MK Armageddon: Dairou FAQ Version 1.00
            Completed on Friday 3rd November, 2006.

            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
III   Playing as Dairou
      A     Controls and Basics
      B     Mi Zong
      C     Autumn Dao
      D     Special Moves
      E     Fatalities
IV    Kombos
      A     Mi Zong
      B     Autumn Dao
V     Strategy
      A     Basic Strategy      
VI    Frequently Asked Questions
VII   The Final Word (Thanks Section)





write the lowdown on one of my favourite characters on the
awesome computer game Mortal Kombat: Armageddon (hearafter 
referred to as MK: Armageddon or MK:A) - Dairou. He was one
of my favourite characters in MK: Deception and because I'd
already written an FAQ for him for that game, I decided to 
rewrite an updated version of it for Dairou's return in 
Mortal Kombat: Armageddon.

This version of the MK: Armageddon - 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 2006 by Dan Gallagher, AKA Minty Fresh Death.



Put quite simply, Dairou is an awesome character to play as 
and is often overlooked for more familiar 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.

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.


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: Good / Neutral
Allies: Darrius, Damashi
Foes: Hotaru
Fighting Styles: Mi Zong, Autumn Dao

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 during the events of MK: Deception's Konquest. 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 and also about the overzealousness of his former
employers, 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.

Canon would seemingly dictate that Dairou has either failed or
has yet to complete the contract on Hotaru's life, as Hotaru is
alive and well in MK: Armageddon. There is no mention given 
in the game regarding the Declaration of Order, or even on the 
current state of Seido for that matter. Thanks in large to a 
lack of an official biography, it is unclear why Dairou would 
even be in Edenia for the events of Armageddon.

Once you complete Arcade Mode as Dairou, you are granted the
following ending, narrated by Argus (father of Taven and 
Daegon) while Dairou does a kata on top of the pyramid.

"The fire of Blaze enveloped Dairou and formed around him a 
golden suit of armor. Enraged, Shao Kahn attacked, but the 
armor scorched his body with every blow. Dairou defeated the 
Emperor and claimed Outworld for himself. Under his rule 
Outworld once again became the majestic realm it has been in 
ages past. Convinced of his good nature, Edenia and Earthrealm 
forged an alliance with Dairou that would ensure peace and 
stability for the realms."

My opinions on this ending? Wow. The developers must like 
Dairou as much as I do. Sadly I don't see this becoming canon, 
as Outworld at peace would leave little options open for a 
sequel. But you never know...

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.


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 

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.

Essentially, Dairou's look has not changed from MK: Deception.

                             PLAYING AS DAIROU


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 360 and Wii 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.

| Followed By     |  -  |    -     |   ,    |
| At Same Time    |  -  |    -     |   +    |
| 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. The kombos for each style are written furthur
down in the FAQ.

NOTE: All attacks were performed on Dairou. This is 
important as different characters take different amounts of
damage from moves.

NOTE 2: The Mi Zong air attack damage ratings were taken
after the opponent was knocked into the air with the Lefit 
Kick. The Autumn Dao air damage ratings were taken after
the opponent was hit with the Tombstone Drop. As a result
of their nature (only able to be used when juggling an
opponent, or on the off chance both players jump into the
air at the same time), they are not a 100% accurate 
reflection of the damage the move does.


Mi Zong is the secondary fighting style for Bo Rai Cho in
MK: Deadly Alliance and also for Li Mei in MK: Deception.
It remains a decent enough style that benefits greatly from
the aerial kombat upgrade given to the game engine, due to
it being plentiful with popup attacks. While in this style,
make liberal use of Slap Down, Lefit Kick and Smashing Kick
and follow up in the air. The main con of this stance is that 
it's one sweep move is slower than most.

