Throws
Throws are universally performed by holding 
or 
+ 
or 
while close to an opponent. One cannot be thrown during blockstun.
- Throws universally deal around 100 damage ( 10% ) and result in a hard knockdown. The available setups after each throw varies by character due to spacing and frame advantage.
- A throw initiated with the
button will result in the opponent being thrown in front of the throwing player. A throw started with 
tosses the opponent backwards. - Upon pressing or , a throw attempt is initiated on the same frame. If a throw cannot be performed, a corresponding normal move will come out instead.
Strategy Corner
- Throws can be incorporated from a run. Simply initiate a run (
) and continue to hold until close to the opponent. Once in range, hold backwards and input a Heavy normal ( 
+ or ). If the opponent was in a close proximity while in a grabable state, a throw will be initiated.
- In KOF XIII, the distance between two characters required in order to perform a grab from a run has increased, making them very effective.
- While simple tick throws are less effective due to Alternate Guarding, throws are vital for punishing rolls and form part of the hop mixup through empty hops leading to immediate throws against blocking opponents.
Throw Teching
Throw Techs are universally performed by holding or + or while being thrown. Upon a successful tech, no damage is dealt and both players become spaced back at a neutral situation.
- To correctly tech a throw, the corresponding input must be pressed: to tech throws initiated by throws, and to tech throws.
- In order to tech both forward and backward throws, one can consecutively drum both buttons one after another ( ~ ); this is commonly referred to as 'pianoing' an input due to the action mimicing a keyboard crescendo.
- In order to tech both forward and backward throws, one can consecutively drum both buttons one after another (
Strategy Corner
- Correctly blocking offensive pressure from an incoming opponent's hop can be difficult, especially if the opponent begins to perform empty hops into throw or low hitconfirms. However, if a defending player uses the above piano method ( ~ ) timed correctly, multiple defensive options occur which will cover many of the opponents options in what is referred to as an 'Option Select':
- If the input is timed late, then an opponent attacking with a jumping normal from a hop will be blocked before the defending player's normal is whiffed.
- If the offensive opponent had performed an empty hop in order to throw the defender, the throw attempt will be teched.
- If the offensive player had gone for a low attack from an empty hop, the buffered Throw Tech input will throw the offensive player out of the startup of a low attack.
- While the Throw Tech Option Select is a powerful tool, it will always lose to an instant command grab done from an empty hop.
- Additionally, as a player is waking up and facing a potential meaty jumping attack from a hop, this defensive option select will not work due to the lack of time to block and due to the tight ambiguity of whether an opponent's hop attack will be active as the defender wakes up, or if the meaty attack will be a low instead.