The SoVA Thread

[K1]

Yea I got that late and changed my post jay haha. Reading is fundamental

[K1]

So where the KOF games at tonight? My crib or dsinnie's?

[WINBACK]

[***Feel free to point out any mistakes or typos.***]


Breakdown on Throw Escaping
---throws can be escaped by either holding Forward or Backward and by pressing either HP or HK (just like Capcom vs SNK 2). THERE IS NO MIX-UP WHEN ESCAPING THROWS. If your opponent does a Forward+HP throw then you can escape it by inputting Forward+HP or Forward+HK or Backward+HP or even Backward+HK.
---throw-escaping requires no strict button timing, so you can just mash HP or HK. The window for throw-escaping is also pretty big.
---throws CANNOT be escaped with diagonal notations (ex. Down/Forward or Down/Back), so basically you cannot escape throws when you're blocking low.
---you can escape throws even during recovery frames. So if you block your opponent's Dragon Punch-type move and then attempt to throw them (once they land back on the ground) they can STILL do a throw-escape. You can also throw-escape during the start-up of your attacks.
---the only time you CANNOT escape a throw is when you're doing a Roll (LP+LK).


Breakdown on Counter Hits
---if you're hit by your opponent's attack during any of the moments below then it'll register as a "Counter Hit":
-----during Command Normals, Special Moves, DMs (Supers), SDMs (EX Supers) or NEOMAX moves.
-----during Jumping Normals.
(note: so going by this list, if any of your standard Ground Normals are interrupted by an opponent's attack then it WON'T register as a Counter Hit.)


Inputting DM/SDM/NEOMAX commands
---if the motion is listed as "qcb,hcf" then all you really have to input is "qcb,d,f." You can also do "qcb,qcf."
---if the motion is listed as "qcf,hcb" then all you really have to input is "qcf,d,b." You can also do "qcf,qcb."
---to increase the chance of your DM/SDM/NEOMAX move coming out successfully (especially in combos), hold down (do not lightly tap) the button you're performing the DM/SDM/NEOMAX with. In BlazBlue this is referred to as "Input Buffer." You can also do this with special moves.

^
To put all of this info together for an example, in combos with Kyo I do his Serpent Wave with: qcb,qcf+hold P and now it successfully comes out almost every time I do it (I used to always have trouble getting it to come out back when I would do it as qcb,hcf+tap P).


Blocking & Punishing (regular) Kyo's qcf+HK
---if you block the first kick, you can interrupt the second kick with either an invincible move or you can Roll (but if you roll then you won't recover fast enough to punish Kyo).
---if you block the second kick, Kyo is at -3???, so only moves that are i3 ("impact 3", meaning it comes out in 3-frames) or faster will punish it. Not all characters have attacks that fast and Kyo can still escape any of your throw attempts. If your character doesn't have a move fast enough to punish it, then the best you can do offensively is mix him up by either doing Crouching LK or attempting a Throw (if Kyo is blocking low then he cannot do a throw-escape). However, if he does a move with invincibility (his dp+HP) then he'll beat any of your attacks, so in that case it becomes a guessing game. (note: if Kyo tries to immediately do his EX hcb+KK it will whiff, so that's one less thing to worry about).

Here's a list of moves that are fast enough to punish the second kick of Kyo's qcf+HK on block:
---any 1-frame Command Throw (Ash, Athena, Benimaru, Clark, Daimon, Maxima, Shen Woo, Raiden, Vice and Yuri all have these).
---Andy's NEOMAX. (easy timing)
---Ash's charge d,u+LK. (easy timing)
---Benimaru's EX qcf+KK. (strict timing)
---Iori's Close HP. (strict) (also works with EX Iori)
---EX Iori's SDM. (easy)
---Kim's EX charge d,u+KK. (easy)
---Kyo's Close HP. (strict) (also works with EX Kyo)
---Maxima's SDM. (easy)
---Ryo's Crouching HP. (strict)

^
Those are all that I've found so far, so see if you can find more.


Other Notes I just randomly took (character-specific)
-Kyo:
---his EX hcb+KK is fully invincible and possibly i4. It cannot punish the second kick of Kyo's qcf+HK (which is -3) so it must be i4 or slower.
---in certain situations, to avoid accidentally doing his EX rdp+KK when trying to input EX hcb+KK, you can do "hcb,u/b+KK" to keep this from happening.

-EX Iori:
---his EX hcb,f+PP command throw is not fully invincible. There's a small window (one frame?) just before he grabs the opponent where he can be hit.