Hook Fist:                    1             (5%)
Off Balance Push:             B + 1         (8%)
Slap Down:                    F + 1         (4%)
Slide Strike:                 D + 1         (4%)         
Straight Up:                  2             (7%)
Pelvis Strike:                B + 2         (10%)* 
Uppercut:                     D + 2         (13%)*
High Kick:                    3             (9%)
Sweeping Trip:                B + 3         (7%)
Crab Kick:                    D + 3         (4%)
Side Kick:                    4             (9%)
Lefit Kick:                   B + 4         (6%)*
Smashing Kick:                U + 4         (10%)*
Step Kick:                    D + 4         (4%)
Onslaught (Air):              1             (2%) 
Spin Cycle (Air):             2             (3%)
Big Blast Combo (Air):        3             (2%)
Rain Drop (Air):              4             (3 + 4%)


The Autumn Dao returns and is as solid as it was in 
MK: Deception. Easily the better of Dairou's stances, this 
weapon does loads of damage and has a great mix low and 
high attacks, which compensates it's lack of decent
popups. 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:                   F + 1         (9 + 7%)
Thigh Slash:                  D + 1         (5%)
Upward Wind:                  2             (10%)
Upward Launcher:              B + 2         (9%)*
Double Handed Slash:          D + 2         (15%)*
Melon Cutter:                 3             (11%)
Crouching Cyclone:            F + 3         (11 + 8%)*
Tornado Spin:                 B + 3         (9%)
Low Ranged Stab:              D + 3         (3%)
Chest Stab:                   4             (7%)*
Blender Slice:                F + 4         (6 + 4 + 3%)
Foot Chopper:                 D + 4         (4%)
Thrash Out (Air):             1             (2%) 
Bogie (Air):                  2             (3%)
Long Legs (Air):              3             (2%)
Spinning Feet Grab (Air):     4             (3 + 4%)


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 nor with any potential for 
setting up juggles. 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 - F, B, D, 1 (8% 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 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. And even better, thanks to 
the air kombat upgrade given to the game engine, this is pretty 
much THE move to use when starting aerial attack combos.
The only con 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. Not that you'd be
that close to your opponent in the first place though. :)


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 

IRON LEG - D, B, 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.


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. MK: Armageddon changes
the formula however; rather than pressing in a 5 button 
combination and sitting back to watch the fun, you now have 
a limited time to dismember your opponent with a frantic 
amount of button bashing. The more moves you get in, the 
bigger bonus you receive in koins and viewing pleasure.
Provided you don't botch the final finisher at the last 
moment, that is. :)

As the list of all possible fatality options is already in
FAQs across the Internet, I suggest you check out one of the
those for the list, because I'm not about to waste space typing
them up here. But if you really can't be bothered to press the
"back" button on your Internet browser, here's a quick
copy-and-paste link to the list for you:


(No, that's not a joke. It really is there.)


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.


Just about all of Dairou's combos here are easy to execute 
and do good damage, however they lack a variety of hit 
areas. While decent for starting aerial combos, I wouldn't
advise combining these combos with a Tombstone Drop started 
juggle - they're too weak for it to be worth it.
NOTE: All Mi Zong Combos that can knock opponents into
Death Traps do so on the final hit only.

Good Old 1-2:                 1, 1          (5 + 4%)
Zong Gong:                    1, 2          (5 + 5%)
Stem Of Death:                2, 2          (5 + 7%)
Triplets:                     1, 1, 1       (5 + 4 + 3%)*
Angry Ape:                    1, 1, F + 1   (5 + 4 + 3%)
Frying Hands:                 1, 2, 2       (5 + 5 + 4%)
Zong Rage:                    1, 1, 4       (5 + 4 + 5%)
Iron Broom:                   2, 2,         (5 + 5 + 6%)
Zong Tongs:                   2, 2, U + 4   (5 + 5 + 7%)*
Medium Hit (Air):             1, 1          (2 + 2%)
The Twist (Air):              3, 3          (2 + 2%)
Take Off (Air):               1, 1, 1       (2 + 2 + 1%)
Power Spin (Air):             1, 1, 2       (2 + 2 + 2%)
Twister (Air):                1, 1, 3       (2 + 2 + 1%)
Drop Down (Air):              1, 1, 4       (2 + 2 + 3 + 4%)
Fierce Power (Air):           3, 3, 2       (2 + 2 + 2%)
Kickback (Air):               3, 3, 3       (2 + 2 + 1%)
Bird Toss (Air):              3, 3, 4       (2 + 2 + 3 + 4%)
Hurricane (Air):              1, 1, 3, 2    (2 + 2 + 1 + 2%)
Gravity Strikes (Air):        1, 1, 3, 3    (2 + 2 + 1 + 1%)
Over Head Air Toss (Air):     1, 1, 3, 4    (2 + 2 + 1 + 3 + 4%)
Fierce Power:                 1, 2, 2, CS   (5 + 5 + 4 + 4%)


