Heavy D! is an extremely fast and long-ranged physical zoner who has some pretty great mixups and space-controlling options, but suffers a bit in the damage department. With his special and DM install moves, however, he can get some of the highest meterless damage in the game, and thus becomes a ridiculously well-rounded and powerful character. He can hang back and control half the screen with his pokes and special moves, or get in and destroy his opponents with high/low/throw mixups from close- or mid-range. He suffers a bit when his opponent gets in on him, or when trying to do damage before he gets his install up, but otherwise he's not too demanding to use and can very difficult to deal with.
Changes from Previous Versions
98 to 98UM
Normals:
st.C has 2 frames less startup
cr.D can now be canceled
Specials:
qcf+P now knocks down, weak version has 4 more startup frames
qcb+K now has invincibility that stretches to the active frames, but the startup has been increased; the enhanced version causes a juggle state
qcf+K hitbox increased in size, it now has a hitbox consistent with where the move looks to hit
Supers:
Added qcfx2+K: Heavy D! has all his moves automatically enhanced with the Shadow effect for the duration of the install, but he can't build meter when it's active
98UM to 98UMFE
Normals:
cr.C has less recovery and no longer whiffs on short characters
Specials:
After using d,d+P, as long as you don't do any powered up specials you won't lose the effect upon being hit
Shadow version of qcf+A has faster startup and will connect from light attacks
Supers:
Animation for qcfx2+K completes during the super flash, so you can move as soon as it ends
MAX version of qcfx2+K effect lasts until the end of the round
Normal Moves
Close
cl.A: Solid, lightning-fast combo filler. Has a really nice hitbox. Chainable and cancelable.
cl.B: Interchangeable with close standing A in combos. Also has a really nice hitbox. Chainable and cancelable.
cl.C: Fantastic punish material. Comes out fast and combos into everything combo-able, including dp+P at close enough range. Cancelable.
cl.D: Basically a little self-contained hit-confirm. Hits twice, with both hits being cancelable. Won't combo into dp+P. Does the same damage as cl.C.
Standing
st.A: Standard st.A meant for anti-airing hops. Has extremely fast startup and lots of reach, so it can also function as a poke in some situations. Whiffs on crouching characters. Chainable and cancelable.
st.B: Slower and way less safe than far stA, with the tradeoff being that it doesn't whiff on crouching characters. However, cr.A also doesn't whiff on crouching characters and doesn't have these downsides. Don't use this button. Cancelable.
st.C: Gigantic poke with tons of range, but slow recovery. Good for stuffing the opponent's approach.
st.D: Supposed to be an anti-air, but it's really slow and range-dependent, and the priority isn't great. Heavy D! has way better anti-airs, don't bother with this.
Crouching
cr.A: Has insane range for a cr.A, and is otherwise pretty much identical to st.A (except that it hits crouchers). Great for picking up combos after you chain a bunch of cr.Bs in a row. Chainable and cancelable.
cr.B: Heavy D!'s low combo starter. Range isn't great, but it can chain into itself a ridiculous number of times for excellent confirms. Chainable, not cancelable.
cr.C: Excellent anti-air with a ton of priority and nice speed. Good for getting your opponent off of you. Cancelable.
cr.D: Sweep with a surprising amount of range. Cancelable.
Jumping
j.A: Good all-purpose jump-in. Good priority and not much pushback.
j.B: The most crossup button imaginable. Ambiguous as hell and with barely any pushback, allowing for lots of followup chain combos.
nj.B: Decent air-to-air.
j.C: Two-hit normal that does the most damage out of all of Heavy D!'s jump-ins.
j.D: Far-reaching jump-in and probably Heavy D!'s best air-to-air option.
CD Normals
st.CD: Nice poke that knocks down. Fairly slow. Cancelable on hit, block, and whiff.
j.CD: Covers basically the same range as jumping D, but with a little more range and priority.
Throws
Stomach Buster:b/f+C (close)
Untechable mash throw. Opponent can mash to take away some of the hits, you can mash to do the hits faster before that happens. Doesn't switch sides. Soft knockdown.
Reverse Stomach Buster:b/f+D (close)
Another untechable mash throw. Opponent can mash to take away some of the hits, you can mash to do the hits faster before that happens. Switches sides. Hard knockdown.
Command Moves
Rock Crush:f+A
Extremely standard KoF command normal. Overhead when done raw, not an overhead when canceled into.
If you juggle into it, it's not damage-optimal but does give a hard knockdown with your opponent right next to you.
Good for conversions from long chains of lights.
Special Moves
Rolling Soul Diver:qcf+A/C
Heavy D!'s long-range dash punch.
Good for ending grounded combos with lots of pushback, ending juggles if you want oki instead of damage, or just poking and taking up space.
A version is fast, while C version goes further and does more damage.
Sometimes not all hits will connect at absolute max range.
Both versions are safe against everything except moves that are both fast and long-ranged, so you can poke with it against most characters.
Shadow makes both versions faster and more damaging. Shadow A version is fast enough to combo from light buttons without f+A.
Blast Upper:qcf+B/D
Heavy D!'s other big combo ender. Does more damage than Rolling Soul Diver, but has less range.
Has a big projectile hitbox, so it makes a nice zoning tool and anti-air. Can also nullify one projectile.
