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The King of Fighters '98 UMFE/Billy Kane
Introduction
Billy excels at poking with his long-reaching moves. He has good anti-airing options, such as a high counter with extremely quick start up and a simple motion, making it easy to react with, and a decent DP. In addition to this, he is good when he has frame advantage up close, as he has good frame traps, an untechable mash grab, an instant jumping overhead, an excellent crossup, and an unsafe (unless it his late) overhead.
His low risk counters are difficult to react to and recover quickly, and can scare the opponent from pressing buttons after a blocked toward A. Billy has a weakness in that his quickest longest pokes have very bad priority: The hurtbox extends further out than the hitbox, meaning he is vulnerable to counter pokes when using these moves. For Billy's pokes, you only get two out of three traits: Speed, range, and a hurtbox that's behind the hitbox. Even some moves that have good hurtboxes can be counterpoked, because the hurtbox extends before the hitbox, so they are vulnerable before they get going. Furthermore, his defensive options require heavy commitment and are weak to the options they don't stop, a prime example being to mash 2C with its heavy recovery, against someone who stepped back or rolled, when you were hoping for a jump.
With very good execution, he can make two of his moves with the strongest hitboxes and hurtboxes, standing CD and crouching D, be neutral on block and much less vulnerable to rolling. Normally, these moves, while strong, are very negative on block and are susceptible to being rolled. The technique is to cancel to his mashed moves, then either immediately stopping them for better frame data, or letting them rock to catch rolls.
Changes from Previous Versions
98 to 98UM
Normals:
- A new hitbox added to st.C, it now hits diagonally upwards as well as in front
- Hitbox of cr.A lengthened
- New animation to cr.D, the staff now hits twice instead of one staff hit and one sweep
- Raw f+B is now an overhead
Specials:
- The reach and maximum number of hits of mash C increased
- Both hits of dp+C now launch, both hits will also hit airborne opponents now
98UM to 98UMFE
Normals:
- cl.C no longer whiffs on short characters
- cr.D now cancels into special moves and DMs
- f+A's second hit should no longer whiff on short characters
Specials:
- Startup of qcb+K shortened to 2 frames
- hcf+P's A version has 6 frames less recovery, C version has 10 frames less recovery
- You can now cancel the animation of mash A/C by pressing ABCD together
Supers:
- For qcfx2+P, if the second hit connects in mid-air, the third hit should connect easier, and Billy's hurtbox has been shrunk downwards
Normal Moves
Close
- cl.A: Has good vertical reach. Decent point blank anti air. Whiffs on short crouchers. Chainable and cancelable.
- cl.B: Staple combo tool when chained into from cr.B. Chainable and cancelable.
- cl.C: One of Billy's main combo tools. It has a lot of active frames so it can be a good meaty. Cancelable.
- cl.D: Whiffs on regular crouchers and lower. Can be a decent close range anti air. Cancelable.
Standing
- st.A: Decent poke. More active than st.B. Whiffs on tiny crouchers. Cancelable.
- st.B: Can be useful for anti-airing hops. Whiffs on short crouchers.
- st.C: Long-range poke with two active parts, the first diagonally above Billy which can stop jumps and the second in front of him. Like many of Billy's longer pokes, it has very bad priority.
- st.D: Very slow move with some low invulnerability and decent hitboxes for stopping jumps. Very risky due to how slow it is. Should be used with caution.
Crouching
- cr.A: Long-range poke, very useful for checking grounded movement from the opponent. Bad priority.
- cr.B: Billy's main low combo tool. Chainable and cancelable.
- cr.C: Very fast move which makes it an excellent combo tool, can also be used for anti airing or as a poke since it also has nice forwards priority. Has a lot of recovery on whiff. Cancelable.
- cr.D: Long-range sweep that is whiff cancelable. Has good priority making it a good poke as well. Cancelable.
Jumping
- j.A: Very fast, making it excellent for air-to-airs.
- nj.A: Long-reaching forward poke that can be good for air-to-airs. Bad priority.
- j.B: Good jump-in that also works as an instant overhead.
- nj.B: Mostly the same as j.B, but with a different animation. Not an instant overhead.
- j.C: Long-range poke with a lot of active frames. Bad priority.
- nj.C: Downwards-hitting long poke with good priority, making it a good anti-air and air-to-air tool.
- j.D: Good for jump-ins and crossups.
- nj.D: Pretty much the same as j.D, but with a different animation.
CD Normals
- st.CD: Great long-range poke with nice priority. Whiff cancelable. Naturally negative on block, but neutral on block if cancelled to a whiffed A A A A, and this A A A A is cancelled immediately.
- j.CD: Great jump-in attack with good priority.
Throws
Drop into Hell: b/f+C (close)
- Hold throw, not techable. Billy picks the opponent up on his pole and shakes them around a bit, then slams them down, sending them fullscreen away with a hard knockdown.
Skewering Toss: b/f+D (close)
- Regular throw, techable. Billy picks the opponent up with his pole and slams them down behind him, sending them fullscreen away with a backturned hard knockdown.
Command Moves
Wide Revolving Kick: f+A
- Two-hitting move with great priority on both hits. One of Billy's main pokes and combo tools.
Pole Vault Kick: f+B
- Slow overhead move that travels forward a lot. Has good priority.
