Getting a jump-in on the opponent is really good, don’t downplay its value. That means that you can setup cr.B cr.A dp+A crossup shenanigans and, if nothing else, are eroding ~25% of their guard gauge.
Mature has an easy 4 hit confirm in fast 2X cr.B then st.B. You can cancel the second hit of the close st.B so that gives you 4 hits to figure out if they were blocking or not.
Mature is more of a frame trap/reset character.
She’s pretty awkward to play with, but you can still make her good
It’s just a quick question so I think it’s the best to post it here.
My team consists out of Ash Mai and Saiki.
In which order should I play them ? I guess Mai would be best as 2nd due to her meter usage and damage. However I don’t really know about saiki and ash.
And then there are Ash his weird combos. I can do the basic fireball loop in the corner but I kinda fail to figure out how to get the down > up B drivecancel into EX Fireball in a consistent way. For saiki I just use the buttonhold technique during his HD but this one doesn’t work when I combo off cr.LK’s into the DP with ash for whatever reason.
Are there any shortcuts to make that combo easier and is there anything I should look out for when I do the basic fireball loop combo in the corner ? I do get it often but sometimes it just doesn’t work and I can’t really say why lol
Hey guys, just started playing that game since it’s available on steam, and I wanted to play a high damage, rushdown character.
I read that takuma could work, but when I look at karate, he seems a lot better. I don’t want to pick that SS tier character (almost all teams I met online had karate and another dlc char), but there’s no point picking a character that simply not as good as another.
And how do I hit people with Vice ? Throws are so weak in this game compared to sfIV, I always afraid to go for a tick throw, I guess I need to take more risks ?
Awesome to see more people getting into KOF!
With Vice, one of her unique strengths is her EX Sleeve, it has anywhere juggle. That means that, if the opponent is in the air at all you’ll grab them, even if they’re flipping in the air after getting hit. Her jumping blowback becomes a lot scarier once she has that 1 bar. Her command grab lets you put the opponent in an ambiguous roll mixup. Basically, after landing the grab, you have enough time to roll at the opponent in a way that makes it difficult to determine which side you’ll end up on. Throws are pretty strong, you can option select them with standing C or D.
Both Takuma and Karate are good characters, but for different reasons. Takuma is a character with generally inferior normals to most of the cast (Minus j.CD and a few others), but where his strength lies is that when he gets a hit he does the most damage per meter spent. He regularly does 600+ for 1 bar and some drive and he even has 100% combos if your execution is good enough. Takuma can also combo off his command grab or j.CD which means in the corner he is a nightmare to defend against. But they key you do need to have good defense, good execution, and good space control to play him because otherwise his tools aren’t going to carry you. Takuma’s defense is terrible and he often gets rushed down easily so you need to be able to constantly be on offense.
Karate in comparison has a much better set of neutral game tools and can still do good damage. The trade off though is that he is not as meter efficient. He often has to spend 2+ bars and a drive to do his damage which in comeback situations is not as scary as Takuma since he eventually runs down on meter. That said he has a solid pressure game and great defensive options. His DP is really good.
Both characters are very good, it’s a matter of preference who you want to play. You also shouldn’t worry about Tiers. Karate is a top tier character, but picking him won’t win you games alone. I’ve beaten more than enough of your average Karate players to know you still have to learn the character to make him scary.
Throws are not weak compared to SF4. In fact I’ll go as far to say they are 20 times stronger if you learn to use them correctly. It’s actually one of the things I like about the game is how good throws are (And it pisses me off about SF4 at a high level is how weak those throws can be) They work differently because throw invincibility stops immediate tick throws, but when you understand how to time your throws you find they are hard to defend against because the tech window is small and throws come out in 1 frame.
Some things to try with throws is to learn how to do things like run-stop grab. To grab out of a run you begin the run, but right before you touch the character hold back on the stick and press the throw button. You’ll stop and quickly throw. In most situations by the time you reach the opponent any throw invincibility will have finished. In addition you can cancel a run into any special move which includes command grabs so say with Vice you can dash forward cancel command grab. It takes a little practice, but when you get those down it gives you a mix up option in a lot of situations. It forces people to have to stop your runs, but then you can start faking the grab with normals. Keep in mind people have to stand to tech throws in KOF so if they are trying to tech you can always do a low attack.
Vice is a strange character. Her main quirk is her EX Sleave will connect off ANY juggle from nearly anywhere on the screen. So if you connect things like jump C+D you can pull them in for a full combo. Any time you anti-air with vice you should be doing damage if you have a bar. Also her normal sleave is good to check runs. If I had to describe vice I would call her a mid screen grappler in a sense.
Also against some characters Vice can combo off her normal throw. I believe it is Athena, Chin, and Kensou if I remember correctly.
I play chun and gouki in 3s, and n groove gouki, sagat, chun in cvs2.
I feel comfortable with mai and kim, need a 3rd. Suggest me an anchor.
also I hate rekka characters.
