The King of Fighters XIII/Ralf

Ralf

In a nutshell

Ralf "Rambo" Jones is rather different than how you may remember him. Although he is still primarily based around mid range zoning, abusing his powerful far normals like st.C and st.D, and his amazing st.CD, Ralf has also lost the use of his command grab. To make up for this, he's been given a cancelable cr.B, along with some extremely powerful basic combos, making him a powerful first character. Unlike many a lot of other chars in XIII, Ralf's combos do not really involve quick inputs or juggles, but he has more of an emphasis on links. His execution requirements are fairly low (unless you are extremely bad at loose links!), and most of his game is space control with normals, so you may feel more comfortable with Ralf's slower, more basic combos and easy to grasp zoning game coming from a Street Fighter background.

Move List

Normal Moves

Name

Command

Damage

Special Properties (glossary)

Standing Light Punch

kof.lp

25

cancel

Standing Light Kick

kof.lk

30

cancel

Standing Heavy Punch

kof.sp

80

Close Heavy Punch

kof.sp

40×2

1st hit: cancel

Standing Heavy Kick

kof.sk

80

Close Heavy Kick

kof.sk

70

cancel

Crouching Light Punch

d + kof.lp

25

chaincancel cancel

Crouching Light Kick

d + kof.lk

30

low cancel

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

Jumping Heavy Kick

air kof.sk

Jump: 70
Hop: 68

high

Jumping Blowback Attack

air kof.sp + kof.sk

Jump: 90
Hop: 80

softknockdown cancel

Unique Attacks

Name

Command

Damage

Special Properties (glossary)

Jet Upper

df + kof.lp

65

specialcancel

Throw

Name

Command

Damage

Special Properties (glossary)

Dynamite Headbutt

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

100

throw softknockdown

Special Moves

Name

Command

Damage

Special Properties (glossary)

Vulcan Punch

press p repeatedly

p : 20×12
ex : 45×8

drivecancel

Burning Hammer

qcf + p

kof.lp : 60
kof.sp : 50
ex : 100

drivecancel
ex : crumple

Explosive Punch

qcb + p

kof.lp : 65
kof.sp : 80
ex : 60×2+80

softknockdown drivecancel

Gatling Attack

b (charge) f + p

kof.lp : 40+35
kof.sp : 40+30×2
ex : 30×2+20×4+100

drivecancel
kof.sp : softknockdown
ex : hardknockdown

Blitzkrieg Punch

qcf + p

p : 120
ex : 180

aironly high hardknockdown drivecancel

Desperation Moves

Name

Command

Damage

Special Properties (glossary)

Galactica Phantom

qcf qcf + p

p : 220
ex : 360

softknockdown maxcancel

Bareback Vulcan

qcb hcf + k

15×9+100

hardknockdown maxcancel

Jet Vulcan

hcb hcb + kof.lp + kof.sp

(10+0)×11+(8+0)×35+8+80

hardknockdown

Strategy

Move Analysis

Normal Moves

• Standing Light Punch () -

• Standing Light Kick () -

• Standing Heavy Punch () -

• Close Heavy Punch (Close ) -

• Standing Heavy Kick () -

• Close Heavy Kick (Close ) -

• Crouching Light Punch ( + ) -

• Crouching Light Kick ( + ) -

• Crouching Heavy Punch ( + ) -

• Crouching Heavy Kick ( + ) -

• Blowback Attack ( + ) -

• Jumping Light Punch (Air ) -

• Jumping Light Kick (Air ) -

• Jumping Heavy Punch (Air ) -

• Jumping Heavy Kick (Air ) -

• Jumping Blowback Attack (Air + ) -

Unique Attacks

• Jet Upper ( + ) -

Throw

• Dynamite Headbutt ( or + or [while close]) -

Special Moves

• Vulcan Punch (press repeatedly) -
  • Vulcan Punch (press + repeatedly) -
• Burning Hammer ( + ) -
  • Burning Hammer ( + + ) -
• Explosive Punch ( + ) -
  • Explosive Punch ( + + ) -
• Gatling Attack ( [charge] + ) -
  • Gatling Attack ( [charge] + + ) -
• Blitzkrieg Punch (Air + ) -
  • Blitzkrieg Punch (Air + + ) -

Desperation Moves

• Galactica Phantom ( + ) -
  • Galactica Phantom ( + + ) -
• Bareback Vulcan ( + ) -
• Jet Vulcan ( + + ) -

Tips and Tricks

• Ralf's cr.B links into cl.C. Whilst his cr.B is cancelable, it doesn't lead into quite as much damage as cl.C will. Fortunately, Ralf's cr.B to cl.C link is pretty lenient, so it's recommended you learn it to get the most out of him.
• Starting from cr.B in general for any of these links will reduce the damage of your combo by about 30, as you need to avoid using df.A.
• Ralf's EX Gatling Attacking (charge b~f+AC) is his only comboable hard knockdown. If you feel the need to do some more sustained pressure on your opponent, you could substitute it for any DM here at the cost of a lot of damage.
• Any instance of a combo from qcf+C into cr.C xx special/super, could be ended in cr.D sweep instead if you don't want to push your opponent a long way away for whatever reason (fireball character, etc). Again this costs you damage.

