The King of Fighters XIII/King

King

In a nutshell

King is one of the more zoning characters in XIII due to her strong normals, but she has the tools to press the advantage on a knockdown. Her j.D is now more relevant from a hop, her hitconfirms are easy, and with meter she has some of the strongest antiair options. Overall King requires a good knowledge of controlling space with normals, the caution to apply passive-aggressive rushdown, and solid blocking fundamentals to find a way out of enemy rushdown.

Move List

Normal Moves

Name

Command

Damage

Special Properties (glossary)

Standing Light Punch

kof.lp

30

chaincancel cancel

Standing Light Kick

kof.lk

30

low cancel

Standing Heavy Punch

kof.sp

80

Close Heavy Punch

kof.sp

70

cancel

Standing Heavy Kick

kof.sk

80

Close Heavy Kick

kof.sk

1st hit: 40
2nd hit: 45

cancel

Crouching Light Punch

d + kof.lp

25

chaincancel cancel

Crouching Light Kick

d + kof.lk

30

low chaincancel

Crouching Heavy Punch

d + kof.sp

70

cancel

Crouching Heavy Kick

d + kof.sk

80

low softknockdown cancel

Blowback Attack

kof.sp + kof.sk

75

softknockdown specialcancel

Jumping Light Punch

air kof.lp

Jump: 45
Hop: 40

high cancel

Jumping Light Kick

air kof.lk

Jump: 45
Hop: 40

high

Jumping Heavy Punch

air kof.sp

Jump: 72
Hop: 70

high cancel

Jumping Heavy Kick

air kof.sk

Jump: 70
Hop: 68

high

Jumping Blowback Attack

air kof.sp + kof.sk

Jump: 90
Hop: 80

softknockdown

Unique Attacks

Name

Command

Damage

Special Properties (glossary)

Slide Kick

df + kof.sk

40

low

Slide Kick (cancelled-into)

df + kof.sk

40

low cancel

Throw

Name

Command

Damage

Special Properties (glossary)

Hook Buster

f or b + kof.sp or kof.sk (while close)

100

throw hardknockdown

Special Moves

Name

Command

Damage

Special Properties (glossary)

Trap Shot

dp + k

k 1st hit: 0
2nd till 4th hit: 20x3
5th hit: 80
ex 1st hit: 0
2nd till 7th hit: 20x6
8th hit: 80

softknockdown drivecancel

Venom Strike

qcf + k

k : 65
ex 1st and 2nd hit: 75x2
Air k : 60
Air ex : 120

airok supercancel
ex : softknockdown

Tornado Kick '95

hcb + k

kof.lk 1st and 2nd hit: 30x2
kof.sk 1st and 2nd hit: 60x2
ex 1st till 3rd hit: 55x3

softknockdown drivecancel

Desperation Moves

Name

Command

Damage

Special Properties (glossary)

Double Strike

qcf qcf + k

1st and 2nd hit: 105x2

softknockdown

Surprise Rose

qcf qcf + p

p 1st and 2nd hit: 10x2
3rd hit: 0
4th till 14th hit: 12x11
15th hit: 48
ex 1st and 2nd hit: 10x2
3rd hit: 0
4th till 6th hit: 10x3
7th hit: 30
8th till 10th hit: 10x3
11th hit: 30
12th till 14th hit: 10x3
15th hit: 30
16th till 18th hit: 10x3
19th hit: 100

softknockdown maxcancel

Venom Shot

qcb qcb + kof.lk + kof.sk

1st till 17th hit: 30x17

airok softknockdown

Strategy

Combos

0 Bar 0% Drive

• cr.B cr.B st.B df+D xx hcb+B, far C
• (corner only) cr.B cr.B st.B df+D xx hcb+B, dp+K - 221, 24
• cl.D df+D xx hcb+B, st.C - 227, 37
• (corner only) cl.D df+D xx hcb+B, dp+K - 250, 30

0 Bar 50% Drive

• (corner only) cr.B cr.A df+D xx hcb+B, dp+K (DC) hcb+B, hcb+D - 294, 52
• cl.D xx dp+K (DC) hcb+B, hcb+D - 286, 40
• (corner only) cl.D df+D xx hcb+B, dp+K (DC) hcb+B, hcb+D - 323, 58

0 Bar 100% Drive

• (corner only) [cr.B cr.A df+D] or [cl.D df+D] (HD) cr.C df+D xx [dp+K (HDC) hcb+B] x 4, hcb+D - 441, 40 / 470, 46

1 Bar 0% Drive

• cr.B cr.A df+D xx qcf+BD, hcb+D - 291, 28
• cl.D df+D xx qcf+BD, hcb+D - 320, 34
• (corner only) [cr.B cr.A df+D] or [cl.D df+D] xx qcf+BD, qcf+B, hcb+D - 333, 34 / 362, 40

