King of Fighters XI Basics and Misceleny FAQ:

-Created, Edited and Compiled by: TheTRobbReport
of gamefaqs.com
original material from posts by Shiki Dan and Kendaichi


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Version: February, 2009
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Notes:
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Table of Contents:
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1) KOF XI 101
2) Tagging
3) Video Gallery
4) Tiers
   -Tier List
   -Observations
5) A few Kara Cancels
6) KOF Web Communities
7) Credits
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This FAQ is somewhat high level, so basic familiarity with fighting game
terminology is assumed.

1) KOF XI 101:

-Learn to small jump (best executed by tapping up, then quickly going back to
down), superjump (opposite of small jump, tap down and quickly go to up), and
hyperhop (combination of small jump and super jump, tap down, quickly tap up,
quickly go back to down). Mobility and jumping attacks are very important in
KOF XI.

-Single character combos in KOF generally are straight-forward, follow this
guide: Normals (A/B/C/D) --> Command Attacks (varies per character but
generally f+A, f+B, df+C, etc.) --> Special Attacks --(Super Cancels)-->
DMs/Supers --(Dream Cancels)--> LDMs

-Pick a few characters you like to start with (hopefully they're not low-
tier...lulz). Go into training mode and get used to their attacks, starting
with their normals and working your way through in order. Learn their
animations, their ranges, and what they do (cancel, reverse, knockdown, etc.)
Focus on finding:
a) What air pokes seem most useful
b) What ground pokes seem most useful
c) What moves seem best to start combos with/What normals are cancelable into
others?
b) How to anti-air or defend against people rushing/jumping in on you
e) What moves seem safest on guard/block

-Focus on that stuff first before you get more in-depth. Don't worry about
team strategies, QS combos, or any crap like that until you get comfortable
playing a few characters on their own. Then once you have a group of
characters you like, you can start thinking about how to put together a
decent team.


2) Tagging:

Q: Is tagging usually only done during Quick Shift (QS) combos?

A: There is no fixed rule on when you should/shouldn't tag. Some situations
are generally more advantageous than others. If you're landing a combo it's
an advantage to QS if you have to chance to do so, so that you can do more
damage by extending the combo.

Also, you don't need to QS just for combos. A quick shift in general is
alot faster than normal tagging and definitely doesn't leave you as
vulnerable so it can be used to tag a character out when you need to. If
you need to tag a character out, You can just attack the enemy, and cancel
your attack with a QS. Though be aware that if you QS during a blocked combo
your enemy might anticipate it and counter your QS.

Q: When would you use a saving shift instead of, say, a guard cancel
attack/evasion?

A guard cancel attack/evasion only works during blocking. So it's rather
limited, whereas a saving shift can also work when you're actually getting
hit. Saving shift is useful when you're getting hit by long powerful combos
and also extremely useful for last minute evasions of DMs that are done
during combos since once you're hit by a DM, you cannot saving shift out of
it.

Also, you can't SS during a juggle combo (i.e any combo where you're launched
into the air instead of on the ground).


Unlike most tag-team fighters, tagging is usually very risky to do in this
game. There are only a few situations where tagging is safe in KOF XI:
a) After downing an opponent's character
b) Quickshifting (but not neccessarily on block)

All characters do a taunt before they tag out and the incoming character is
NOT invulverable to attack under any circumstance. There are even a few
frames when tagged in where an incoming characters cannot block at all.

Even if your opponent is a full screen away, tagging is rarely safe because
many characters have quick supers that can reach most of the screen. Even if
they aren't fast enough to hit the character tagging out, the character
tagging in is usually a sitting duck.

There are two schools of thought regarding switching characters in battle:
1) You should only switch characters during Quickshifts, otherwise play your
character until he/she dies.
2) Try to beat your opponent's 1st character, finishing them with a QS combo
or tagging out to your 2nd character immediately after they're downed. Then
match up your 2nd character against your opponent's 2nd character.

I basically subscribe to the #2 school of thought. This is because I try to
match up my team man-to-man, so to speak. My 1st vs. my opponent's 1st, My
2nd vs. my opponent's 2nd. I also don't like to give up my momentum (and
judgement) by losing my 1st character so quickly after beating my opponent's.
On the down side, if your opponent is a #1-style player, he usually ends up
getting more meter quickly to use against you. Since you get 1 level of meter
instantly for losing a character, sometimes it can actually to be to your
advantage to not try to save them, especially if your Leader has a deadly LDM.

