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The King of Fighters XV/Kim Kaphwan/Strategy
General Gameplan
Kim has a simple goal, get in and not let you escape. Even with his stubby toolkit he has a lot of ways to do that, but some MU are bound to make that hard.
His neutral is pretty simple, which is a plus as it's easy to get the hang of it, but a minus as he can get predictable.
He shines in his defense, a great flashkick and high reaching pokes help him turn the tide in his favor.
But the real stars of his gemplay are the endless oki and damage. Nearly everything Kim does leads into some sort of safejump, and his combo hurt like a truck.
Neutral
Kim's neutral is really simple, but not too easy, especially in certain match ups.
He doesn't have one move that does it all, but they all have a use for neutral.
- farA/C may not be cancelable, but they have great range to stop the opponent or poke them.
- farB/D and 2C/A/B are what you'll use for combo starting pokes, farB still has defensive uses too for Anti Airs.
- Even the most simple combo is enough to start his pressure, and he has some of the best combos off of lows and lights.
Hangetsuzan
Whilst the heavy version isn't too usefel outside of combos due to being -10 on block, light and especially EX get their uses for neutral.
Light Hangetsuzan is held back by its range but EX has the range and speed, both are safe enough that only a few character can punish it.
- EX on hit can be followed by an EX Hienzan, which is his best ender for oki.
Hisen Kyaku
His dedicated "I want to get in now!" move, with each version having a different use.
- 236A is the shortest but fast, and one of his most important moves for pressure too.
- 236C is longer, slower, but plus on block. It's meant to helpt with neutral but overusing it will make it worse.
- 236AC is his Anti Fireball move, it's not the best at it, but it's what he has.
All versions can be canceled into Hishou Kyaku, you won't use it often to hit. You'll use if for mix or bait, as well as emergency stops.
Air Superiority
Whilst he is no Isla or Shun'Ei, Kim's air moves help him quite a lot for neutral.
He has several great air normals like jD and its long range, jC with its arch and jA as a (underwhelming but still) crossup.
Less we foget his jCD, one of his best moves overall, and Kim is especially good at turning counter hits into kills.
In terms of mobility, besides just Hisen Kyaku, you also have Air Hangetsuzan and Hishou Kyaku, and a beefier version of Houou Kyaku
- Air Hangetsuzan only hits mid no matter what version, but he can start his offense from either. He moves diagonally forward when using it, changing his trajectory the most.
- Hishou Kyaku has seen better days, but it's still an ok dive kick. Light and Heavy change the angle at which he goes down, so make sure to use the right one when needed.
You can use either move to evade or bait out the opponent, but you best be careful with how you do it. The wrong move in the right place is all the opponent needs to get you.
Pressure and Mix
Kim's pressure may be simple, but very effective. It almost always leads straight into a combo, which leads into more pressure, and so on.
- Kim's main form of mix is his great selection of frametraps, very small gaps and it all leads into his beefy combos.
- They'll have to gamble on a roll or reversal to escape, jumping and mashing will lose against most of his options.
Frametraps
| Action | Notes |
|---|---|
| clA, clC | 2f gap, has the same downsides as the normal link. |
| clA, 2C / clD | 3f gap, much more reliable and the preferred option usually. Both clD and 2C are great options, clD is a low whilst 2C has no proximity needs. |
| 2A, 2C / farB | 4f gap, you will be using this one often, usually as 2C. |
| Light > 6B | Not the most reliable but it will catch people. |
| Light > 214B | Fast enough to trap. |
| 236A | One of his usual blockstring enders...Whatever you do don't use this against grapplers. |
Hisen Kyaku Feint
Whilst the rest of his mix is about frametraps, 236A ~ K is one of his less brought up options.
The move essentially becomes a feint, landing you straight in their face. You can either go for a throw or continue from where you left off. Just make sure to not overdo it as Kim isn't safe doing this.
Defense
Kim is practically infamous for his defense, having a great flashkick that can start combos and/or his pressure.
- Hienzan's his signature reversal.
- Light version has air invul but starts combos via super cancels.
- Heavy is fully invul and starts his pressure, but tends to be too slow.
- EX is the best of both, 4f like the Light version, fully invul and has even better oki.
Hienzan's strenghts cannot be underestimated, there is a Kim players make sure to hold down back, but its not flawless.
- It has a deadzone right above him, and it often fails against crossups.
- Whilst Light has air invul, it will still often trade with air moves, if used to early.
- It loves to whiff against crouchers, it may look like it will hit but there are the times when it won't.
It being a super strong flashkick justifies these for the most part, and its not like he lacks less risky options.
- clC hits where Hienzan won't, you can say he kicks high.
- farC, farB and farA can all be used to poke out opponents that try to come in, with the latter 2 being extra effective at that.
Okizeme
This is where Kim shines the brightest, all of his pressure and combos all lead to oki. Nearly every ender, meterless or not, has a safejump of sorts after.
Safejumps
General Notes
These have been tested with 4f DPs.
| Action | Notes |
|---|---|
| [2]8BD, hop | His most reliable safejump. |
| [2]8D ~ 2D, delayed hop | Less reliable than the EX Hienzan setup due to being manually timed. |
| 214C ~ 4P ~ 4P, hyper hop / roll, hyper hop | Double hyper hop is done after a grounded combo, like his meterless route. The roll is done after doing the rekka from 236236D. Neither is truly automated so be wary. |
| 214P ~ 6K ~ 2K, delayed hop | Works after 214A or 214C, timing is similar to [2]8D but easier. |
| j214D, (2B/2A), hyper hop | Whiffing the 2B only helps with airborne hits (like after jCD Counter confirms), if you hit them grounded you will need to use 2A to time it. |
| 2141236K/BD, (delayed farB), hyper hop OR delayed hyper jump | Not fully autotimed, but it works after all versions of Houou Kyaku. Another option is a delayed hyper jump, to make it look like a crossup attempt. |
| C Throw, (2B), hop | Corner only throw safejump. |
| D Throw, delayed hop | Corner only throw safejump, manually timed. |
Crossups
| Action | Notes |
|---|---|
| 214C ~ 4P ~ 4P, roll, hyper jump | Works after grounded hits only, like his meterless. |
| [2]8D ~ 2D / [2]8BD / 214P ~ 6K ~ 2K / j214D, hyper hop | Tends to sideswitch, not the most reliable but it can catch people offguard. |
| 2D > (236C) | Another sideswitch setup, only works after a grounded hit and it doesn't switch from max range. |
| 2141236K/BD, microdash, hyper jump | Works well enough, nothing special. |
Countering Kim
Zone.
But to be more thorough, Kim struggles when facing zoners, especially with fireballs. His only tool against those isn't that good and his stubby nature makes getting in a challenge.
He is also dead on the spot if Hienzan doesn't hit, as good as it may be it recovers slow enough to be punished big time. Nothing more ironic than a Kim losing to safejumps.
