The King of Fighters '98: Ultimate Match/Heavy D!

Heavy D!

Heavy D! is a black boxer/actor/rap artist from the U.S.A. The D in his name is a mystery.

In a nutshell

Heavy D! is a combo/poking/mixup-based character with some decent mid-range pokes and the fastest backdash in the game. He is not such a good character for beginners, since nothing he has is really abusable; playing Heavy D requires fast execution and good knowledge of matchups and his normal's properties to make him shine.

Colors

Final Edition Change List

• close C - less recovery, no longer whiffs on short characters.
• d,d+P - after powering up, as long as you don't do any powered up specials you won't lose the effect upon being hit.
• QCF+A - while powered up, startup is faster and will connect from light attacks.
• QCFx2+K - animation completes during the super flash so you can move as soon as it ends.
• MAX QCFx2+K - effect lasts until the end of the round.

Move List

At A Glance

Normal throw
Stomach Buster	(throw) f/b + C
Reverse Stomach Buster	(throw) f/b + D
Command moves
Rock Crush	f + A
Special moves
Rolling Soul Diver	qcf + p
Blast Upper	qcf + k
Ducking Combination	qcb + p,qcb + p
Soul Flower	qcb + k
Dancing Beat	dp + p
Shadow	d,d + p
Super special moves
D. Crazy	qcb hcf + p
D. Magnum	qcf qcf + p
D. Shadow	qcf hcf + k

In-depth Analysis

Normal Throws

b or f+C - Forward knockdown, face forward, rollable.

b or f+D - Reverse knockdown, back turned, rollable.

