The King of Fighters XIII/Mai

Mai Shiranui

In a nutshell

Of course this Fatal Fury femme fatale returns with this iteration of The King of Fighters. Although she has uniquely fast but high-arcing jumps and hops that makes her high and low game slightly more obvious, her focus is in her ability to zone and coax the opponent into approaching and setting them up for a trap. She's a tricky character with strong ground and aerial game. Though she may lack a fast attack that quickly rises above her vertically for an easy anti-air, she can play in a proactive manner that covers her bases to thoroughly make up for her shortcomings. While she may require the player to be more familiar and comfortable with spacing with normals, she's a fun and tricky character to play and has great attacks that beat out and control hop usage really well.

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Move List

Normal Moves

	Frames	Advantage	Properties	Block	Damage	Notes
Standing Close
	3/5/14	+2/0		HL	70	Other than Standing , this is Mai's best attempt to controlling the space right above her. While pretty good, it's a bit short compared to other characters' Cl. such as Kyo's and Iori's, and Mai's Cl. may be prone to trading with deep vertical attacks such as Kula's Jumping or Leona's Neutral Jumping . Other than that, this is Mai's fastest heavy-hitting attack to follow a jump-in with to continue her pressure strings.
	6/4/17	0/-2		HL	80	Similar to Standing but it's cancelable. If one is trying to run in with a Cl. to pressure the opponent but have an inkling that the opponent may hop back in retaliation, a Cl. may prove useful to tag the opponent horizontally. If the opponent responds with a full jump instead, then stick with the Cl..
Standing Far
	4/4/8	+3/+1		HL	25	One of Mai's best normals. Functions in the similar manner such as most Standing . It pressures standing and crouching characters from afar and is fast enough to lock down the opponent without much chances for the opponent to counter hit or escape via jumping. Also a good move to follow up meaty attacks. In some certain, few circumstances, this move could be swept or slid under. Upon trapping an opponent with a plethora of St. and Standing , Mai may earn the opportunity to lock the opponent from the air with early jump-in attacks such Jumping and Jumping , or hop in anticipation against sweeps and slides that would normally punish St. . What's neat and new in The King of Fighters XIII is that St. is now cancelable and attack strings easily into Ryuu Enbu ( + ) with safety, not taking Guard Counter Rolls into account. Since this move is cancelable, the player could hitconfirm from about 1 or 2 Crouching (spacing dependent) into a St. and combo into Hissatsu Shinobibachi ( + ) for the knockdown.
	6/4/9	+2/0	-	HL	30	A great compliment to Mai's St.. It covers that range right above Mai's St. that St. can't reach and works quite well as an anti-air attack. It catches most hops and works well against jumps and super jumps that were spaced to land about mid to mid-close range from Mai's position. If an opponent full neutral jumps in mid-close range, the tip of far Standing will anti-air that kind of jump as well. This move has been redesigned in The King of Fighters XIII to actually hit crouching opponents and force them to block; sweeping or counter poking it won't be easy in this game as it was previously. Stringing together St. and St. is a great tool for controlling the frontal space and especially pressure cornered opponents. Whiffing just by a little bit against opponents may be used to give the opponent a false sense of freedom to try to move forward or attack and Mai may recover in time to punish an escape or counter poke with a Ryuu Enbu ( + ), Standing or Crouching , or running up with Crouching that is spaced near the tip (but not exactly at it) and canceled into Ryuu Enbu, or a whiffed Cr. canceled into Ryuu Enbu. Mai can cancel her st. directly into her st.. While st. is normally uncancellable, this target combo is extremely useful for easily confirming into HD combos.
	8/6/18	-3/-5	-	HL	80	Mai slashes with her fan in a manner similar to her old attack from past games, Sachiyo Dori ( + ). What this means is that she covers the vertical and horizontal space in front of her. One of Mai's weaknesses is that her grounded, vertical space control is really weak and she has to supplement her spacing game with her great air-to-air normals and pro-actively control that area. To give her a breather, Standing can cover that straight vertical space above her, but she has to preempt the opponent's jump and time it a bit early in order for the "far range activation." Otherwise, this move covers a good frontal and vertical space and is good to use in attack strings now and then, but the frame disadvantage usually ends her offensive momentum. So be sure to use this move a bit more sparingly and use it to check the opponent's ability to escape.
	8/7/19	-5/-7	Chain Ender	HL	80	A higher risk yet higher reward version of St.. It has slightly more horizontal coverage than St. and does more damage as well. It's just that this attack is more prone to punishes, so please use it smartly. Mai can cancel her St. directly into her st.. While st. is normally uncancellable, this target combo is extremely useful for easily confirming into HD combos.
+	13/7/12	KD/+4		HL	75
Crouching
	5/3/8	+4/+2		HL	25	Effectively a crouching version of St.. In comparison to St. , Cr. has slightly less range. Regardless, it still has its applications within pressure strings and hit confirms.
