Best beginner team theory?

[lawgamer]

Hello. I'm looking for a great starting team in KoF games. While serfing gaming forums I've found three "best character for beginners" theories:

1) It's best to pick the "cheap guys". I don't mean it in a bad way. Many new players need to gain confidence in a game, so their best choice = easy execution + high damage.

2) You need a "learning char" for starters. Best example I can think of is Ryu in many Street Fighter games. He usually has all the tools for winning (high or mid tier), but you NEED to learn the fundamentals to win with him (footsies, spacing, matchups, etc.) or you'll get punished badly for every special move he has. Plus Ryu is a char you won't have to leave later on, he's completely viable... Something like that.

3) Hard way is the only way. A less popular theory that states you need to start from the bottom and pick some low tier, so that when you move on to better chars later it'll be like easy mode.

I don't have much time to practice and my local community consists mostly of higher level player, so I like to be confident in my beginner choices. What theory in your opinion is best for KoF 13 and what characters fit beginner level best and why?

PS: I haven't found any active old KoF forums, so I have the same question for original KoF 2002 and 98.

[Sharnt]

It depends on your goals, you want to win games now, improve, to be better on the long run ... ?

[desmond_kof]

To be honest, I would try to learn the game system and mechanics while at the same time pick characters who look or seem interesting to you. You'll start to learn that all the characters have universal offensive & defensive tools, combo arrangements but have different damage outputs, execution requirements and different options in certain situations.

[solidshark]

To be honest, I would try to learn the game system and mechanics while at the same time pick characters who look or seem interesting to you. You'll start to learn that all the characters have universal offensive & defensive tools, combo arrangements but have different damage outputs, execution requirements and different options in certain situations.

Agree with all of this.

[lawgamer]

It depends on your goals, you want to win games now, improve, to be better on the long run ... ?

To improve in the long run while winning some games along the way =)

To be honest, I would try to learn the game system and mechanics while at the same time pick characters who look or seem interesting to you. You'll start to learn that all the characters have universal offensive & defensive tools, combo arrangements but have different damage outputs, execution requirements and different options in certain situations.

That's the common answer I get, but that's exactly my problem. I play different games and try to absorb as much as possible at the same tame (learn all chars, go through all trials, etc.) This trait hinders me in the long run: while I can play almost every char on a basic level my friends are already advanced with their 1 or 2 favourite teams.

It's difficult for me to pick because there're already at least 15 characters I like in KoF13, and I heven't even tried the whole roster in KoF2002. Then there's Injustice and UMvC3 wich I bought on a new year's sale. And soon there's a local ggpo SSFT2 tournament... You get my point =)

[Grublet]

Shen Woo is a character I would recommend to beginners. Not only because he's simple and his execution is easy, but also because he has no cross up and no easy low confirm without HD. I feel like he made me become comfortable with spacing and pressuring with the threat of a command grab. So Shen and two other characters you'd like to play would be my recommendation.

[solidshark]

It depends on your goals, you want to win games now, improve, to be better on the long run ... ?

To improve in the long run while winning some games along the way =)

To be honest, I would try to learn the game system and mechanics while at the same time pick characters who look or seem interesting to you. You'll start to learn that all the characters have universal offensive & defensive tools, combo arrangements but have different damage outputs, execution requirements and different options in certain situations.

That's the common answer I get, but that's exactly my problem. I play different games and try to absorb as much as possible at the same tame (learn all chars, go through all trials, etc.) This trait hinders me in the long run: while I can play almost every char on a basic level my friends are already advanced with their 1 or 2 favourite teams.

It's difficult for me to pick because there're already at least 15 characters I like in KoF13, and I heven't even tried the whole roster in KoF2002. Then there's Injustice and UMvC3 wich I bought on a new year's sale. And soon there's a local ggpo SSFT2 tournament... You get my point =)

In this case, you're probably better off picking characters whose styles you're most comfortable with. Shotos, speedy characters, grapplers, unorthodox/tricky characters, etc. Across a lot of different fighting games, a lot of motions for specials might remain the same; things like that have been an aid for people who started in SF who now also play KOF.

I still have a habit of playing XIII like I would have played '98, meaning more basic and focusing on fundamentals. It's great that that strategy can still work for playing XIII, but intentionally missing out on the signature stuff in XIII would keep me from half the wins I could had. In the long run, though it's difficult, it's better to know the system vs. the character.

[JennyCage]

KIM. Great footsies and confirms, nearly brainless st.D that's + on block and invulnerable to lows, can't be crossed up on wakeup because of charge Hienzan (still can be safe jumped), gets hard knockdowns all over the place so he can safejump and crossup for days, practically instant overheads with air Hangetsuzans... this character has all the tools to win and be a dominant force while teaching you fundamentals at the same time.

Top tiers when played at the highest level: Benimaru and EX Iori because of their infinites. If you can get lightning loops down with Beni you will wreck people. Iori's are a lot harder to do, only a handful of people can do them in a competitive setting but it's very busted and seems like it won't be patched out, so if you can abuse it, go for it.

When I started playing KOF I tried to find characters with good 2-3 hit hitconfirms off lows and standings. Once you get more comfortable with hitconfirms you can try others with shorter confirms. Every character has some dirty tech that you'll have to discover to make the most of them.

Any character in this game can win but some have less tools to work with. Common competitive picks: Kim, EX Iori, Benimaru, Kyo/EX Kyo, Takuma, Chin, King, Mr. Karate, Hwa Jai, Duo Lon, Shen and Yuri. Others are seen but these guys in particular are almost always part of top 8s. Characters you rarely see competitively: Raiden, Kula, Mai, Ralf, Elizabeth, Maxima, Kensou and Robert. These guys are still beasts though, don't be afraid to try them out if you like them.

[Wasted]

You can never go wrong with EX Kyo/EX Iori/Mr Karate.

Andy, for some reason, has basically vanished off the face of the earth - which makes no sense when people are picking Mai and Robert over him. Andy is probably about as close to the "Ryu" of KOFXIII as one can get. Very, very, simple combos, even more so than Shen, super easy confirms into safe blockstring or solid combos, runs pretty fast, has a DP and a fireball you can run behind.

Billy is a brilliant pick - very low execution (he doesn't need his rapid cancels, really), godly normals. His corner juggles will teach you how to delay your combo inputs, and his overall game will show you the importance of playing with normals over other moves.

Don't feel like you need to stick with what you see in videos. Flocker of note, plays Mai/Athena/Yuri.

[takuma]

You can never go wrong with EX Kyo/EX Iori/Mr Karate.

Andy, for some reason, has basically vanished off the face of the earth - which makes no sense when people are picking Mai and Robert over him. Andy is probably about as close to the "Ryu" of KOFXIII as one can get. Very, very, simple combos, even more so than Shen, super easy confirms into safe blockstring or solid combos, runs pretty fast, has a DP and a fireball you can run behind.

Billy is a brilliant pick - very low execution (he doesn't need his rapid cancels, really), godly normals. His corner juggles will teach you how to delay your combo inputs, and his overall game will show you the importance of playing with normals over other moves.

Don't feel like you need to stick with what you see in videos. Flocker of note, plays Mai/Athena/Yuri.

Thanks for the Andy recommendation. His execution seems fairly simple, and I was able to pick some combos up in his trials fairly quickly which is more than I can say for Takuma and some of Kula's which have just been really frustrating :P

I'm thinking I might drop Kula and pick up someone else like Shen or Billy, and stay with Takuma because he is my favorite (obv) and to challenge myself a bit more.