The King of Fighters '98/Athena

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An aging idol on the verge of falling out of favor, Athena turned to a blend of kung-fu and telekinesis to bludgeon the otaku of Japan into terrified submission. Her winning smile and fists of death ensure that none will ever dare defy her or buy another idol's CDs.
While her charismatic ultraviolence keeps her on top of the charts, her lonely heart still yearns.

Colors

Snka.gif Snkb.gif Snkc.gif Snkd.gif
Athena98 colorA.png Athena98 colorB.png Athena98 colorC.png Athena98 colorD.png

Gameplay Overview

Athena is a solid zoning / runaway character. Her fireball has fast recovery, which is nice both for pure zoning and to put pressure on your opponent by running up and poking. Her DP is not as good as you would expect from a zoning character, though. She also has great mobility with super backdashes, triangle jumps, teleports, etc. that allow for an annoying runaway game.

In-depth Analysis

Movelist

Frames Advantage Cancel Block Hitbox Notes
Standing Close
Snka.gif 5/5/5 +2/0 C HL
Athena98 clA.png
Snkb.gif 3/5/5 +2/0 C HL
Athena98 stB.png
Identical to far B.
Snkc.gif 3/4/21 -5/-7 C HL
Athena98 clC.png
Snkd.gif 5/7/16 -3/-5 C HL
Athena98 clD.png
Standing Far
Snka.gif 8/5/7 0/-2 C HL
Athena98 stA.png
Snkb.gif 3/5/5 +2/0 C HL
Athena98 stB.png
Snkc.gif 5/4/21 -5/-7 - HL
Athena98 stC.png
Snkd.gif 11/5/20 -5/-7 - HL
Athena98 stD.png
Goes over lows
Snkc.gif+Snkd.gif 9/4/22 KD/-4 S HL
Athena98 stCD.png
Crouching
Snka.gif 5/5/5 +2/0 C HL
Athena98 crA.png
Snkb.gif 3/5/5 +2/0 C L
Athena98 crB.png
Snkc.gif 3/4/21 -5/-7 C HL
Athena98 crC.png
Snkd.gif 5/7/16 KD/-5 C L
Athena98 crD.png
Jump
Snka.gif 6/5 -/- C H
Athena98 jA.png
Snkb.gif 4/6 -/- - H
Athena98 jB.png
Snkc.gif 9/5 -/- C H
Athena98 jC.png
Snkd.gif 6/11 -/- - H
Athena98 jD.png
Snkc.gif+Snkd.gif 14/6 KD/- S HL
Athena98 jCD.png
Neutral Jump
Snka.gif 6/6 -/- C H
Athena98 njA.png
Snkb.gif 6/6 -/- - H
Athena98 njB.png
Snkc.gif 6/9 -/- C H
Athena98 njC.png
Snkd.gif 6/11 -/- - H
Athena98 njD.png
Command Normals

f + Snkb.gif

8/3(4)5/18 -3/-5 -/S HL/HL
Athena98 fB1.png
Athena98 fB2.png
air d + Snkb.gif 5/12 -/- S HL
Athena98 jdB.png
One of your best runaway tools. If you do it during a backdash, the backdash will be much longer and faster. The earlier you do d + B, the more distance you will cover; do it as b, db + B to get the best results.

For offensive situations, take into account that if you hit your opponent high you'll bounce back leaving you completely open for a lot of time. To solve this, either cancel it from jumping A (d + B will generally hit down this way) or cancel into a B Phoenix Arrow (do it quick or you'll bounce anyways). It causes a rollable knockdown.

Normal Throws

  • b or f + C -


  • b or f + D -


  • In air, b / d / f + C / D -

Other Normal Moves

  • Jump: Athena is able to triangle jump.

Special Moves

  • Psycho Ball (qcb + P) - A version comes out faster and travels slowly, C is the opposite. You recover fast from the A version, which is ideal to keep an opponent in the corner and punish attempts to escape via air (Psycho Sword / Shining Crystal Bit), roll (Psycho Throw / Far Standing C) or retaliation (Far Standing C). You can also use it to gain positional advantage (running or teleporting) and push your opponent to the corner, the place where Athena becomes more dangerous.

Another great property of this move is that you can make it unblockable by doing hcf + P or the teleport just when your opponent is about to block it. After a knock down, this means free damage unless your opponent manages to reversal roll.


  • Phoenix Arrow (air qcb + K) - B version has much better recovery but deals less damage, D version is the opposite (it finishes the rolling dive with a kick. The kick doesn't hit low, but target the opponent - if they dodge the firs part and goes behind you, you still kick in his direction :)).

B is preferred; it works as a good meter builder (by tiger-kneeing it or doing it during a backdash) and does nice chip damage while not being as unsafe as the D version (it does leave you at frame disadvantage, though). Both versions can be comboed from air attacks (A, C, neutral A and C. You can cancel it from d + B too but it won't combo).


  • Psychic Teleport (qcf + K) - Athena's teleport. Move forward very fast. No Invulnerability. It will not switch sides.


  • Psycho Sword (dp + P / air dp + P) - A version has no invincibility, C version completely invincible on the first hit. Poor damage and startup hitboxes, but the last hitboxes have lots of vertical range and priority, making this move quite useful to keep the opponent zoned.