Special Moves
Mash moves
Billy has two mash moves: PPPP ending in A, and PPPP ending in C.
You can press any punch button three times, but the fourth one determines which move you get.
- Whirlwind Crane:
PPPP ending in A- Billy spins his staff around.
- Can be cancelled by pressing ABCD.
- Crushes projectiles. If you predict a projectile and you start this move in time, to immediately cancel it, you can get some nice frame advantage in neutral where blocking the projectile would normally make you negative. It takes time to mash out though, so has to be done somewhat predictively.
- If the opponent rolls in to it, you can let it rock for good damage.
- It's positive on block if you cancel it to avoid whiffing, if you can ever manage to make it touch the opponent
- If standing CD is cancelled to it, and it is immediately cancelled, then standing CD becomes neutral on block, where it's normally negative.
- Focus Continuous Beat Canes:
PPPP ending in C- Billy rapidly and repeatedly thrusts his staff.
- Can be cancelled by pressing ABCD.
- Neutral on block. You can cancel cr.D to this, then cancel the move itself so you don't end up whiffing, to improve its frames on block.
- It's a poke with a good hitbox and hurtbox, but takes execution to be able to use fluently in neutral. It also only has quick start up if you can buffer its four punches in some thing like a jump, since otherwise you have to whiff a normal, which then cancels to this.
- You can let it do more hits to push your opponent away. If this move is out and the opponent rolls, you can let it rock to catch them.
Midsection Club Cruncher: hcf+A/C
- Billy thrusts his pole forwards. The A version starts up faster but recovers slower than the C version.
- The A version is your go-to combo tool, as the C version is too slow to combo.
- The C version is the better choice for neutral use, as its faster recovery makes it a bit safer to whiff.
- Has a ton of priority, so it can almost be considered a projectile in use.
- Flaming Midsection Club Cruncher:
qcf+A/C (during hcf+P hit)
- Followup move to hcf+P. Billy's extended pole erupts into a burst of flames that knocks down.
- Will only come out at about 3/4ths of the move's range, so it won't come out if you hit them at the tip.
- Only comes out on hit.
- Causes a soft knockdown.
Soaring Crackdown Cane: dp+B/D
- Billy pole vaults into the air and comes down about a half screen away from the starting position of the move.
- Launches the opponent on hit, allowing for followup juggles.
- The B version is faster but leaves the opponent closer to the ground when it finishes, leaving less time for followups.
- The D version is slower and harder to combo into, but leads to better juggles.
- Neither version combos from lights but both combo from heavies.
- In the corner, this move is extra deadly because you can combo a DM afterwards for big damage.
Pursuing Fire Dragon Cane: qcb+B
- Counters high attacks.
- Very fast, with only has one startup frame, making it a good reaction anti-air tool.
Pursing Water Serpent Cane: qcb+D
- Counters mid/low attacks.
- Comes out at the same speed as the B version, and is therefore good to catch grounded pokes.
Slicing Spiral Cane: dp+A/C
- Billy spins his pole and jumps up into the air.
- Though this looks like a DP, it only has startup invincibility and is not a true reversal.
- Can be used as a good anti air, the C version is slower but has better anti air hitboxes.
- The A version is faster, but the first hitbox of the move is not good for anti airing so it needs to be done a bit earlier than the C version to have good chances of success.
Desperation Moves
Super Fire Wheel: qcf,hcb+A/C
- Billy spins his pole around, creating a ring of fire; he spins it in place for a while and then sends it flying forwards.
- Both A and C version are fairly similar, they mostly have different timing for the hits.
- Mostly used for a corner combo after dp+K.
- MAX version does more damage.
Big Fan: qcfx2+A/C
- Billy swings his pole upwards and then back down again.
- Good combo DM and longer-range punish.
- In the MAX version, Billy slams the pole down multiple times, dealing more damage.
Combos
General Notes
Meterless
Low
cr.B, cr.B, st.B, f+A/dp+A- Hit-confirm into f+A for more damage, or dp+A for soft knockdown.
Mid/Jump-In
(j.X), cr.C, hcf+A > qcf+A- Midscreen punish or jump-in combo.
cr.C, dp+B, mash C- Midscreen juggle after dp+B ending in his mash C move.
With Meter
Mid/Jump-In
(j.X), cr.C, qcfx2+A- Jump-in or punish combo into DM. Good to use close to the corner, because further out the second hit will whiff.
Corner
(j.X), cr.C, dp+B, qcf,hcb+A- Corner combo juggle into DM.
With Quick MAX
Midscreen
2B ABC, 2C, 236236P
Quick Max combo from a low. If your 2B hits from far away, cancel the 2C into 41236A>236A instead. Works in the corner, and it's also the best follow-up there.
6B ABC, mash C
Small follow-up after Billy's overhead from midscreen. Only works on Counter Hit. Even if the overhead doesn't hit, it is now more safe thanks QM reducing recovery, so it's worth to go for.
Corner
(j.X), 2C, 623B ABC, 2363214P
Only recommended if your lifebar is flashing red, otherwise, there's no real advantage as 623B naturally leads into 2141236P either way. QM the last hit of 623B, do it too early and the juggle won't work.
6B ABC, 236321P
Overhead into super route. Only works on counter hit.
214B ABC, 2363214P
QM combo from anti-air counter. The attack needs to be parried when they are not too close to the ground.