	4/4/9	+2/0			30	A standard Cr. for high and low mix-ups and pressuring the opponent. Mai can also use this move in conjunction with running under to catch people doing sloppy jump-ins trying to get around Ryuu Enbu ( + ). So, this move acts as one of Mai's lovely anti-air attacks that she could easily set up the opponent for and hit confirm into a knockdown combo.
	4/7/17	-3/-5		HL	70	Mai's furthest reaching, hardest hitting, cancelable normal attack. It's great for poking and counter poking as well as for punishing opponents. It's quite fast and it's hard for the opponent to gauge when or when not to try to Guard Cancel Roll against this move, suspecting that Mai will cancel into another attack afterwards. If Mai doesn't cancel into another attack, she'll be left with enough frame advantage against a Guard Cancel Roll to meaty the recovery of the roll with another Cr. or another attack. So while at times it may seem contrived to attack and string with this attack, it's not a free ride to try to counter it at all.
	7/8/21	KD/-10			80	A standard sweep with moderate range and speed. It's cancel properties makes it good to pressure and attack string with, but of course will knockdown the opponent upon hit; as opposed to counter poking with a Cr., hitting, and canceling into Ryuu Enbu ( + ) for the knockdown. So in comparison with Cr., Cr. has the advantage of hitting low but in return does less damage upon hit if the opponent just so happens to be caught by an attack. Generally it has about the same range and coverage as Cr. but might boast a slight range advantage over it.
Jump/Hop
	5/12/- 5/10/-	-	-		45/40	A very quick attack that is great for limiting opponents' approach options. Such as if the opponent is too fond of doing early, hop forward heavy attacks, Mai could just stick out an early neutral hop Jumping or an early hop back J. to preempt an opponent.
	5/12/- 5/10/-	-/-			45/40	Mai jumps and attacks with her knee. This move covers mainly the space below Mai's waist, near her knee and crosses up quite well. Within closer ranges, trying to do this move as a hop-in attack will generally whiff most opponents due to Mai's unique hop arc so this move is usually spaced from about mid-close range or from full jumps to gain the cross-up.
	7/7/- 7/7/-	-/-			72/70	One of Mai's best air-to-air attacks. It covers a good "half-circular" range in front of Mai in the air and makes it's particularly good for air-to-air against jumps and hops while Mai commits to a hop. Upon an air-to-air hit, Mai can easily run under and go for cross-under Cr. mix-up and meaty from the other side of the opponent. If the opponent is too close and tried to hit Mai early out of her J., the player could choose to do the J. while holding forward or back and "Option Select" with an air throw, Yumezakura (Air or + [while close]), at this moment. While this move has a good downward hitbox, it doesn't reach the downward portion just as fast as J. or her other normals, so it's not entirely the preferred jump-in of choice. Jumping is great for occupying multiple areas in a small amount of time that gives Mai optimal control.
	7/8/- 7/8/-	-/-			70/68	Mai's most standard jump-in attack. Somewhat similar to J. in application, this move could be used during early during a hop or so to preempt an opponent's approaching hop or attempt to run in. From certain spacings, this attack may cancel into Musasabi no Mai (air) (Air + ) as proper attack string to throw off the opponent's timing. Just be wary of mis-spacing it or getting countered by a Guard Cancel Roll in the corner.
+	9/5/- 10/5/-	KD/-		HL	90/80	Effectively, this is an aerial Ryuu Enbu ( + ). It has great air control and good enough speed; but to hit upon crouching opponents, it must be timed very late. Late, to the point that the opponent could already react and it Mai with an anti-air normal or so. So be sure to mix-up Mai's jump-in attacks so the opponent has to second guess whether or not if there is enough time to anti-air Mai from the correct angle or commit blocking while standing.
Command Normals
+	10/-/-	+3 (at best)			50	Ukihane- Mai uses her fans to slow her descent, altering her trajectory and falling onto her target with a knee-drop. This move has a massive hitbox that can stuff or trade with anti-airs and even stop air-to-air attempts to counter this attack. This move also causes a hard knockdown, which can set up Mai for offensive pressure or give her time to back off and reestablish her zoning.
Throws
/ + /	0	KD			100
(air)/ +	0	KD			125
Special Moves
+	: 15/-/30 : 14/-/34 : 9/-/33	: +1/-2 : -3/-6 : KD/-5	:	HL	: 60 : 120	Kachousen-
+	: 15/9/25 : 9/3(15)9/31 : 7/3(15)11/15	: KD/-1 : KD/-7 : KD/+7	/:	HL	: 65 : 40 + 65 : 50+80	Ryuu Enbu-
+	: 6/2(4)2(10)22/17 : 9/5(2)3(11)23/17 : 9/10(11)24/19	: KD/-21 : KD/-22 : KD/-2		HL	: 45 * 2 : 50, 45, 50 :35 * 5	Hissatsu Shinobibachi-
(Jumping) +	: 21/-/17 : 16/-/17	: KD/- : KD/-		HL	: 70 : 48*N	Musabi no Mai-
charge , + (Hold)	36-49/-/17	-	-	--	70	Musabi no Mai-
charge , +	33-46	-	-	--	0	Musabi no Mai- Feint-
(air) (near wall)		-	-	--	0	Wall Jump- It's a wall-jump. Mai can attack as during a normal jump once she has jumped off. Can be useful for escaping the corner, though care must be taken so that one does not get anti-aired in the process.
DMs
+	: 11/3(3)32/29 : 7/3(3)32/29	: KD/-11 : KD/-9		HL	: 30 + 25 * 8 : 45 + 25 * 11	Chou Hissatsu Shinobibachi-
(air) +	: 10/28/- : 6/36/-	: KD/-3 : KD/-3		HL	: 25 * 8 : 25 * 12	Chou Hissatsu Shinobibachi-
(airok) + +	1/10/28	KD/-15		-	450	Shiranui Ryuu: Kunoichi no Mai-

