The King of Fighters XIII/Raiden/Strategy

Spacing

Far Range

From this distance there is not a lot Raiden can do but he still has a couple of options. His A version Poison Mist comes out quickly and can be used to cancel projectiles which building you some meter. Ideally you should slowly advance by walking them into the corner and using Poison Mist to keep yourself covered. A shoulder tackle can cover a bit of distance as well.

Mid Range

Starting from this distance Raiden is incredibly dangerous. Poison Mist is a very potent move to deal with jump ins and cancel projectiles but be cautious since it can be punished if you are too predictable. His A version of Giant Bomb is fairly good at closing the distance but try to make sure your opponent is forced to block it if you choose to use this move. Once you get within a few steps of your opponent you can immediately turn the pressure on with your strong normals and guard crush game.

At this range your opponent must be very careful of your drop kicks. You are close enough to react to jump ins and sluggish moves which can land you big damage. The preferred method of anti airing is st.A for short hops and dp+P for any jumps and super jumps. If they do anything that is even remotely slow from this distance let go of drop kick on reaction to it. If you get a st.A anti air you can let go of DK as well and get your combo of choice.

Close Range

When Raiden is up close and personal he has a lot of options. Raiden can guard crush fairly easily using a combination of cr.C, cl.C, Poison Mist, and Drop Kick. The A version of Giant Bomb is fairly safe on block which gets you right next to them. It also deals a lot of guard crush as well. Once you get a guard crush you can use cl.C or cr.C into qcb+AC into a big damage combo. If that's not your cup of tea Raiden has an incredibly dangerous j.D which can cross up very easily, a st.D that hits overhead, and a command grab that deals stupid damage. Because of those tools, Raiden has the same mixup game that every KoF character has except even deadlier because of how hard he hits.

Guard crushing with Raiden is a very deadly skill. Guard crushing is as easy as getting your opponent to block cr.C db~f+AC, DK. Those three moves will guard crush everybody except for Daimon, Clark, Ralf, and Maxima. Another fairly easy string to land if your opponent is not awake is cl.C, qcb+A, cr.C, db~f+A, DK. By showing your opponent that you know how to guard crush them quickly they'll be forced to spend meter on GCCDs to save themselves from losing their whole guard bar in a single second.

When you're on the defensive it may be hard to dp+P jumps and hops but luckily Raiden has a very good st.C which deals with hops fairly effectively if you do it early enough and an amazing st.A. cr.C can work as an anti hop too but it is a bit more dangerous since it hits lower than cl.C.

Cornered Opponent

By using a lot of Poison Mist and Giant Bomb to keep close you can make getting out very difficult for your opponent. Watch for jumps and punish with Raiden Bomb. Everything from the above section applies as well.

Cornered

The easiest way to get out is to try and use brute strength. EX Raiden Bomb will blow through almost every jump in attempt. St.A is incredibly fast and good at getting you some space to work with. If you are not charging a D drop kick then GCCDing is a very good tool to get out for only 1 bar. Drop kicking just to fly past a jump is an okay way to get out as well. While being cornered with Raiden is not too bad you still do not want to be put in this position.

Tips

• GCCD into D Dropkick
• Because of how long the game remembers your charge it is possible for you to GCCD into D dropkick. It's a very difficult technique but worth the effort it takes to learn because after you get it down and if you have the bar, your opponent is not safe no matter what button he presses.
• Hold BCD while blocking
• Release CD and quickly tap it again to get GCCD
• Release CD once again and a D dropkick should come out
• Proceed into your combo of choice.

Frame Traps

• "(n) frame gap" = The amount of frames that opponent has to counter a frame trap.

1.) st. B > st. A - 2 frame gap between st. B and st. A. St. A whiffs on crouching opponents, except on Daimon, Raiden, and Maxima.

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

3.) st. B > cr. B - 3 frame gap between st. B and st. B.

4.) st. B > cl. C - 3 frame gap between st. B and cl. C.

5.) st. B > cr. C - 4 frame gap between st. B and cr. C.

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)

Iori Yagami (Flame)

Joe Higashi

K'

Kim Kaphwan

King

Kula Diamond

Kyo Kusanagi (XIII)

Kyo Kusanagi (NESTS)

Leona Heidern

Mai Shiranui

Mature

Maxima

Raiden (mirror match)

Ralf Jones

Robert Garcia

Ryo Sakazaki

Saiki

Shen Woo

Sie Kensou

Takuma Sakazaki

Mr. Karate

Terry Bogard

Vice

Yuri Sakazaki