The King of Fighters XIII/Terry

Terry

In a nutshell

Quite the renowned character, this SNK hero makes his inevitable return. Although Terry is a straight forward, pressure character, he isn't quite adept as Kyo or Iori in regards to breaking an opponent's ability to guard high and low attacks (not to say he can't do that kind of offensive pressure at all.) In return, Terry has strong game plan based around chunky block-strings and good frame traps that breaks the opponent's guard gauge. Overall he's a simple character and is a great character for beginners and experienced players alike.

Move List

Normal Moves

Name

Command

Damage

Special Properties (glossary)

Standing Light Punch

kof.lp

25

chaincancel cancel

Standing Light Kick

kof.lk

30

cancel

Standing Heavy Punch

kof.sp

80

supercancel

Close Heavy Punch

kof.sp

1st hit: 55
2nd hit: 25

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 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

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

Unique Attacks

Name

Command

Damage

Special Properties (glossary)

Rising Upper

df + kof.sp

60

specialcancel

Back Knuckle

f + kof.lp

80

Throw

Name

Command

Damage

Special Properties (glossary)

Buster Throw

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

100

throw hardknockdown

Special Moves

Name

Command

Damage

Special Properties (glossary)

Power Wave

qcf + p

p : 60
ex 1st till 3rd hit: 45x3

supercancel
kof.sp : softknockdown

Burn Knuckle

qcb + p

kof.lp : 75
kof.sp : 90
ex : 160

softknockdown drivecancel

Crack Shoot

qcb + k

kof.lk 1st and 2nd hit: 40x2
kof.sk 1st till 4th hit: 40x4
ex : 120

ex : hardknockdown

Rising Tackle

d (charge) u + p

kof.lp 1st hit: 40
2nd till 5th hit: 10x4
kof.sp 1st hit: 50
2nd till 7th hit: 15x6
ex 1st till 7th hit: 20x7
8th till 20th hit: 10x13
21st hit: 30

softknockdown drivecancel

Desperation Moves

Name

Command

Damage

Special Properties (glossary)

Power Geyser

qcb hcf + p

p : 210
ex 1st till 3rd hit: 120x3

softknockdown

Buster Wolf

qcf qcf + k

k 1st hit: 90
2nd hit: 90
ex 1st hit: 90
2nd till 5th hit: 30x4
6th hit: 90

softknockdown maxcancel

Trinity Geyser

qcf qcf + kof.lp + kof.sp

1st till 3rd hit: 150x3

softknockdown

Strategy

Move Analysis

Normal Attacks

• Standing Light Punch - A standard anti-hop attack. Typically it whiffs on crouching opponents, but larger, crouching opponents are exceptions such as Goro or Raiden. In this case, it could be used to pressure those large characters in a similar manner that Terry could in Garou: Mark of the Wolves.

• Standing Light Kick - Far reaching kick. It is used to control the space in front of Terry. Doesn't have quite the recovery nor the height it had in previous KOF games, this attack makes up for it by being cancelable. Still a good attack to use to keep the opponent outside of your inside range.

• Standing Heavy Punch - A beefy straight. Think of it as an extension of Standing Light Punch but with higher committal, as it will be more susceptible to sweeps due to the longer duration of the attack compared to Standing Light Punch. In return, it does more damage and the longer active hitbox allows Terry to set up frame traps with this move. If one could hit-confirm, then a successful Standing Heavy Punch could net a combo into any of Terry's Desperation Moves on a grounded opponent.

• Close Heavy Punch - A fast, twice-hitting, gut punch. A typical fast, Close C/D attack, but lacks the vertical range of similar moves such as Kyo's or Iori's Close Heavy Punch. Instead, this attack has a very convenient hit-confirming property of being two hits and it's easy for new players to learn to confirm bread and butter combos. Good in blockstrings and the multiple hits help in doing guard damage to the guard meter.