Console Changes

• Crouching C has more cancelable frames.
• Ukihane (Air d+B) has a different trajectory than Arcade, and recovery time has been changed.
• Added new target combo: st.B > st.D. It can be used to connect into HD mode and also gives Mai more damage on pokes.
• Kachousen (qcf+P) has faster startup and faster recovery.
• Musasabi no Mai (from ground) (d~u+P) can be canceled with Ukihane (d+B).
• Light Ryuu Enbu (qcb+A) hitbox is larger vertically.
• Added EX Air Chou Hissatsu Shinobibachi (Air qcb hcf+BD). It is invincible until it becomes active.
• Shiranui Ryuu: Kunoichi no Mai (qcf hcb+AC) has faster startup and freezes time after flying to the edge of screen.

Combos

0% Drive

0 Bar

• cr.B cr.A xx qcb+C - (144, 18)
• (jump attack) cl.C xx qcb+C - (166, 19)
• j.D xx d+B -127/17
• (corner only) cl.C xx qcb+A, cr.C - (194, 22)
• cr.A, cr.C xx d...uf+P xx d+B - (145, 20)
  • Combo into overhead.
  • Alternatively do cr.D instead of cr.C on block for a hard to block low-high.

1 Bar

• (jump attack) cl.C xx qcb+AC, hcf+D - (267, 15 [mid-screen] / 308, 19 [corner])
• (jump wahtever) close.whatever xx qcf+BD (corner) qcb+C (327 dmg)
• (corner only) (jump attack) cl.C xx qcb+AC, qcb+C, qcb+C, cl.C or airgrab - (395, 38 / 431, 31)

These combos can be optionally started with cr.BA to allow a hitconfirm.