1 Bar 50% Drive

• (corner only) [cr.B cr.A df+D] or [cl.D df+D] xx hcb+B, dp+K xx qcf qcf+P - 321, 24 / 350, 30

1 Bar 100% Drive

• (corner only) [cr.B cr.A df+D] or [cl.D df+D] (HD) cr.C df+D xx [dp+K (HDC) hcb+B] x 4, qcf+K, qcf qcf+P - 530, 30 / 559, 36

2 Bar 0% Drive

• cr.B cr.A df+D xx qcf+BD, qcf qcf+K - 360, 12
• (corner only) [cr.B cr.A df+D] or [cl.D df+D] xx hcb+B, qcf qcf+AC - 402, 24 / 431, 30

2 Bar 50% Drive

• (corner only) [cr.B cr.A df+D] or [cl.D df+D] xx hcb+B, dp+K (DC) hcb+B, hcb+D, qcf qcf+AC - 509, 52 / 538, 58

2 Bar 100% Drive

• (corner only) [cr.B cr.A df+D] or [cl.D df+D] (HD) cr.C df+D xx [dp+K (HDC) hcb+B] x 4, hcb+D, qcf qcf+AC - 656, 40 / 685, 46

3 Bar 0% Drive

• (corner only) [cr.B cr.A df+D] or [cl.D df+D] xx qcf+BD, qcf+B, hcb+D, qcf qcf+AC - 571, 34 / 600, 40

3 Bar 50% Drive

• (corner only) h.C, cr.A df+D xx qcf+BD, qcf+B, dp+K (DC) hcb+B, hcb+D, qcf qcf+AC - 647, 50

3 Bar 100% Drive

• (corner only) [cr.B cr.A df+D] or [cl.D df+D] (HD) cr.C df+D xx [dp+K (HDC) hcb+B] x 4, qcf qcf+K, qcf qcf+AC - 736, 24 / 765, 30

Corner carry:

• [cr.B cr.A df+D] or [cl.D df+D] (HD) cr.A df+D xx hcb+B, dp+BD (HDC) hcb+BD, dp+BD (HDC) hcb+B, dp+K (HDC) hcb+B, hcb+D - 417, 28 / 446, 34

5 Bar 100% Drive

Corner carry:

• [cr.B cr.A df+D] or [cl.D df+D] (HD) cr.A df+D xx hcb+B, dp+BD (HDC) hcb+BD, dp+BD (HDC) hcb+B, dp+K (HDC) hcb+B, hcb+D, qcf qcf+AC - 632, 28 / 661, 34

Basic Strategy

Defense

• King has the normals to control the hop space in front of her, tools to antiair full jumps, good air-to-airs, and then Venom Strike (qcf+K) to control the ground.
  • Venom Strike is easy to jump over if throw out predictably - however, because of this it is easy to bait the opponent into jumping, and that's where you use the appropriate antiair to hit them. Once they respect your air control and become cautious of jumping, you can use Venom Strike to control the ground space and force them to deal with it another way.
  • Far C serves as an antiair, preventive jump check, and long poke against standing opponents. However it will completely whiff on crouchers and loses to lows.
  • cr.C is King's best normal against full jumps. If the opponent outspaces you or uses a jump-in from a well-spaced angle, you may have to adjust to a different move. Far D's tip covers a unique angle that far C may miss, and it's worth noting that her df+D slide can completely go under and meaty many jumping normals. Meeting the opponent in the air from below j.B usually wins, and j.CD can serve this purpose although the startup is slower. When in doubt, EX Trap Shot (DP+BD) will beat everything clean.
  • Other than getting hopped on, King has a 'weak spot' just outside her cr.B range. Her sweep is slow and short and loses to hops and df+D is too slow and would be unsafe from this range and far C/D would whiff if the opponent is crouching here. st.CD can help cover this gap, as well as Venom Strike or taking a risk to move forward for a cr.B/st.B. Be aware of this range.

Offense

• King plays more of a passive aggressive offense in that she doesn't have a really threatening high/low mixup like Kyo or K', but she makes up for that in blockstring pressure and keeping the opponent cornered where her combos hurt the most.
  • Her basic blockstring of cr.B cr.B st.B df+D xx Venom Strike works well against opponents with no meter, but df.D can be guardrolled and punished if canceled into Venom Strike. If df+D is uncanceled, prepare to be punished from it hitting too deep. The solution is to use this series just enough to be able to condition the opponent to be watching for it, then vary up your blockstrings to bait guardrolls.
  • Once cornered, King has the threat of her HD combo, extra damage from all of her combos, less room for the opponent to space their hop/jump making it easier to antiair, and easier setups for guardbreaks.
  • King's j.D now has more startup and hitstun, allowing you to use it earlier in a jump while still having time to combo afterward. Note that it can't be used as an instant overhead anymore.