Hey wassup dude! KoFXIII is the best game ever! I’m glad you’re getting into it. Online really kinda sucks, and it’s really spotty to get lots of players. Depending on what part of the country/world you reside in, you may have a good scene around you.
The community that plays this game absolutely loves it! But then again I’m from SoCal so i may be biased lol. If you want extensive resources for learning KoFXIII specifically, I suggest the wiki on this site for info on mechanics and whatnot. It’s really good. Other than that, if you wanna follow the KoF scene, check out Dreamcancel.com. The tutorials section has tons of stuff there as well:
http://dreamcancel.com/how-to-play/
The most important tip if you’re just starting out IMO is to pick your 3 favorite characters without worrying about tiers and whatnot. That’s the most fun way to do it, and the best way to improve in general. Also, learn to hop! hahah That’s important.
MARTIAN
10
Very helpful responses so far! I’m trying to download as much knowledge as I can.
I actually won’t be getting XIII until later today, but I’ve been fuxing around with the demo for quite awhile trying to take in all the information the tutorial provides. So far I’ve decided on using K and Kula, but as the character selection is limited I haven’t been able to decide on a third. Thinking either maybe Ash, Iori or Athena.
Does the order of the team really matter in this game?
Hey man! Everyone here is glad that you are enthusiastic about KOF02/KOFXIII. To speak about team order… Yes it does matte, but not as much as you think. You CAN get a way with playing in any sort of team arrangement as long as you got a plan and you know how to react to the opponent play style. Should you build a team, you should try to understand the characters capabilities, match-ups, damage ratios, and how you manage meter. Both K’ and Kula are extremely good at building meter as well as using it. Both Ash and Athena are very good zoning characters with a very unique set of tools (i.e. Ash’s Sans Coulette, his Genei traps… Athena’s mid air movement, teleports… etc). As for Claw Iori, knowing how to conduct a functional rush down game is imperative - Claw Iori can do a lot of damage at once, especially with meter. Believe me when I say this, you are going to enjoy this game SO much! Feel free to ask anymore questions!
MARTIAN
12
So I’m messing around with Athena right now and I notice that if I crouch or stay still long enough she starts getting sparkles around her…does that have any significance?
Nah, that’s just the animation. Similarly, Kula is surrounded by ice dust.
By 98 and 2002 I assume you mean the vanilla versions for GGPO? You might also be interested in the 98UM and 2002UM games for the PS2/X360. They’re just as good, if not better.
MARTIAN
14
Ah, I see.
Yeah, I have both of those for Xbox but I don’t have live right now so I’m playing KOF through GGPO.
-Does Mai have an Anti Air? I mean I guess her s.hp has a pretty big hitbox but I’m not sure what would be the best option
-For Mai, is hcf.LP>hcf.HK a safe option? It seems like a great pressure technique to get in.
-Who’s the best charge character? From what I’ve seen so far it seems like Ash.
-Does Leona’s punch charge have any use, really?
-Are any of the DLC characters worth the money?
-Does Duo Lon just suck, or does he have an awkward learning curve like Gen from SF? He plays so weird.
I think I’ve decided on a team. Mai/Kula/K.
For dlc’s Mr Karate is pretty strong, so yes. Old/flame Iori is an easy-to-use shoto ish character, and NESTS Kyo isn’t bad either.
Mai’s ryuenbu ( :qcb: :p:) and :snkc: (s. hp) can antiair. For hops/short jumps, :snka: (s. lp) is a standard check, or antiair.
Duo Lon is just hard to use at first. He has limbs, projectiles, and long range a la Dhalsim but you actually want to get close and do combos with him. He won at Evo, so he’s not useless. lol http://www.youtube.com/user/MADKoF13/videos
Now Mai I can definitely help you with. I usually use Kula as a point character for the sake of building meter - her combos without meter are reliable.
Here is a guide on Mai if you need help:
I am also constantly updating her wiki on Dream Cancel as well:
http://dreamcancel.com/wiki/index.php?title=Mai_Shiranui_(XIII)
Last, here is another guide on KOFXIII in itself.
http://dreamcancel.com/wiki/index.php?title=The_King_of_Fighters_XIII
Also keep in mind that every playable character as of KOFXIII are easily viable for tournament play as long as you know exactly what they capable of.
MARTIAN
17
That’s good to know. Mai is fun as fuck, and she’s a really solid character to boot. This game seems really balanced, I love it. I’m surpised that I’m just now getting into it. I’ll take a look at all of those.
Kula is taking me some getting used to. Her normals are awkward to me, but she seems like a really solid character.
The thing I seem to be having the most trouble with is getting my ultra’s out (or, I think they’re called desperation moves in this game). It feels like I’m getting the motions right, but I guess my execution is a little off.
j.B, s.B, c.B all day, err’day.
As for getting DMs out, go into training mode and make sure you’re not accidentally pressing your buttons too soon into the directional input. For example, with a qcfhcb, make sure you’re not pressing P/K on db instead of b.
