Maxima I think is going to be low tier.
I think Maxima is the shit, he was pretty strong in the arcade, and still is. He may be slow, but his guard points give him the necessary tools to slowly make his way close enough to his opponent, and EX Aerial Vapor Cannon is amazing. I usually punish what I can with s.C/s.D into hcb+B, and off that you can get more damage with a super.
I might end up being King/Shen/Maxima. I'm wondering though if I should use King as my 2nd character, because I can actually pull off her HD combo, Shen's I can't quite get out yet. I love having Maxima as my anchor because of the damage he can do off a simple 3 hit combo.
I've been playing with Ralf more too, his standing CD is really good... plus it's kara-cancelable. I've been using s.CD kara into qcb+P to approach, works pretty good.
Kim is another character I may use more, I've always been a fan of Kim in the Fatal Fury games, but rarely played him in KOF, save for like in KOF95 lol. Hangetsuzan being punishable hurts him a bit, and his Max Cancel off his Hou'ou Kyaku into Neo Max doesn't bring out much damage compared to other characters. If only he could cancel the Hou'ou Kyaku finisher into Neo Max... everytime I tried I could only do it after the first few several hits.
Also playing with Andy more, I love his s.B, s.D chain combo, it's awesome.