Kyo, Claw Iori, & Shen can all work well as anchor. Honestly most characters in this game work in any spot, this isn’t like MvC where team order is a huge decision, but there are characters that work better in certain positions. Mai with Neomax stocked is extremely scary, Kim with 4 bars can deal good damage and really abuse air EX Hangetsuzan’s invincibility. Kyo can kill with full stocks but it requires a lot of execution. He’s better at using some meter and gaining it back in the same combo than just blowing 5 stocks and both drives on one big combo. Shen deals great damage in easy HD combos and has a very effective offense with his charge punch cancel. Claw’s damage is in the middle of the other two, and his slow command grab can lead to at least 300 for a bar.
I know the question is asked a lot, but I need help finding a third character; I’m playing a lot of Duo Lon and EX Iori (first and third, respectively), but I can’t settle on a final character to use. I’m new to King of Fighters, and I’m new to fighting games in general, so I’d like a character that’s easy on the execution and maybe has a straightforward game. Oh yeah, I’d like one with a strong, easily executed HD combo if possible – EX Iori’s is hell on my clumsy hands. I tried these already:
Leona: I actually had a lot of success against people who are as bad as I am with her standing overhead and air catches but I didn’t really enjoy playing her.
Ryo: Kind of fun but I decided I didn’t really want to play Ryu’s lost twin
King: Didn’t really feel like playing Ryu either.
Maxima: God I sucked with him, even though he’s pretty cool.
Elizabeth: I liked her aesthetics, but this lady seems wicked hard to play. I sucked with her.
Ash: Seems really hard to play, too.
Who says you have to play her like Ryu?
Street Fighter characters and KOF characters play completely differently. If you’re talking about aesthetics, then I see where you’re coming from though.
What Sol said. In KOF sitting in the corner throwing fireballs is relatively ineffective compared to SF. Sure you’re making them block fireballs, but they’re getting more meter than you and if they properly evade and punish you they’re going to be doing about 10X as much damage as your fireball would do if it hit. King can setup fullscreen pressure with the light fireball, to force a reaction out of the opponent. If they just block it then pressure them. Think of blockstun as a currency, which it kinda is with the block gauge. As their guard gauge gets lower and lower they’ll need to stop blocking eventually or they’ll get their guard broken and be open to a full combo.
They’re trickier characters, yeah. I wouldn’t recommend you start out with them. Of course you can play whoever you want, but starting with Ash teaches a lot of beginners to hold down-back and throw fireballs. Same concept as with King, if the fireball hits you get maybe around 60 damage, but if they punish you for throwing most characters can get at least 250 meterless. The risk-reward for the down-back fireball thrower isn’t in their favor, basically. Liz is a unique character and requires a lot of knowledge of pressure options.
Also you’re just starting out with KOF, don’t worry about HDs yet. Or even team order for that matter. Just focus on being able to hitconfirm into very simple combos. Like with Duo Lon try (crouching) cr.B, cr.B, cr.A. If it hits then go into rekkas (QCF+A/C) and if they blocked it then don’t cancel into anything.
Try Saiki, Terry or Kensou. This is my team/ “Team Easy”. Terry and Kensou are basic straight-forward characters. Saiki is a great zoning and keep away character who can mount an offensive if need be. Terry is generally considered to be a good Mid character since he needs meter to be effective but there are better comeback/anchor characters than him. Plus, the world could always use more Terry players.
If you want pure damage, try Daimon. His HD combos are generally short and they usually end with a throw. If you’re good at busting out HQCF motions, he’s your man.
Actually zoning isn’t too bad in this game, but at the same time you can use your zoning to set up some difficult to avoid situations which tend to be much better than simply chucking plasma. The main thing is when someone tries to get around your fireball punish them to the max.
I actually think Zoning is very strong in this game and (not counting 02 Athena) the only KOF with such an emphasis on zoning. When Athena and Mature have fullscreen EX Fireballs that hit multiple times, you can’t say that zoning isn’t a big deal.
That’s true, I should’ve phrased that better. Throwing fireballs on their own isn’t an effective strategy, they need to be followed in to be significant.
I just got into this game after trolling around on the older KOF’s on GGPO and I have a question.
Why does everyone hate Kim?
I feel like Kim is the Seth of this game, where he’s a really good character but every hates him despite him not being among the elite.
I mean, when Romance complains about a character being stupid (Dude has to be the most humble top player) there has to be something there.
Don’t know much of the game yet, but a common complaint seems to be that just about anything relevant is safe. Might be totally wrong tho.
Kim is like Chin in that he can throw shit out there and it does good damage and is relatively safe. Especially when he’s jumping around. The only downside to Kim is that his HD mode combos are corner only and he’s a meter hog and is generally in 2nd or 3rd.
I hate Chin, Mr. Karate and EX Kyo far more than Kim though.
So if I ever play you, pick that and watch you go on tilt? 
I wouldn’t call him the Seth (Hell I wouldn’t call anyone in this game Seth). What’s annoying about Kim is that his buttons are so good and hard to punish that he becomes a character where people go full retard with. Now you can blow them up for doing so, but its annoying as hell.
For instance s.D is one of his more obnoxious buttons, but you can call a Kim out by doing things like low jab (With King I c.C > Slide for a max damage combo)