Leona Heidern (Console)

[ESB Cancel]

@The K1 Effect: Have you tried to use "far. C" after a blockstring? It's the forward stepping chop. The speed is pretty good, the distance is "very" good. Since she steps forward, it keeps Leona close to the opponent for more rushdown. (Use them sparingly of course.)

Also if you're afraid you can't hold a charge but got them cornered/or you have control of stage space and they want to jump out, you can do "neutral jump. D" for air to air encounters against "some" jump attacks. It has a good vertical hitbox and should keep them in the space you want them to be.

Leona is a very momentum based character. When she has the life lead it's going to be tricky for the opponent to get it back. But if she's the one falling behind, then it'll be difficult for her.

I hope this helps.

[Rex Dart]

I really dont understand how Im supposed to be able to do all that while maintaining a charge.

There are lots of ways to buffer your charge time. Here are a few of the easier ways:

- whiff canceling her CD.
- close D gives you just enough time to charge b~f+B.
- in the corner, landing (air)qcb+C gives you time to charge her d~u+P.

In general, I would say that using her charge moves isn't as important to her pressure game as her normal moves are. Her charge moves are more important in combos when you actually land something. The one exception would be b~f+D, which leaves you at an advantage on block.

[The K1 Effect]

Thanks for the info guys. What should I be using for my pressure / confirm strings / blockstrings? Could someone give me a basic generic pressure string flowchart so I could get an idea?

Also, who are good Leona players to watch on youtube? Anyone in particular?

[Rex Dart]

Pikachu is the best Leona player I can ever remember seeing.

EVO 2012 KOF13 No Alias vs Pikachu

[baikdizz]

alright like red dart said you don't need to hold the charge to play leona, because off the exposure of leona her gameplay footage is very rare but every time i saw a good leona I study her gameplay here some footage of her
Sange at 40:58 and 45:18
V-1 Final KOF XIII 2ON2 Tournament Part 6

Tsuyopon
KoF XIII : 1st Taito Station Tournament in Nara
KoF XIII : Taito Station Team Battle [Part 2]
KoF XIII : Taito Station Team Battle [Part 3]

a taiwanese player I don't know is name
20130311-KOF XIII台南實況對戰會-04 蔡渣 VS 阿勳
20130311-KOF XIII台南實況對戰會-03 蔡渣 VS 阿勳
20130311-KOF XIII台南實況對戰會-02 N.ZERO VS 蔡渣

and of course the reverse ocv Kozuka
Kof13 - 102012 VERSUS - CafeID Korea vs. Japan - Part 1

that's all

[The K1 Effect]

Wow...thank you guys....Ill be sure to study these in depth

[Mienaikage]

Put together a series of HD combos from Leona from a standing position. There are other combos you can do from a CH CD but I'll put those in a future video. There are ways of getting additional damage at the start of these combos but I'll leave those for you to mess with.

The King of Fighters XIII: Leona Optimized HD Combos

[baikdizz]

thanks you mineikage could you please post the counter HD combo to, I'm waiting for it

[sammy5m1th]

Can anyone reliably hit those meterless HD corner carries in match?  I've been grinding at them for more than a month now and can still only hit one out of every 3 or so in training, I've yet to pull it off even once in an actual match.  As I play the game more I'm noticing how tired I'm getting of grinding out the maximum damage combos and am more interested in getting the important part of the combo (in this case the meterless carry) for as little effort as possible.  Right now I'm trying to figure out how to perform the carry in such a way as to maximize how much time I get to actually charge each of the reps.  Activating with s.C and going in to B run chop off of s.C's first hit seems to help due to how long they sit in hit stun but it also completely alters the timing on everything else so I'm still trying to iron that out.

[Mienaikage]

Yes I can, did it on the weekend I do still drop them occasionally but it's just a matter of practice.

In the video I start with D but in a match it will usually be done off 2x cr.B

[Inspectah Ed]

Sick video Mienaikage, I had feeling there was a meterless full screen carry HD combo ,but I wasn't sure if it was possible until I saw that video... now I got something else to work on.

[sammy5m1th]

So I thought this was kind of funny.  You can do a near instant over head HD bypass j.A.  If you hop j.A like you usually would for the instant overhead and then activate HD a bit later Leona still do the bypass in mid air as opposed to staying on the ground if you activate HD at the same time as j.A.  Unfortunately it causes the j.A to come out later than normal so it doesn't work on everyone.  Characters that duck low and are narrow like Leona, Ash, King and Yuri can't be hit by it but the bigger characters like Iori, Kyo, Kim, Duo Lon, and Shen can get tagged (haven't tested everyone).  The timing's a bit picky but it's another fun little 50/50 you can break out on someone if you're sitting on 4 bars and HD.

[Inspectah Ed]

So I thought this was kind of funny.  You can do a near instant over head HD bypass j.A.  If you hop j.A like you usually would for the instant overhead and then activate HD a bit later Leona still do the bypass in mid air as opposed to staying on the ground if you activate HD at the same time as j.A.  Unfortunately it causes the j.A to come out later than normal so it doesn't work on everyone.  Characters that duck low and are narrow like Leona, Ash, King and Yuri can't be hit by it but the bigger characters like Iori, Kyo, Kim, Duo Lon, and Shen can get tagged (haven't tested everyone).  The timing's a bit picky but it's another fun little 50/50 you can break out on someone if you're sitting on 4 bars and HD.

Those 4 and Chin can be hit,but you have to do the j.a on downward arc of the short hop or if you're close you do quick neutral hop j.a into the instant overhead.

[sammy5m1th]

Yeah, i meant as the j.A is going up. It works around the top of her hop arc since it sits out there for a while.

[Inspectah Ed]

^ Ahhhh ok, I see what you're saying now.