Combos

0% Drive

0 Bar

• cr.B cr.B xx charge b~f+C - (143, 14)

A pretty weak combo from a low. It does lead to a knockdown however, which may be more favourable in some situations.

• cr.B df.A xx qcf+C, charge b~f+A - (198, 39)

Ralf's basic combo from a low. It leaves the opponent standing next to you, so be wary of reversal attempts or command grabs. df.A may not connect from a more distanced cr.B.

• (cr.B) cl.C df.A xx qcf+C, cr.C xx charge b~f+C - (280, 39)

Ralf's basic meterless combo. If starting from cr.B, you have to omit the df.A, and you may need to skip the df.A from distanced jumpins or just a longer ranged cl.C hit. Does great damage for a meterless combo.

• cr.C xx qcf+C, charge b~f+A - (182, 25)

For confirming from cr.C pokes when you're fairly close. Again, leaves you close to the opponent.

• cr.C xx charge b~f+C - (160, 15)

Combo to use when confirming from a very long range cr.C poke. If you're closer, use the combo above.

1 Bar

• (cr.B) cl.C df.A xx qcf+C, cr.C xx qcbhcf+K - (413, 31)

Ralf's extremely powerful basic DM combo. As before, omit the df.A if starting from cr.B, or from a distanced confirm.

• cr.B df.A xx qcf+C, qcbhcf+K - (344, 19)

The easier low confirm into DM for ralf.

• cr.C xx qcf+C, qcbhcf+K - (334, 15)
• cr.C xx qcbhcf+K - (296, 7)

DM combos for cr.C pokes from distance.

2 Bar

• (cr.B) cl.C df.A xx qcf+C, cr.C xx qcfqcf+AC - (493, 32)
• cr.B df.A xx qcf+C, qcfqcf+AC - (442, 19)
• cr.C xx qcf+C qcfqcf+AC - (441, 15)
• cr.C xx qcfqcf+AC - (412, 7)

Ralf's qcfqcf+AC DM does not really add that much damage for the extra bar compared to qcbhcf+K. Considering he's mostly used as a battery, you may not always want to do these combos.

50% Drive

0 Bar

• cl.C xx qcf+C charge b~f+A (DC) qcf+C cr.C xx charge b~f+C - (309 49)
• cr.B df.A xx qcf+C charge b~f+A (DC) qcf+C charge b~f+A - (285, 47)

Not terribly worth the drive, but can be useful nonetheless. 1 Bar

• cl.C xx qcf+C charge b~f+A (DC) qcf+C cr.C xx qcbhcf+K - (434, 41)

You can do df.A after cl.C here and omit the cr.C to get 1 extra damage, but 9 less stun. It's better to not start from cr.B link for this combo because it actually does less than just doing the cr.B df.A combo.

• cr.B df.A xx qcf+C charge b~f+A (DC) qcf+C qcbhcf+K - (425, 37)

2 Bar

• cl.C xx qcf+C charge b~f+A (DC) qcf+C cr.C xx qcfqcf+AC - (496, 41)

Same applies for this combo, you can use df.A but avoid cr.B

• cr.B df.A xx qcf+C charge b~f+A (DC) qcf+C qcfqcf+AC - (487, 37)

100% Drive

• Due to Ralf's somewhat low damage in HD combos and the fact he's usually placed as first, none of these combos are really recommended to be used in a match unless you're dominating or you're playing Ralf in second or third.

1 Bar

• (cr.B) cl.C df.A (HD) cl.C df.A qcf+C [charge b~f+A HDC qcf+C] x5 qcbhcf+K - (626, 24)

2 Bar

• (cr.B) cl.C df.A (HD) cl.C df.A qcf+C [charge b~f+A HDC qcf+C] x5 qcbqcf+AC - (670, 24)

3 Bar

• (cr.B) cl.C df.A (HD) cl.C df.A qcf+C [charge b~f+A HDC qcf+C] x4 charge b~f+A HDC hcbhcb+AC - (763, 16)