2 Bar

• cl.C xx qcb hcf+BD, airgrab - (408, 7)

50% Drive

0 Bar

• (corner only) (jump attack) cl.C xx hcf+D (2 hits) (DC) air qcb+C, qcb+C, cr.C or airgrab - (345, 42 / 383, 35)

1 Bar

• (corner only) cl.C xx qcb+AC, qcb+C, qcb+C (1 hit) (DC) qcf+A, qcb+C, qcb+C, cl.C or airgrab - (497, 62 / 514,55)

• (midscreen) cr.B cr.B st.A hcf+BD (corner), qcb+C(1) (DC) qcf+A, qcb+C, qcb+C, airthrow (379 dmg)
  • Carries to the corner from as far as half a stage away.

• (midscreen) cr.B cr.A qcb+AC, qcf+D(1) (DC) qcb+C, qcb+C, airthrow (410 dmg)
  • Works as far as 40% from the corner, and does pretty good damage.

• (midscreen) cl.C hcf+D(2) (DC) qcb+AC, acb+C, acb+C, airthrow (443 dmg)
  • Carries as far as the previous combo while doing more damage, though it requires a heavy normal to start it.

2 Bar

• (midscreen) cr.B cr.A qcb+AC, qcf+D(1) (DC) qcb+AC, qcf+D (354 dmg)
  • Carries all the way from one corner to another, probably useful for those corner crossup mixups from Mai's throw.

100% Drive

0 Meter

• (anywhere) st.B st.D (HD) st.D [hcf+D(1-2) (DC) qcb+C (DC)]x4 hcf+D [437/502 dmg]
  • hcf+D hits once against standing opponents and twice against crouching opponents. Against crouchers, cancel on the first hit at least once to avoid running out of gauge before the last DC.
  • qcb+C must be inputted slowly so the following hcf+D doesn't register as a super (hcf+D~qcb......C~hcf+D).
  • If you reach the corner at any point, drive cancel hcf+D into j.qcb+C instead and do the below combo for as long as your remaining drive gauge allows.

• (near corner) st.B st.D (HD) st.B st.D hcf+D (DC) j.qcb+C, hcf+D(2) (DC) [qcb+C]x3 (DC) qcf+A, [qcb+C]x2 (DC) qcf+A, [qcb+C]x3, st.C [632 dmg]
  • Builds 75% meter and 25% drive gauge after the last DC.

1 Meter

• (midscreen) st.B st.D (HD) st.B st.D hcf+BD, qcb+C (DC) qcf+A, [qcb+C]x3 (DC) qcf+A, [qcb+C]x2 (DC) qcf+A, qcb+C, airthrow (549 dmg)
  • Uses meter to carry. Easier than doing the meterless loop, but prorates a lot.

• (corner) cr.C qcf+A, st.A qcb+AC, [qcb+C]x3 (DC) qcf+A, [qcb+C]x2 (DC) qcf+A, [qcb+C]x2, cr.C
  • Almost 100% stun.

2 Meter

• (anywhere) st.B st.D (HD) st.D [hcf+D(1-2) (DC) qcb+C (DC)]x3 hcf+D (DC) j.qcf,hcb+AC [642/711 dmg]
  • hcf+D hits once against standing opponents and twice against crouching opponents.
  • qcb+C must be inputted slowly so the following hcf+D doesn't register as a super (hcf+D~qcb......C~hcf+D).

• (near corner) st.B st.D (HD) st.B st.D hcf+D (DC) j.qcb+D, hcf+D(2) (DC) [qcb+C]x3 (DC) qcf+A, [qcb+C]x2 (DC) qcf,hcb+AC (768 dmg)
  • Input qcb+C as qcf,hcb+C~AC for an easy max-cancel.

• (near corner) st.B st.D (HD) (st.B) st.D hcf+D (DC) j.qcb+C, hcf+D(1) (DC) qcf+A, qcb+C, [hcf+D(2) (DC) qcb+A]x2, hcf+D(2) (DC) qcf,hcb+AC (790 dmg)
  • A more damaging alternative to the previous combo.
  • Skip either (st.B) or the second hit of the last hcf+D against crouching opponents.

Strategy

Tips and Tricks

After throwing the opponent into the corner, Mai can jump into the corner just by doing a regular jump forward, though as far as I know she's unable to land a crossup j.B this way. You can also walk forward a bit and then roll into the corner, and depending on how far you walk creates an ambiguous roll setup.