So sometimes I will let my 1st character die, but once I get down to 2 I try
to preserve my 2nd character 99% of the time unless losing them will give me
an instant LDM that I'm sure will guarantee me the match. Because losing your
2nd character means you lose access to Quickshifts and Saving Shifts for the
rest of the match. 2 characters versus 1 always have that advantage, although
how big that advantage is depends on the situation. 2 characters with 30%
life and no stocks or meter don't have an advantage over 1 Leader with 70%
life and 3 bars of meter. On the other hand, 2 characters with 30% life and
2 stocks and 3 bars of meter have a pretty good advantage over 1 Leader with
70% life and no meter.

As for Saving Shift, also keep in mind you can also do it when blocking. The
main thing when deciding when to use it and based on your stock/meter needs:

Saving Shift: 2 stocks
Quick Shift: 1 stock
Guard Cancel Attack: 1 meter
Guard Cancel Roll: 1 meter

For example, the teams I use that really rely on QS that much. So I don't
usually mind the cost of 2 stocks for Saving Shifts. For other teams, QS is
very important (especially with characters like Oswald, Maxima, Duck, Ryo,
Gato, etc.) so the cost of 2 stocks is fairly steep for them. Keep in mind
it takes about 8 game seconds to fill the 1st stock and about 16 game
seconds to fill the 2nd one. You can do a QS every 8 seconds but a SS only
every 24 seconds. Therefore, unless you really need to save your character
and you have no way of mounting an offense it would be better usually to QS
instead of SS to save a character. Remember you can QS even on blocked
attacks, although the incoming character won't always be safe.


3) Video Gallery:

These matches are a good study of defensive options.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFFUnXSfkI4

3:57-3:58...2P Duck tries a Forward GC Roll at the maximum distance of
Gato's Far C on block, Gato recovers from his attack before the end of
Duck's roll and punishes

4:54-4:55...2P Gai tries to GC Attack from Tizoc's Far C, the attack whiffs
and Gai is punished for it.

4:57...2P tries again, this time and a little closer...and success!

5:30...2P Clark does a Backward GC Roll between the 1st and 2nd hits of
Gato's LDM and successfully avoids being Guard Crushed by it (as he was
earlier in the video).


4) Tiers:

This is the most recent Japanese tierlist (as of 7/2008).


SS-tier ~ Gato, Kula

S-tier ~ Oswald, Eiji, Duck (2P), Kim, Clark, Hayate*

A-tier ~ Ralf, Duck, Kyo, Maxima, Ryo, Gai

B-tier ~ Jenet, K', Ash, Terry, Shen, Jyazu, Silber, Vanessa, Kensou

C-tier ~ Malin, Iori, Duolon, Adelheid, Benimaru, Elisabeth

D-tier ~ Yuri, Ramon, Mary, Shingo, King, Griffon

E-tier ~ Kasumi, Momoko, Athena, Whip, Hayate*

--Hayate is listed twice because he supposedly dominates certain characters
in the game without question but has virtually unwinnable match-ups with
others. As a former Hayate user, I don't agree that he dominates anyone.
His gimmicks work on people who don't know how to counter them but otherwise
he's very lacking

--2P Duck is listed seperately because some small extra frame advantage with
normals on the right side due to a glitch. The glitch was removed in the US
PS2 version, by the way. I don't personally believe it makes such a huge
difference, though.


Observations:

-Kula and Gato aren't like Marvel God Tiers (no matter what people assume)
but it's undeniable that they have significant advantages over most everyone
else.

-Duo Lon does deserve to be a little higher, especially the Leader. The main
problem with that tierlist is that it fails to take in account that certain
characters rise much higher when made leaders, like Adelheid, Athena, etc.

-Out of the top 3, the one that needs the LDM the most is Gato. His damage
output without it is still good, but not TOO good, unlike non-leader Kula
and Oswald.

-EX Kyo isn't B or C rank. If anything, I hear he is actually S or A rank.

-Arranged Mode opens up a completely new can of worms when it comes to tiers.
I don't know all that much myself about it, other than Ultimate Juggles were
mostly all taken out, and Kula & K' go WAY down the tierlist.

-KULA: I'm trying to think of any kind of major weakness that Kula has and
I'm coming up with a pile of nothing. The Japanese actually rank her ahead
of Gato now in tierlists, and I'm starting to see why. It's so hard to get
in on any really good Kula player and the sad part is that she doesn't even
need to be all that close to dominate most characters. If you have an anti-air
that can somehow beat her hyperhop C, use it. Problem is, that good Kulas
can also play "tag"...by which I mean, they get in, do their damage and then
run away forcing you to chase them, and then when you try to corner her she
does DP+C or anything she can use to knock you out of your moves and then you
have to chase her again. I see this working A LOT in newer videos, even
against top-notch players. It's most often done at the start of the match
so that the Kula player can kill enough time to build meter/stocks. If you
see a good player put Kula as his 1st character, 9 times out of 10 that will
be strategy for the opening of the game. My only advice is to start off with
someone who can start outside of her DP+C range and still threaten her
(characters with projectiles, mid-range specials, etc.). It also helps the
character also has a decent anti-air so that she's not too tempted to just
completely rush you down (Kyo).