• Standing Heavy Kick - In previous KOF games such as King of Fighters 2002, this move was really slow and lacked much application. Now this move is particularly useful for anti-air in angles Terry couldn't really cover on reaction, barring Rising Upper (df.C). Since Terry can't just hold forward to walk or run and press Standing Light Punch to anti-air on a whim (as Terry either has to commit to stopping to do Standing Light Punch or accidentally get Back Knuckle [f.A] and suffer the consequences of having a chunk of start up while he extends his vulnerable hitbox forward), Standing Heavy Kick covers that application at the cost of being susceptible to sweeps and other low hitting attacks. It's faster than Standing Heavy Punch though, so Standing Heavy Kick's function as an anti-air is much more relevant in King of Fighters XIII than in the past.

• Close Heavy Kick - Although not as fast as Close Heavy Punch, this move has a wider activation range than Close Heavy Punch and has a bigger hitbox both vertically and horizontally. The active frames of this move is longer than each of the hits of Close Heavy Punch so this move is generally a better attack for meaties. When in doubt of being able to run forward to punish a move in time with Close Heavy Punch, Close Heavy Kick would be a moe consistent option due to generous activation range. Also good for safe blockstrings and frame traps.

• Crouching Light Punch - A simple, light attack from crouching that doesn't hit low. Used mainly after Crouching Light Kick so that Crouching Light Punch could cancel into Rising Upper and further into a special attack such as Crack Shoot (qcb+K) or Burn Knuckle (qcb+P). Could be used to stagger blockstrings and have a bit more frame advantage than Crouching Light Kick at the expense of a slight bit of distance and hitting low. If spaced right while staggering the timing, it could preemptively stifle a hop or jump out. An opponent might anticipate a sweep after a few crouching light attacks in a blockstring and may want to hop on your "anticipated" sweep attempt, and a Crouching Light Punch staggered in a blockstring could stop and check the opponent with not too much risk.

• Crouching Light Kick - Similar to Crouching Light Punch but hits low and has less of a vertical hitbox if any. As most Crouching Light Kick attacks, it's really useful for hitconfirms, doing high/low mix ups from hops and empty hops, use as a meaty for bad jump-ins and bad landings, and for blockstrings and pressure. A pretty standard move.

• Crouching Heavy Punch - A punch attack that is quite similar to Guile's "Low Strong" from the Street Fighter series. In application, it is quite similar although the frame advantage might not be as good. It's a good move to use in a blockstring due to the slightly slowness, but the dominance it has due to its hitbox. So it's one of his many frame trap moves that help him score hits and confirms. This move could cancel into command normals or certain specials to add to his pressure. Crouching Heavy Punch also is able to cancel into the aforementioned attacks on whiff as well.

• Crouching Heavy Kick - A standard sweep with a slight raise in height at the tip of his foot, allowing to anti-air from certain angles in special circumstances. Like Crouching Heavy Punch, it could cancel into command normals and special attacks upon whiff. In some cases in which one baits an opponent to hop or jump onto your sweep for the punish, Terry could simply cancel the whiff animation into his Rising Upper (df.C) and anti-air the opponent. Even Crouching Heavy Kick canceled into Rising Upper on block is quite safe. One could maintain pressure, momentum, and control a bit of aerial space by also canceling Crouching Heavy Kick into Crack Shoot (qcb+K), preferably the B version of Crack Shoot.

Tips and Tricks

• Typically when Terry does two crouching, light attacks on block from point blank, Terry could cross up with j.D on an opponent from a full, normal jump.
• Similarly when Terry does three crouching, light attack on block from point blank, Terry could cross up with j.D on an opponent from a hyper hop.
• Terry could whiff a cl.D on okizeme and still cancel the whiff animation into df.C and use that attack to meaty an opponent, a potential gimmick.
• The timing for canceling the df.C attack is trickier than in previous games. A recommended tip to try is to cancel the df.C a bit later than anticipated.

Basic Strategy

Offense

• Block

Defense

• Block