Both versions do the same damage, but the B version is a bit faster (and combos from lights) while the D version has more range (and can be spaced to be safe).
Great for ending juggles and just taking up space generally.
Shadow makes it do more damage.
Ducking Combination:qcb+A/C (x2)
Weird but powerful rekka.
The first part of the rekka has a ton of invincibility and moves forward quite a bit. The C version is slower than the A version but goes further, and has more invincibility.
The second part of the rekka hits low and combos from the first part for the C version, and hits high but doesn't combo from the first part for the A version.
Both versions of both parts can be mixed and matched.
Too slow to combo from anything, unfortunately, but it does a ton of damage and the invincibility makes it a great tool for blowing past neutral and forcing a mixup for free.
Shadow makes both parts do more damage, although the extra damage for the first part only comes out if you don't follow it up.
Soul Flower:qcb+B/D
An anti-air move and invincible reversal.
Very slow, but has invincibility into the active frames, making it a good wakeup option. Also does a bunch of damage.
B version is faster, while D version is more damaging and launches the opponent higher.
Shadow makes it do even more damage, and launches the opponent so that you can juggle out of it.
Dancing Beat:dp+A/C (close)
Proximity unblockable, meaning it's basically a command grab at close range and doesn't come out otherwise.
Does very nice damage. Shadow reduces the damage but makes it an insanely powerful launcher that opens up all of Heavy D's most damaging combo routes.
Both the A and C versions are the same.
Shadow:d,d+A/C
An install move that powers up Heavy D!'s next special move in some way (generally more hits and damage).
Once you have it, nothing gets rid of it except using it on a special move (or doing raw Rock Crush for some reason).
If you do it twice in a row you end up spending it on a powered-up version of itself, which is pretty much useless.
It's a very good idea to pop this in neutral whenever you get the chance, although qcfx2+K makes it much less important.
Desperation Moves
D. Crazy:qcb,hcf+A/C
Pretty standard KoF ranbu DM.
Has about the same speed and range as qcf+P, so it combos from all the same things.
MAX version is the same but does more damage and has more corner carry (it can take opponents from one corner to the other).
D. Magnum:qcfx2+A/C (can be held)
Projectile DM with fairly slow startup.
Holding it doesn't do anything but delay it.
Won't combo from anything on the ground, but it'll blow through projectiles and you can set up a couple of juggles into it with MAX Mode.
MAX version is the same but does more damage.
D. Shadow:qcfx2+B/D
Install DM that gives Heavy D! his Shadow buff for the next five special moves or ten seconds, whatever gets used up first.
With this, Heavy D!'s damage goes through the roof, and he goes from slightly underpowered to slightly overpowered and gets to stay there for quite a while.
The install also has no startup or recovery, allowing Heavy D! to activate it to see what his opponent is about to do and then respond appropriately with no lag time.
If Heavy D! has meter to spend, it should probably be on this.
MAX version gives him the buff for the remainder of the round.
Combos
General Notes
Any meterless non-juggle combo ending with qcf+P can have that replaced with qcb,hcf+P for more damage if you have the resources.
qcb,hcf+P can be replaced with qcb,hcf+AC for more damage if you have the resources.
If you have MAX Mode on, any combo that involves juggling into qcb+B can have that replaced with qcb+D.
Meterless
Low
cr.B, cr.A, dp+P
Basic low combo without Shadow.
Mid/Jump-In
cl.C, dp+P
Basic meterless punish combo without Shadow.
cl.D, qcf+D
Confirm combo from cl.D.
(j.X), cl.C, qcf+D
Basic jump-in/punish combo without Shadow.
[Almost any combination of 2-5 chained light normals], f+A, qcf+C
Combo from lights if you master Heavy D!'s normal-chaining. Precise but potentially very rewarding.
Shadow
cr.B, cr.A, dp+P, qcf+D/qcf+A
Shadow combo from a low. qcf+D does more damage but qcf+A gives better oki.
cl.C, dp+P, qcf+D/qcf+A
Shadow punish combo. qcf+D does more damage but qcf+A gives better oki.
(j.X), cl.A, dp+P, qcf+D/qcf+A
Shadow jump-in combo. qcf+D does more damage but qcf+A gives better oki.
With Meter
D. Shadow
cr.B, cr.A, dp+P, qcb+B, qcf+D/qcf+A
Requires D. Shadow. qcf+D does more damage but qcf+A gives better oki.
cl.C, dp+P, qcb+B, qcf+D/qcf+A
Requires D. Shadow. qcf+D does more damage but qcf+A gives better oki.
(j.X), cl.A, dp+P, qcb+B, qcf+D/qcf+A
Requires D. Shadow. qcf+D does more damage but qcf+A gives better oki.
Other
cr.B, cr.A, dp+P, qcfx2+P
Requires MAX Mode and Shadow/D. Shadow to be active. In Extra mode, the last hit of dp+P can be Quick MAX-ed instead of having MAX Mode on from the start.
cl.C, dp+P, qcfx2+P
Requires MAX Mode and Shadow/D. Shadow to be active. In Extra mode, the last hit of dp+P can be Quick MAX-ed instead of having MAX Mode on from the start.
(j.X), cl.A, dp+P, qcfx2+P
Requires MAX Mode and Shadow/D. Shadow to be active. In Extra mode, the last hit of dp+P can be Quick MAX-ed instead of having MAX Mode on from the start.