Her quick shift combos have alot of damage potential and there are so many
possibilities to set up good combos with Kula + most other characters.

For example: Kula and Gato actually make a good quick shift team.. where
if you quick shift in the corner during Kula's qcb+B,f+D, you can then do
Gato's "rare" juggle combo qcb+B,B x4 then follow up with either DM for
really good damage. I call Gato's juggle "rare" mainly cos it's usually
very difficult for a Gato to actually do this combo by himself. (the enemy
needs to be pretty high up in the air for the qcb+B,B to juggle multiple
times).

-GATO: Gato at least has 1 major flaw...there's absolutely nothing he can
do to anybody at long range. He needs to be close in order to fight, and
so anyone who can keep him from jumping, running, or airdashing in can
beat him. Too bad that it's a lot harder than it sounds.

Kensou used to be called a Gato-counter, which is a gross exaggeration,
but against mediocre Gatos he has a nice trap at long-range. Kensou's
Psycho Balls are at the perfect height and speed to shut down hyperhops and
Gato's QCB+P, A airdash from full screen. Most Gatos will then become
frustrated and try to super-jump or roll past the projectiles. You can punish
both; the superjump with Kensou's RDP+K and rolls with QCF+P. Good Gatos will
be patient and walk forward, earning each inch gained or, even better, do a
PERFECTLY-timed roll which is just late enough to avoid the projectile but
just early enough to recover from the roll and block the QCF+P.

Jyazu has a much harder-to-break form of this trap IMO, but the problem is
that Jyazu's timing needs to be much more on point because his moves have
a lot more recovery than Kensou's.

I think Gato has already been spoken for as one of the best rush-down
characters in the game.I also need to add that he's got two excellent DMs
as well. qcfx2P comes out fast and it's usually safe on block. You can
easily link it from any of his moves even his LDM (dp+E,dp+E, qcfx2+P
links)a poke d+B.

His qcfx2+K apart from being a decent anti air, it also has the "anywhere
juggle" property as well.So much like how his qcfx2+P DM can be linked from
almost anything on the ground.. his qcfx2+K move can be 'linked' out of most
anti-air knockdowns.

-IORI: His only problem is his lack of damage, but that's a pretty big
problem. That's why he's average, not bad...just average. And in a game
with a roster this size, being average isn't good enough to keep up with
monsters like Kula and Gato.

Really, there's absolutely nothing he does that somebody else doesn't do
better. He's kind of fallen into the same rut that Ryu has in the recent
games he's been in. Iori is meant to be simple and unchanging so that people
always have a solid easy character to play with. The problem with his solid,
average design is that he doesn't have good speed or power then he doesn't
really have an edge. Which is his problem in this game. His Aoi Hana and
Maiden Masher (the core of his game) is way slow and laughably weak. His LDM
is one of the absolute worse. His Wine Cup super is sadly his one saving
grace because it's a solid-antiair and the only move he has that does decent
damage...too bad it has awful recovery if it whiffs.

I mean, who's going to be afraid of Iori's rushdown/mix-up? The exact same
mix-up that people have seen for 13 years? In a game with rushdown characters
like Kula, Gato, Oswald, Duck, K', Eiji, etc.? Nobody as long as Iori's slow
and weak.

-SHINGO: 1st off, his LDM is overrated. Sure, he needs it BADLY, but it's
still overrated. The only way his LDM does the same OMGWTF damage as in KOF
2003 is if he hits it at a very strict distance from the corner. Honestly,
that's not going to intentionally happen in a real match. It's like his
random sparked Dokugami...it's AWESOME when it happens, but it's all entirely
luck and it's not likely to happen when you really need it.

Overall, Shingo has all of the same weaknesses as Iori (so many new characters
are faster, stronger) without even most of Iori's upsides (Solid DP, decent
projectile, reliable anti-air Level 1 super, Aoi Hana, safe moves, decent
recovery, good reach...I'll stop there).