The Autumn Dao is the weaker 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, F + 3      (10 + 7 + 6 + 4%)*
Rebel (Air):                  1, 1             (2 + 2%)
Airborne Kick (Air):          3, 3             (2 + 2%)
Fresh Air (Air):              1, 1, 1          (2 + 2 + 1%)
Spinning Attack (Air):        1, 1, 2          (2 + 2 + 2%)
Lucky Wind (Air):             1, 1, 3          (2 + 2 + 1%)
Boot To The Face (Air):       3, 3, 3          (2 + 2 + 1%)
Pincer Throw (Air):           3, 3, 4          (2 + 2 + 3 + 4%)


Please note, before you start reading this section, that even 
though I have access to the Internet, I have never, and
nor to I intend to, play MK: Armageddon online. The reason for
this is because my personal computer is situated in a 
different room than my PS2, and I'm not about to move either
into the same room and try and find space to have both of them
fit in order to have them feed off the one connection to the 
Internet I have in my house. This means that any strategies 
you can think of online to defeat human players will have to 
be thought up yourselves. Sorry. The strategies I am outlining 
here are basic tactics on how to top the Arcade CPU. You may
very well be able to apply them online as well, although human
opponents have the innate act to eventually telegraph something
as basic as this strategy, so abusing it won't do you much good
in the long run.


1) Throw your opponent.
2) Switch to Autumn Dao stance as they fall to the floor.
3) Perform the Tombstone Drop as they get up.
4) Time the Blood Letter combo so that you nail your foe
   with all four hits as they're falling down.
5) Rinse and repeat.

This is great as a starting combo against the CPU on whatever
difficulty, as they never see it coming. 
I will be emphasising this repeatedly throughout this section,
but you should always bust out the Tombstone Drop and
follow it with the Blood Letter combo when you can. I've tried 
and tested it, and it remains the best and most effecient way
to get your opponents health down AND to make them waste their
breakers. Once they've done that, they're dead.

Against poking opponents, you might have some trouble though. If 
that's the case, you're gonna have to mixup a combination of low 
attacks, or if they're the blocking type, mid attacks in your 
combos. Again, this is the main strength of the Autumn Dao, so 
use your Tornado Spins, Foot Cutters and Blender attacks well.

When Tombstone Dropping the CPU on "Hard" difficulty, I've
noticed three things can happen.

1) They get hit by the move.
2) They jump forwards.
3) They jump backwards.

In the case of 1), you don't need to worry. If 2) occurs, that's
a problem thanks to the advances made in the jump kicks for MK:A.
Your best bet is to try and hit a popup attack as soon as you
recover from the Tombstone Drop. Nothing can be done about 3), 
but seeing as the opponent is unable to attack you, that's ok too. 
Just regroup, rinse and repeat.

While boss creatures (Moloch, Goro, Kintaro, Onaga and Blaze) are
not propelled into the air by the Tombstone Drop, it does stun them
for a moment and cancel out any attacks they may try against you. 
Also, thanks to them lacking a decent jump kick, if they jump towards 
you to counter the Tombstone Drop, you can often swat them out of the 
sky with the Blood Letter combo anyway.

Ermac is a dangerous opponent for Dairou to fight, because his Mystic
Float completely bypasses the effects of the Tombstone Drop. You
will have to employ Stealthy Shadows against him if he tries this move.
Similarly, I have not been able to test if the Tombstone Drop cancels 
out teleport attacks and ground pounds, so be wary against fighters
who have those too.

                       FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS 

Koming whenever people decide to ask me questions. :)

                             THE FINAL WORD

Well, writing this FAQ took a lot longer than I thought it would, 
thanks in large to my crappy old computer deleting my first try
at it for no apparent reason. Ass-backward technology sucks. :)

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 
"MK: Armageddon - 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:

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.

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