-Leona:
---both LP and HP versions of her Moon Slasher (charge d,u+P) seem to come out at the same speed, do the same damage and have upper-body invincibility (around her head) so it's still a great anti-air. It also completely avoids certain high-hitting moves such as Kyo's Standing D. As for differences, the LP version recovers much quicker while the HP version has a bigger hit box. The EX version has an even bigger hit box than the HP version, does a shit load of damage and is fully invincible. It also recovers faster than the HP version but not as fast as the LP version.
---her Crouching HP comes out very fast and has a low hurt box, making it a great anti-air when you don't have Moon Slasher charged.
---her NEOMAX is fully invincible.
---speed on her normals = Crouching HP is faster than Close HK. Close HK is faster than Close HP.

-Joe
---speed on his normals = Close HP and Crouching HP are both the same speed. They're both faster than Standing D.

-Andy:
---speed on his normals = Close HP is faster than Close HK. Close HK is faster than Crouching HP.

-Billy Kane:
---speed on his normals = Crouching HP is faster than Standing HK. Standing HK is faster than Close HP.

-Ralf:
---speed on his normals = Close HP is faster than Close HK. Close HK is the same speed as Crouching HP.

-Clark:
---speed on his normals = Close HP is the same speed as Close HK. They're both faster than Crouching HP.

-Ralf vs Clark:
---Ralf's Far HP, Crouching HP and Jumping Blowback are faster than Clark's, although Clark's Jumping Blowback has slightly more range. Also, Ralf's Far HP has slightly more range than Clark's.
---Ralf and Clark's Close HP and Far HK have the same speed, however Clark's Far HK has slightly more range.
---Ralf and Clark's Crouching HK have the same speed, however Ralf's has noticably more range.
---Clark's Close HK and Standing Blowback are faster than Ralf's, although Ralf's Standing Blowback has more range.
---Ralf's Jump is slightly "floatier" than Clark's.

-Chin:
---his EX qcb+PP and qcb,qcf+P (early start-up only) and SDM and NEOMAX all have invincibility.
-----his d,d+P (Zabantetsu stance) into f+HP is a *EDIT* standard throw (escapable).
-----his d/f+HK is an overhead. You can hold HK to feint.


Combo-Vid References

Nothing too crazy, just stuff that has good ideas in them that can be taken and modified so that they can be used practically.


Billy Kane
KoF XIII: Billy Kane combo video


Ralf
KoF XIII: Ralf Jones combo video


Joe
KOF XIII: Joe combo tutorial - Joe The Muay Thai Champion


Match-Vid References

Tournament vids, but not all what you'd call high-level. Just references to see what the best shit is to spam with each character.


Joe = things to look for: good cr.LK pressure, tornado zoning, use of Jumping Blowback and the usual "Slash Kick into Tiger Knee" shenanigans. Whack corner combos @ 11:54. Clutch air-to-air Counter Hit Blowback into NEOMAX @ 52:51.
Some Clark play @ 33:19.
Shinobi's Tournament - KOFXIII Top 3 & Casuals

Clark = @ 8:34.
Take a wild guess which fighting game character they're talking about @ 4:45!!!!!
KOFXIII Shin Blade(EX Iori/Kyo/Terry) vs. Lil Majin(Athena/Ryo/Clark)


Here are two other sources for recent match videos that I haven't had a chance to go through entirely:

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Southtown+Arcade+Ranbats+1%2F8%2F2012&oq=Southtown+Arcade+Ranbats+1%2F8%2F2012&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&gs_sm=e&gs_upl=251064l251064l0l251689l1l1l0l0l0l0l125l125l0.1l1l0
^
some Joe, Maxima, Leona and Billy in these. Joe player is pretty good and the Leona does a nice HD combo. Billy player was alright.

and

LB KOFXIII #01 - L4 - Christmas VS Sai
^
From a 8WayRun stream that went down not too long ago. Good character variety (ex. Andy, Ralf, Joe, Clark) and known players. Also has the shittiest commentators ever.

[Kane317]

-Chin:
---his EX qcb+PP and qcb,qcf+P (early start-up only) and SDM and NEOMAX all have invincibility.
-----his d,d+P (Zabantetsu stance) into f+HP is considered a command throw (inescapable).
-----his d/f+HK is an overhead. You can hold HK to feint.

Chin's d x2+P~f+C is a command normal throw; it is escapable unfortunately.  For his overhead, you can also tap D twice to feint as well.

BTW Winback, can you post your findings in their respective character threads?

[WINBACK]

Chin's d x2+P~f+C is a command normal throw; it is escapable unfortunately.  For his overhead, you can also tap D twice to feint as well.

Thanks for the correction. I've updated my post.

BTW Winback, can you post your findings in their respective character threads?

Sure!

[Woo]

Man, why are all these threads dead?  Anyway, I got a few more weeks before I can come back to SoVA, and I've got some time in with KOF.  Hell, I'm entering in EVO for the shirt.  I think my team is going to be Terry/Leona/Maxima, so I definitely can use pointers for who should be anchor and point, and just basic tips for playing. 

Can't wait to see you all again soon!