MARTIAN
19
Does anyone know where I could find some hitbox data for Leona?
There’s no KOFXIII Hitbox data 
A few character do have frame data on them. People are still conducting research on this game as we speak.
Make sure you keep track of the streams. Dream Cancel and Orochinagi are conducting provisions for building more KOF-centric tournaments and streams.
You can also participate the online ranbats that Dream Cancel has to offer.
http://dreamcancel.com/forum/index.php?topic=2728.msg61842#new
For more subtle mechanics and information you can also try look through this too… just when you get the time for more research.
For example, if you are running or if double tap forward on you arcade stick and if you perform a roll, the character will roll a little further out the way.
There are lots of good stuff to know… and each of the characters have something fun about them. You can also learn Takuma - he can be a very good rush down character, and his ability to zone is pretty spot on. You can also give Yuri and Saiki a try too. Make sure you test every character out!
wow, so much love in this thread:)
It’s nice to see a community embrace new comers as enthusiastically as you guys.
much respect <3
MARTIAN
23
That’s exactly what I was thinking. Everyone in this game’s community is so nice so far, it’s refreshing coming out of the Marvel and SF community 
I’ve tried a lot of them, but I still have so many to go. It’s awesome how balanced this game is despite the large amount of characters, and it’s crazy how diverse they all are. Right now I think my favorite is Leona. I never really play charge characters besides Bison, but I’m having a lot of fun with her.
I’ve been playing around with Duo Lon for about an hour and a half now, and I think I’m gonna pick him up. I’m trying to do j.hk>qcf.lp>qcf.lp>qcf.hp, but the bot seems to block the first qcf.lp if I land the jump kick without using a hop. Is there a more effective hit confirm to use or?
Also, is there a safer way to come out of that if they block? I mean I can drive cancel into Himoukyaku, but unless I have the meter for it then it seems pretty unsafe if it gets blocked
Is Saiki tourney legal?
The best thing you can do after playing real people is to watch high level play, i reccommend watching KOF98, 98um, XI, 2002um, and of course XIII. Sorryy im on ipad atm and linking is not so doable.
All playable characters are tourney legal.
With Duo Lon, instead of going from j.D straight into qcf+A, try j.D cl.C qcf+A. In general, close standing Cs have fast startup (~4 frames) and have heavy hitstun which will allow you to continue the combo, and they add some damage too.
You can cancel the last hit of Duo Lon’s rekka into a teleport to keep yourself mostly safe (it can be punished by fast, horizontal attacks like Robert or Mr. Karate’s EX Ranbu.)
On Duolon, there’s a number of ways people like to play him. If you’re coming out of SSF4, some people liken him to Dhalsim because of his ability to attack from a really long distance. What I would do is pop into training mode and get a good idea of what the range is for his normals and command normals (Like f+B and f+A) so you get more comfortable with them. Just like in other fighting games, normals are really important and understanding their max range is as well.
So, you can use him as a zoner, to keep people out and do a hit and run strategy with your rekka (qcf+P). However, you can keep pressure as well. He has REALLY fast normals. His down LP (d.A) and down LK (d.B) are pretty ridiculous and you can hit confirm off of them into a combo. You can use his fireball to keep your pressure game up too. Just cancel into it (either in a string, at random, your choice) and it’ll stay active for a long time even though it’s slow. This makes it so you don’t have to use your unsafe specials to keep people blocking or scared, just keep poking with normals. The blockstun from it sets up a little frame trap, especially in the corner, so you can keep pressuring people with high low attacks and long range pressure. Like AirLancer said, you should throw in a heavy normal after jump-ins for that extra hitstun and good extra damage. You’re not always going to get the jump in so, in training mode, set the dummy to random guard and crouching. Work on pressuring the dummy and hitconfirming off of d.As (Usually you can hit d.A from as close as possible 3 times and confirm into rekka)
Once you get comfortable attacking, you should know how to defend yourself. Duo Lon doesn’t really have anti-air. He has great air to air normals, but his ground to air arsenal is lacking. Without meter, if someone jumps on you from neutral, down HP (d.C) is your best bet to stuff people trying to jump-in on you. Most characters have a horizontal hitbox when they do j.CD as well. It’s a bit more advanced, but doing d.B lowers your character and makes poorly timed jump-ins whiff completely. You also can hit them as they come down since there’s no tripguard in this game, characters landing from jumps are vulnerable for a split second. Use that window to really wail some damage on people who jump so much.
Great choice man! I got to run to work but if you have any questions im here to help. KOF!!!
Downloaded KoF Xiii this morning.
First time playing KoF, and there’s some great help in here. Many thanks to one and all, and especially to petran79 for the introductory video.
Trying to figure out my characters - I really liked Iori (and esp Wild Iori) in Capcom vs SNK 2, but am a bit disappointed with his incarnation in this version.
Kyo seems the easiest to pick up and play.
