The King of Fighters XIII/Kula Diamond/Strategy

Spacing

Long Range

Kula doesn't pose much of a threat at long range, but she does have some options. Counter Shell is safest at this range and Diamond Breath can be used to cover the space in front of her (or negate normal projectiles without the risk of mistiming Counter Shell). She can throw a projectile with Ray Spin B's Standing followup, but is forced to move forward and put herself at risk of air attacks. Ray Spin D travels half-screen and can get her closer to where she needs to be, but it loses to many air attacks and cannot use its Sitting/Standing followups if it doesn't connect with the opponent. Her Desperation Moves (and DPs) work nicely at this distance as Diamond Edge's slow startup is less of a problem since you will have more time to react to the opponent moving in and Freeze Execution is excellent at punishing projectiles. Her overall goal at this distance should be to the gap, unless she is on the defensive in which case liberal use of st.B, neutral j.B, st.CD and Diamond Breath can be used to prevent the opponent from getting in easily.

Mid Range

Kula's mid range game is very similar to her long range. All the same options are available, but with greater disadvantages as the safety of her moves is lessened by the opponent's ability to punish more easily with a jump-in. Diamond Breath will miss at this range and leave Kula open. Counter Shell can be punished more easily. Ray Spin B will miss but can still be followed up on. Ray Spin D is a little more practical at this distance and has a better chance of beating air to airs (due to the hitbox remaining higher before hitting the opponent), but it cannot be followed up with Sitting without EX when hitting an airborne opponent. Again, as with long range, Kula must make it a priority to close the gap as best she can (usually through j.B, Slider Shoot or gradual ground advancement), or defend herself from enemy approaches with careful use of her pokes and anti-airs.

Close Range

This is where Kula wants to be. Her quick pokes, great hitconfirms and the devastatingly low hitbox of j.C give her great power in opening most opponents up despite her lack of crossups and standing overhead mixups. Fundamentals (like tick throws, empty hops into throws, empty hops into lows, and general high/low mixup) are what she uses to get the job done. She can pester the opponent with st.B which can be confirmed into EX Ray Spin, or use Diamond Breath to give relative safety to her blockstrings or keep the opponent pinned in the corner.

Cornered Opponent

Kula's surplus of corner-carrying combos make sure this will eventually happen. Once the opponent is cornered she can keep them there with relative ease. St.B's range, speed and safety make it easy to pester with, while neutral j.B is excellent at stopping opponents from jumping out. Diamond Breath and Ray Spin act as stand-alone combo starters here. Diamond Breath C while the opponent is waking up can give a large frame advantage for Kula to exploit. St.CD can be a good option when properly spaced as it anti-airs and can be whiff cancelled for more pressure. As mentioned above, use fundamentals to break the opponent's mental game, then capitalize with your most practical combos.

Cornered

Not the best place for Kula to be as her anti-air options are very dangerous to use in this situation. St.B is her best hop defense and should be used as much as possible to push the opponent away. EX Ray Spin->Standing, if it connects against a blocking opponent, is safe and creates a lot of pushback, giving some more room for Kula to breathe. The B version can accomplish the same thing at the risk of being instant thrown before the projectile comes out. Slider Shoot can slide under an aerial attacker and allow her to escape. Be very patient and do your best to counter poke the opponent until you have sufficient room to go on the offensive.

Tips

Frame Traps

• "(n) frame gap" = The amount of frames that opponent has to counter a frame trap. If n is 0 or -n, the particular frame trap is, initially, a block string.

1.) cr. B > cl. C - 4 frame gap between cr. B and cl. C.

2.) qcf+A > st. B - 4 frame gap between qcf+A and st. B.

3.) qcf+A > cr. B - 4 frame gap between qcf+A and cr. B.

4.) qcf+A > cl. C - 4 frame gap between qcf+A and cl. C.

5.) qcf+C > st. A - 3 frame gap between qcf+C and st. A.

6.) qcf+C > cr. A - 2 frame gap between qcf+C and cr. A.

7.) qcf+C > st. B - 1 frame gap between qcf+C and st. B.

8.) qcf+C > cr. B - 1 frame gap between qcf+C and cr. B.

9.) qcf+C > cl. C - 1 frame gap between qcf+C and cl. C.

10.) qcf+C > cr. C - 1 frame gap between qcf+C and cr. C.

11.) qcf+C > cl. D - 4 frame gap between qcf+C and cl. D.

