticeably older than in previous DOAs with more varied wrinkles, crows feet, and other signs of an aged warrior. He is a 44 year old mercenary who primarily roams the harsh deserts of the middle east and it shows in his new look and suits him perfectly.
Fighting Style
Leon originally debuted in DOA2 and was a replacement for the Russian Assassin Bayman who appeared in the original DOA. Bayman used a grappling based martial art called Sambo and focused on incapacitating the opponent with strong bone breaking submission holds.
Leon inherited this style along with many moves Bayman had from the original DOA along with brand new moves. Later on Bayman returned in DOA2:Hardcore and its future revisions where both characters were considered "clones" due to their similarities and shared animations/moves.
It wasn't until DOA3 where their differences started to show. Bayman had advanced holds added to his arsenal and focused on a more tactical and defensive style of sambo where as Leon had a Air throw and a tackle stance added for him to exemplify his more brute force offensive style of sambo
By the time DOA4 released their difference increased even further with Bayman focusing more exclusively on Sambo and its defensive properties and Leon distancing himself from pure sambo and using a varied form of a brawler like style with sambo thrown on top.
Dead or Alive 5 released and to many upset fans Leon was cut from the roster leaving Bayman as the sole representative of the Sambo style and a newcomer called Mila as a sort of new replacement of Leon who uses a MMA style of combat which featured Leons tackle grapple. Although Mila shared that move she still wasn't a replacement for Leon faithful who preferred his more brutal and roughhouse style of combat and have sent out many tweets and messages for TN to bring him back to DOA5 as DLC. Months later after DOA5's release TN revealed they were working on a full expansion called DOA5 Ultimate and later revealed that Leon will once again be a playable character.
As of today the official bio of Leon now states that he no longer will utilize Sambo and is officially using CQC(Close Quarters Combat) which implies that his changes and playstyle are now completely different from Bayman and the "clone" stigma he faced will no longer be applied from previous games.
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