Footsies:
Clark can play a mean poking game, use s.C or D to bully them at about mid-range, whittle them down, and try to force them to block and push them towards the corner.
s.C: Will AA if done early (I.E. Just as they jump and not after). Does not hit low, you are free to get sweeped or hit low. Fairly slow move, can be punished if done at the wrong time. Easy Hyperdrive cancel at any range.
cr.C: Pretty decent. Since it doesn’t hit low, there’s no real reason to use it and if you’re at the max range of it hitting the only way to combo is to use either EX Gatlin’ or Hyperdrive mode.
s.D: Hits high and low. Recovers slightly faster than s.C. Tends to whiff if you Hyperdrive cancel at maxrange.
s.B: Frame-trap. s.B is a very good pressure tool if you’re in range for it to hit. Even if it hits at max range you can still combo into any of Clark’s specials except for C Gatlin’. s.B can also be linked into cl.C or cl.D if you’re close enough, it seems to be a 1 frame link, you can double tap either C or D after B hits and it seems to combo more often then not. If it doesn’t combo you’re still advantage, if the opponent hits a button or tries to jump out they will get hit. You can also use s.B and cancel into Hyperdrive mode. You can bait and punish. And if you’re close enough you can use s.B on block and then do B SAB. You can also use s.B into Sweep (see Sweep into Step).
cr.B: Hits low, can be comboed into crA or st.A if close enough. Could be used to frame-trap like s.B above.
cr.D (Sweep): Frames Cancellable into any special,
Sweep into Step. If Clark lands a Sweep that hits you can quickly do 2 Steps (toward and B+D) and either toward C or D and if the opponent quick rolls you can grab them out, they cannot do a wakeup special/ex/super to hit you out * if they jump they will still get hit by the s.C as they jump.
j.CD: Clark’s jCD is not particularly good. If it lands he can do another s.CD and potentially use his gimmick. But the problem is that jCD is very slow and will lose out to numerous air-to-air attacks. But his jCD is very good at being defensive. Like say you have them in the corner, you think they might try to jump out and you’re not close enough to air grab them, you can do hop CD and if they tried to jump in on you it will definitely hit them and hopefully it will counter. You can also do jump away CD if they’re trying to get in on you.
Gimmicks:
Jump in whatever, st.C, cancel into Vulcan on block. If they try to punish it you can immediately do an EX Vulcan.
CD into Step: Clark can cancel his s.CD into Step (toward and B+D) it leaves Clark with slight block stun advantage and can put the opponent in a 50/50. It seems that if the opponent sees the Step coming they can use a very fast standing normal to hit you out, even if you’re jumping. That is if they see it coming. If they don’t you can jump and grab them or use B SAB or continue with footsie pressue with s.B or s.C.
Tick Throws:
Clark is the only character in KOF13 that possess Capcom-style tick throws in addition to the more familar KOF-style tick throws
B SAB is slow but has autoguard, think of it kinda’ like a parry. However certain moves, ex moves, and footsies will beat it.
B SAB Tick throws:
Jump in A or B, st.A or cr.A or if close enough st.B or cr.B, B SAB.
Jump in CD, walk in, st.A or cr.A, B SAB (hard to get distance down mid-screen, easier to do in corner)
Combo into A Gatling, followup A Gatling, jump toward D, as they land delay by about half a second, B SAB.
Dash in st.B, if close enough B SAB. See footsie section in regards to st.B.
If close, can also do cr.B then B SAB.
Empty hop B SAB
D SAB Tick Throws:
Empty jump or hop D SAB. Can mix it up after a jump in, then hop D SAB for one example.
cr.B into cr.A, dash in D SAB.
st.B dash in D SAB.
Jumping Grab setups:
Jumping Grab range: [details=Spoiler]
http://i1103.photobucket.com/albums/g466/3stest2501/clarkjumpgrabspacing.jpg
[/details]
Same as above, replace SAB with jump toward C. Depends on how you read the opponent.
Note: Alt-guard (quickly holding downback and downaway) will avoid all command grab setups. It can be easy to detect by watching the opponent rapidly crouch. If they start doing this, continue with pressure, try to hit low with cr.B and combo off of that.
Dirty trick: You can do hop A or jump CD, then regular jump towards them and C, if they didn’t jump you should land right next to them and try to grab them with either SAB or just block. Worst thing that could happen is you get AA’d or they roll away.
Oki:
Clark’s command grabs result in a hard knock down which gives you the opportunity of messing with your opponent in a big way.
After you land a command grab you can try the following:
Dash in, AB roll (can be done early to make it seem like you AB Roll’d behind the opponent) and either: B SAB, wait and D SAB, crouching B into crouching A into whatever, or jumping grab, or tick into SAB, if they try to runaway with AB roll you can punish with A or EX Gatlin’, or just block and punish.
Example:
4 minutes in
Spoiler
[media=youtube]1tLdLCWQpoU[/media]
Jump in game:
*See Tick Throw section.