12.) qcf+AC > st. A - -1 frame gap between qcf+AC and st. A.

13.) qcf+AC > cr. A - -2 frame gap between qcf+AC and cr. A.

14.) qcf+AC > st. B - -3 frame gap between qcf+AC and st. B.

15.) qcf+AC > cr. B - -3 frame gap between qcf+AC and cr. B.

16.) qcf+AC > cl. C - -3 frame gap between qcf+AC and cl. C.

17.) qcf+AC > cr. C - -2 frame gap between qcf+AC and cr. C.

18.) qcf+AC > far D - 3 frame gap between qcf+AC and far D.

19.) qcf+AC > cl. D - 0 frame gap between qcf+AC and cl. D.

20.) qcf+AC > cr. D - 1 frame gap between qcf+AC and cr. D.

Best Team Position?

Highly subjective. Kula builds meter quickly so some people use her as a battery on point, relying mainly on basic but decently damaging combos. Some prefer her middle as she can efficiently use drive cancels while still saving/building meter for the anchor. As an anchor herself she can do respectable damage with HDs and has great hitconfirms to initiate them. Because of her versatility in placement she can be used to counter specific matchups (like zoners) or moved around to avoid bad matchups. To put it simply, place her wherever you're most comfortable.

Character Matchups

Andy Bogard

Ash Crimson

Athena Asamiya

Benimaru Nikaido

Billy Kane

Chin Gentsai

Clark Still

Duo Lon

Elisabeth Branctorche

Goro Daimon

Hwa Jai

Iori Yagami (Claw)

Potentially a very tough match for Kula due to Iori's superior speed, rushdown, mixups and normals. He will do his best to get in your face and pressure with C and jump C/D, empty hops into command grabs, tick command grabs, command crossups, cl.Bs (which hit low) and other dirty tricks like naked overheads into DMs/HD. Iori has little recovery on Akegarasu (qcb+B/D) and Shogetsu (qcb+A/C), meaning he can often DP or cl.C immediately after a blockstring to frametrap you, or he can use cl.C to reset in the corner, so be careful of these options. He will also have a free command crossup opportunity after every DM as they end with hard knockdowns. Iori's primary weaknesses are zoners and those that can keep him out of close range. Since Kula can't zone well, keeping Iori out of her immediate space becomes a priority. Use st.CD, st.B, neutral j.B, d.C, Diamond Breath and careful DPs to keep Iori at bay. Once you've broken his momentum you can attempt to counter rush him, but be aware he can DP and his cl.C and d.C are anti-airs. The best way to win this matchup is to get control of the fight before he does. His defensive options are decent but not spectacular so try to work his back into the corner and pressure intelligently from there.

Iori Yagami (Flame)

EX Iori is potentially a more dangerous matchup for Kula than Claw. He has all the same normals as Claw (except for a slower overhead), but an even better reversal DP (especially EX), fireballs, and rekkas that anti-air and cause a hard knockdown on finish. It can be very difficult to pressure him. His rekkas, cl.C, d.C, and DP will all punish you for being in the air, so sticking to the ground more often is a safer strategy. Like Claw he has a comboable command grab, an overhead, a command crossup and a low hitting cl.B, so his mixup potential is very high. Because his BnB combos end with hard knockdowns he'll have a free setup for his command crossup. You can attempt to roll this on wakeup, but Iori's run speed is fast enough to punish with a st.C if he runs immediately after landing, so be careful about relying on this to escape. An alternative option is to perform a reverse-input DP [1]. You will want to keep him off you at all costs because once he gets in he can be very difficult to stop. Keep him out the same way you would Claw Iori - st.B, neutral j.B, st.CD, d.C, Diamond Breath and smart DPs. When you back him into a corner, do your best to pressure him on the ground with your crouching and standing normals and Diamond Breath. Since his fireball travels on the ground, you can use light Ray Spins with the Standing followup to evade it and retaliate.

Joe Higashi

K'

Kim Kaphwan

King

Kula Diamond

Kyo Kusanagi (XIII) (mirror match)

Kyo Kusanagi (NESTS)

Leona Heidern

Mai Shiranui

Mature

Maxima

Raiden

Ralf Jones

Robert Garcia

Ryo Sakazaki

Saiki

Shen Woo

Sie Kensou

Takuma Sakazaki

Mr. Karate

Terry Bogard

Vice

Yuri Sakazaki