Movelist

	Frames	Advantage	Cancel	Block	Hitbox		Notes
Standing Close
	2/5/8			HL
	4/4/6			HL
	5/8/9			HL			No longer whiffs on short characters, so it's a much better punish tool.
	4/3*3/21			HL			Decently fast and cancelable on 2nd hit, so it makes for easy comboing/hit-confirms.
Standing Far
	3/3/8			HL			Great anti-air vs short hop.
	4/4/9			HL			Slower than A, but connects on crouching opponents and is cancelable. You can use this to substitute cr.A in combos or block strings.
	9/4/19			HL			Decent speed/reach midrange poke.
	8/2+3/13			HL			Maybe don't try to anti air with this move. You've got better options, especially in FE, and in general you'll find that this move, while maybe seeming like an okay choice, is not as fast and does not reach as high/far as you'd want for an anti air.
+	18/4/17			HL			Good normal to poke with, solid whiff cancel move.
Crouching
	3/4/5			HL			Very long range for a standard cr.A. You can hit-confirm his super from a couple of these from a pretty good range, or even whiff-punish with a single cr.A into super.
	3/2/6			L			Your fastest low, of course. Chainable into itself, cr.A, st.A, or st.B. Links into cr.C.
	3/2+4/22			HL			Very fast and high priority move for anti-air as well as on the ground. It has bad horizontal range/recovery, but you can cancel this into a special on hit or on whiff with the same timing. Learn to do this so you don't ever whiff it raw.
	7/4/16			L			Surprising range and whiff/hit cancel. Great whiff punish move since you can cancel into ducking to close the distance.
Jump
	5/12	-/-		H			Awesome jump-in. Similar to Kyo's j.B or Yashiro's j.A.
	5/12	-/-		H			Awesome cross-up. Hits mostly behind him, but can hit from the front as well.
	6/2*3/17	-/-		H			2-hit jump-in move. You can time it like a normal just-in and just use the 1st hit, which looks the same as his jumping A. If you use both hits, depending on when they stand up it can change the timing for comboing because the 1st hit might whiff, but it is possible to hit most crouchers with both hits. The extra hit can help with a guard break.
	7/5	-/-		H			Solid air to air normal, kind of like a shorter range version of Kyo j.D.
+	16/4	KD/-		HL			Decent speed, long reach. Good for air-to-air or air-to-ground. Try using it off a hyper hop where the tip of his fist will barely reach the opponent.
Neutral Jump
	5/12	-/-		H			Pretty good air-to-air.
Command Normals
f+	15/5/16			H			Fast overhead when done alone, faster cancelable non-overhead when chained. Good for late-canceling from cr.A/C (ie chaining the f+A a little late to have it retain it's non-chained properties). Does a hard knockdown when done on a jumping opponent on Counter Hit.
f+ (cancel)	9/5/16		C,S,Su	HL
Special Moves
RSD aka Rolling Soul Diver (qcf+P)	-/-/-	-/-	-	-	File:Example.png		Your main combo ender in meterless combos, lots of range so it won't ever miss. Both versions will combo from the same things, but A vesion has better recovery. On block it is punishable by fast long range moves like Iori's A rekkas, so be careful. All versions knock down in FE, so you really need to be doing this more if you weren't already. Shadow versions do more damage, A Shadow version combos from lights.
Blast Upper (qcf+K)	-/-/-	-/-	-	-	File:Example.png		D version is preferred due to range. A good safe move to end block strings with. It's also a good combo ender, but it's range is quite a bit less than RSD so it won't connect from that much stuff. The powered-up versions do 2 hits. As long as you space it right, qcf+D is safe on block.
Ducking Combination (qcb+P~qcb+P)	-/-/-	-/-	-	-	File:Example.png		The first hit has invincibly as he's moving forward, so you can use this to go through fireballs or bait CD counters. A version is faster/less invincibility, C version slower/more invincibility. The followup qcb+P can be overhead (A version) or low (C version). Note that the C followup is a bit faster and will combo from the first qcb+P, but the overhead won't. The Shadow versions do additional hits and knockdown for both the first hits and the followup (depending if you stop at the first hit or not).
Soul Flower (qcb+K)	-/-/-	-/-	-	-	File:Example.png		Made much, MUCH better in FE. Still not the most invincible move on the block, but a halfway not terrible anti air and a much better anti-meaty reversal. Shadow version hits twice.
Dancing Beat (dp+P)	-/-/-	-/-	-	-	File:Example.png		A proximity unblockable. The Shadow version does more hits and lets you juggle from it.
Shadow (d,d+P)	-/-/-	-/-	-	-	File:Example.png		Powers up all of Heady D's specials, making them do more hits/damage/safer etc. It also powers up itself, becoming a combo tool. This only powers moves up for one use, it's not stackable, but no longer wears off if you get hit in FE. Go nuts with it.
Desperation Moves
D. Crazy (qcb,hcf+P)	-/-/-	-/-	-	-	File:Example.png		Your main combo ender in meter combos. Kind of safe on block but not really, however if your opponent is not on point with their punish timing it might as well be totally safe. Even if they try to go for a punish if you feel like being an asshole you can always go for a Soul Flower reversal anyways, or another D. Crazy. WARNING: SDM version WILL drop on backturn crouching!
D. Magnum (qcf,qcf+P)	-/-/-	-/-	-	-	File:Example.png		The MAX version will combo off his powered-up Dancing Beat (good luck landing that, it's actually very strict and chances are you will go right under the launched opponent), but other than that it's not very useful. You can charge it I guess. Best used as a fireball counter, but it's bad.
D. Shadow (qcf,qcf+K)	-/-/-	-/-	-	-	File:Example.png		An install super putting you in Shadow mode for 5 moves rather than a single move. Very fast recovery, almost instant, allowing you to cancel normals and still link off of them. or use this to stop the game for a second so you can get more reaction times for jump-ins and such. Normal version lasts for about 10 seconds, but the MAX version lasts for the rest of the round also will be infinite charge. As close to Dark Phoenix as KoF will ever get. Start of the round MAX activate Install is a valid strategy.

Combos

Most important combos listed at the top. He has a lot of different variations on things so experiment!

• cr.B(xN), cr.A,f+A xx RSD (qcf+P)

• The BnB. Essential Heavy D! combo.

• cr.B(xN), cr.A xx D. Crazy (qcb,hcf+P)

• The meter BnB. Additionally essential.

• cr.C/cl.C, f+A xx RSD (qcf+P)/Blast Upper (qcf+D)

• cl.D (2 hits) xx RSD (qcf+P)/Blast Upper (qcf+D)/D. Crazy (qcb,hcf+P)

• cr.B, cr.C xx RSD (qcf+P)/D Blast Upper (qcf+D)

Shadow Combos

• cr.B(xN), cr.A xx RSD A (qcf+A)

• cl.C/cr.B, cr.A xx Dancing Beat (dp+P), f.A/CD xx Shadow (d,d+P)

• (Extra guage) Dancing Beat (dp+P), abc at final hit, D. Magnum (qcf qcf+A)

• Soul Flower (qcb+K) , st.C or Shadow RSD (qcf+A)

Advanced Strategy

The King of Fighters '98: Ultimate Match