Clark has two problems. His lack of a solid AA game (see: Opponent’s Jump in Section) and the fact that keepaway is very good against him and players are very content to runaway from Clark, use fullscreen fireballs to chip you out or frustrate you to jump at them or make a mistake, and typically using their best air-to-air attacks if they think you’re going to jump in on them or jump in on you and try to bait you to use SAB.
jCD: A very slow jump in. Easily lost to a majority of air-to-air attacks. Leads to huge blockstun if it connects and it can be cancelled into a s.CD if it lands it will take away 25% guard. And you can follow it up with Step (toward and B+D). See gimmick section on CD into Step. Best used if you have a read on your opponent and think they’re not going to try to air-to-air you. Hop CD is a very good defensive attack but if you rely on it you are free to be punished by select Supers and Specials that can punish it (Example: Iori’s Maiden Masher). You can also do a Super Jump and do CD early and as you land the CD will whiff and you can do either SAB when you land. This is more of a gimmick truth be told. You can also do jCD then cr.B and combo into D or EX SAB.
Hop D: Should not use regular jump. Personally I think this his best hop at mid-range. Very, very fast, it will AA other jump ins and even things like Beni’s Drill Kick in the air. It will beat a ton of air-to-air attacks. It’s only flaw is that it will not hit low, which leaves you open to being hit low as you land ***sometimes *** the distance seems to play a big part in landing. * If you use Hop D and it whiffs there’s a chance that you can land either SAB or C or D grab when you land or block any low attacks. KOF13 lacks tripguard, but there’s a 1 frame window to hit someone as they jump in. It’s all about timing at this point. Thanks to Phoenixnl for clarification.
Hop B: Should not use regular jump. Another really good jump in, will beat other nuisence air-to-airs such as Iori’s hop B. Can be used to tick throw. Will overhead but requires good timing to hit.
Hop A: Should not use regular jump. Possibly Clark’s best hop attack. Perfect for tick throws, air-to-air, it will beat or trade with Billy’s cr.C (Note: No jump in attacks will beat Billy’s EX Upkicks) gives enough hitstun to combo into anything. In short: a gdlk move.
jC: Difficult to land a hop C, it’s very slow to get out and the timing is difficult to do on hop. A full jump in (either regular jump or super Jump) is pretty decent. Problem is that it’s still slow and will lose out to certain air-to-airs, but there’s a good chance you can get an air grab out of it. On the plus side you get that much more damage if it hits.
Oppenent’s jump in/Clark’s AA Game
A common criticism of Clark is that he lacks a solid AA game. If you’re playing anyone who is familiar with the Clark matchup they will 9 times out of 10 are want to jump in, either early jump in whatever or j.CD, and either attempt to follow through with a crouching low, or jump again -baiting Clark’s SAB- and punish you as they land.
You have a few options:
Clark’s AA game:
Jump Grab: You have to be roughly two character spaces away (Example [details=Spoiler]
http://i1103.photobucket.com/albums/g466/3stest2501/clarkjumpgrabspacing.jpg
[/details] from them in order to use it on reaction and even then it’s tricky. If they do an early jump CD for example I want to say there’s a good 50/50 chance that the jump grab will land or not. So it’s all dependent on your reaction time and the player your up against.
This game does not have a kind of “A beats B. B beats C. C beats D.” kind of design. Some of that is there with Mexican Uppercuts but there’s no clear strategy to what beats what. Does that make sense?
Jump Away CD is a good answer to jump in pressure except for certain jump in attacks. Specifically CD’s that have a lot of range like Takuma/Karate’s jCD, Kyo’s jCD, Goro’s jCD, etc. Their jump ins will 9 times out of 10 beat your jump away CD.
So with this in mind, how do you counter a character like Mr. Karate or Kyo/EX Kyo who are going to be aggressive as hell and whose jump ins are easily the best in the game? And there’s no real answer to that other then trying to stop their pressure to begin with. You have five options altogether:
If their jump in whiffs: cr.B into whatever. Emphasis on if, it’s all about timing and the game makes use of a bizarre trip guard where it is possible to hit them if they jump in (even if it’s an empty jump) BUT you have 1 frame to hit them. So good luck doing this online. And certain characters like Karate have jCD’s that can still hit mid if you crouch, so it’s really all about timing and making a read.
Guard Cancel CD: Spending a bar might just be worth it, especially if they’re close to the corner and you can pin them down. Guard Cancelling is absolutely essential if you’re in the corner and getting pressured on wakeup.
stA: Again, it depends on how close you are to them and overall reaction time. If you are within say 2 character spaces this is a good AA option.
A Gatlin’: It will definitely AA but it’s entirely dependent on timing. They can bait you to do it too early and you’re free, do it too late and their jump in will blast you.
AB Roll away/toward: This is dependent on how close they are when they land. If they land earlier then you rolled, you’ll be close enough to where they can body you. However, if you rolled early enough and you’re about 1 and half character spaces away (show range of EX SAB) and they try to follow through with a crB or whatever. You can EX SAB them and follow through. But they could just as well bait you to do that and jump in again. It’s all reactionary.
On Wakeup
These strategies will not work if they knock you down and start pressuring you as you wakeup. The only things you can do are:
B SAB. Extremely risky but if they safe jump and try to follow through it will catch them. Don’t rely on this.
D or EX SAB. Just as risky because 9 times out of 10 they know you want to grab them and they’re going to try to bait it if they’re safe jumping. If they’re on the ground and trying to do a low then D SAB will catch them because it’s 1 frame.
AB Roll. Best overall option. If you see them jump, AB roll under them.
Or just Guard Cancel CD.
(in 1st position)