Use the A version for zoning, and the C version as a reversal.
Dp + A 1a.png

  • Psycho Reflector (hcb + K) - B version is a Rugal-style reflector (reflects any non DM projectile except for Yamazaki's counter-projectile), D version is a much slower, unsafer, bigger and meatier version which hits three times and has the same reflective properties.

The way the reflected projectiles deal damage seems to be random; most of the time they will deal only a tiny bit of damage, but some times they will deal full damage. Full damage seems to be more common if you get a counter hit (when you reflect something somewhat close to your opponent), though.

Just stick with the A version, C version is too risky and does not offer any real benefits.


  • Psychic Throw (hcf + P) - A command throw that puts the opponent in a 'launched' state. The fall is unrollable, and has invincibility at startup. The move itself only deals damage if you let the enemy touch the floor, which means that you can enter in MAX mode before he lands to get the damage bonus for it (and for the unblockable Psycho Ball that will follow).

Useful to mix-up, do run-up throws, reversal and to set up unblockable psycho ball loops (more on that in the strategy section). Activates the unblockable projectile bug. Can be comboed from light hits (you have to be at point-blank range, though).

Desperation Moves

  • Shining Crystal Bit (hcb hcb + P, ABCD to cancel, qcb + P for Crystal Shoot - may charge) -


  • Phoenix Fang Arrow (air qcf qcf + K) -


Fastest Attacks

  • 0F: C throw; D throw
  • 1F: -
  • 2F: -
  • 3F: cl.B; cl.C; st.B, cr.B; cr.C
  • 4F: -
  • 5F: cl.A; cl.D; st.C; cr.A; cr.D; f + B
  • 6F: -
  • 7F: -
  • 8F: st.A
  • 9F: CD
  • 10F: -

Combos

Athena isn't very combo friendly. She does have some useful ones, though


  • Best jump-ins:
    • j.D


  • cl.C / (cr.B, cr.B / cr.A / cl.B / cl.A ) >
    • dp + C (Against some crouchers only 1st hit will connect and will not knockdown - leave you vulnerable)
    • dp + A

Two weak attacks only on point blank.


  • Point blank: cr.B / cr.A / cl.B / cl.A > (S)DM Shining Crystal Bit (hcb hcb + P)


  • cr.B > hcf + P,
    • air qcb + B, (S)DM Shining Crystal Bit (hcb hcb + P) (Corner. Timming required. The hcb hcb + P will miss if air qcb + B hit the enemy very high or very low.)
    • (S)DM Shining Crystal Bit (hcb hcb + P) (Out of corner jump and use the air version.)
    • hcb + D (Corner.)
    • air dp + C (Only do more damage than "The fall" if does the full 7 hits. Timming required to do full hits.)
    • nothing... ("The fall" do the better meterless damage after the two options above - that have restrictions.)
    • j.CD
    • j.C (for reset)

Doing a Shining Crystal Bit (SCB) after the command throw can take some time to master. If you are in the corner, just walk a tiny bit and do the DM. Outside of the corner it's more complicated; you have to jump towards the falling opponent and do a mid-air SCB. To make this easier, start doing uf during the throw animation, and do hcb x 2 from that position as soon as you see she's starting to jump.


  • Corner: cl.C / cr.B > f + B >
    • SDM Phoenix Fang Arrow (air qcf qcf + K) (Point blank or it will be blocked after first part. Does a little more damage than SDM hcb hcb + P. DM will always be blocked after first part, so don't use it.)
    • (S)DM Shining Crystal Bit (air hcb hcb + P)
    • D Phoenix Arrow (air qcb + D)
    • air dp + C

The f + B after a hard attack will miss the first hit, but the second hit (the cancellabe one) will combo even from distance, on the other hand to use after a weak attack you must be very close for the first hit to connect or it will not combo.


  • Simple buffers:

None


Strategy Corner

  • MAX: cl.C > Dp.png + C

deals just a tiny less damage (~ cl.A) than

  • Hcb.png Hcb.png + P

(No BnB combo with super without restrictions...)

And:

  • Corner & MAX: cl.C > F.png + B > air Qcb.png + D

deals almost the same damage as

  • Corner: cl.C > F.png + B > air Hcb.png Hcb.png + P

Keep this in mind, when you need to decide whether to trigger MAX or keep meter for a DM.

Strategy

Unblockable Psycho Ball loops

You can set up this after a Psychic Throw. While your opponent is falling down, get around half screen away and do a meaty A Psycho Ball. Then do the unblockable bug with a Psycho Teleport (B if in corner situations, D anywhere else), and Psycho Throw again while the opponent is still in hitstun.

Unless your rival reversal rolls the Psycho Ball, which is rather difficult (and will still leave him at a disadvantageous position), you can repeat this forever. The timing is tricky (especially when not in the corner), but it's a powerful tool.

Stalling

Besides her normal runaway tools, Athena has a nice little trick when she's at life advantage and the clock is running out. Triangle jump, and when Athena's body is completely outside of the screen, do a Shining Cristal Bit. After a while do a Crystal Shoot and hold down the punch button to delay it as much as possible. This way you'll be completely invulnerable for around 5~7 seconds, which can win you a match in these situations.


Links

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