He has ZERO good air pokes, which is the primary mark of a garbage-tier
character in this game since almost EVERYBODY needs a really good air poke
because of the dominance of short jumps and hyperhops. This, combined with
his need to be in mid-to-close range is the kiss of death for Shingo. He has
NO moves to effectively help him get close to the opponent except QCF+P or
Shingo Kick and God help you if you whiff those.

If your opponent is sleeping, short hop D is a decent combo starter but it
doesn't beat out ANYTHING in the air when it really should.

Yeah, his DP SUCKS, sorry to say. You're probably better off with Dokugami
(QCF+C)...at least it has a TINY bit of autoguard and a TINY chance for OMGWTF
counter-hit spark damage. His QCF+A has bad recovery and is crap for anything
but ending combos. Ground Shingo Kick is okay, but not as good as it should be
(good speed and priority, still dangerous on block). Air Shingo Kick is ASS,
which is the number two thing about XI Shingo that pisses me off because in
2003 it was so nice.

The number #1 worst thing that happened during 2003 Shingo --> XI Shingo? The
nerfing of his DP+K. In 2003, his DP+K was GODLIKE. In XI, the only thing
better about it is less recovery on whiff...otherwise it is completely
inferior in every possible way.

-KIM: What can I say other than the fact that he's just completely solid in
this game. "Solid" in that he has a few good strengths and very little
weaknesses, he's what Iori would be if Iori was good.

As always, he has good speed, excellent normals, a damn good QCB+P, and a
good super in Phoenix Flattener. That's all he really needs. Nothing fancy,
just solid rushdown and a great BnB combo (anything into QCB+C, uf+K, d+K)
which is great range and is a non-recoverable knockdown (something vital to
have).

-DUO LON:
Q: I'm surprised that Duo Lon isn't considered a higher tier character.
If he's leader, he can literally destroy any character with full health
with his LDM combos.

A: Unless you Saving Shift out of them. If your opponent picks Leader Duo
Lon, then you should prepare ahead of time and save your stocks for Saving
Shifts. While it does handicap you in that you can't use stocks for anything
else, at least it negates the LDM.

Duo Lon is somewhat underrated though. I'd put him as high-C/low-B without
his LDM or High-A with it.The 3rd Video you listed shows why even Leader
Duo Lon isn't as completely dominant as he might seem. First of all, he
doesn't have any strong anti-airs so Gato and Kula get to jump in on him
pretty much without risk. That's very bad.

Also, while his LDM has the potential to wreck a character, Duo isn't very
good at building meter on his own. To do that, he has to land his QCF+P
chains consistently, and while he has good speed and tools to help him get
close, his attacks suffer from poor range.

He relies on his teammates too much. With excellent teammates like Kula or
Gato to cover for his glaring weaknesses, he can look like a monster, but get
him alone against the Top Tier and he's in big trouble unless he has an LDM
stocked.

-CLARK:I've played Clark in every KOF, and overall, this is his best version
by far. He's easily within the top 8 characters in the game, possibly even
in the top 5.

First off, he has the best and fastest normals that he's ever had. For the
first time ever, ALL of his A's are chainable. His crouching C is cancelable,
which is a HUGE boost to his game. Jump A is simply awesome for combos, and his
Jump E is one of the very best air normals in the game.

His standing E is a so-so anti-air, but excellent for kara cancelling.

He can link or cancel his SAB from just about ALL of his A/B/C attacks, which
is also huge.

His Gatling Attack DM helps him A LOT. It's an ultimate juggle, and an
excellent DC into his LDM if he's Leader. It's quick and pretty safe on block.
It does pretty good damage. It's a badly-needed anti-air in a game where
characters without reliable AA get stomped by Gato and Kula for free. I don't
see how much you could ask for much more from it.

His LDM is the best grab in the game, period. Ramon's LDM is total garbage by
comparison.

Running Three is quicker and yet still retains invincibility.

SAB has less recovery on whiff and seems to even be faster on start-up.

Flashing Elbow recovers quicker and leaves you closer to the opponent, setting
up Clark's wake-up game AGAIN. This may even be Clark's best improvement from
previous games.

Frankensteiner is simply awesome. Not even Momoko can duck under it. It has
full invincibility almost completely throughout. You can't even be swept out
of the recovery usually because Clark is considered airborne even if he misses.
It's faster than it's ever been, and the grab hitbox has been improved. It will
always grab badly-timed rolls, and if you time it right, you barely have any
time to jump out of the way. Trying to poke him out of it will get you thrown
9 times out of 10.

Clark can match Gato fairly-well in close-quarters. In fact, if Gato has
no meter, I'd say Clark actually has the advantage. Problem is, the more
meter Gato has (especially with an LDM), the more disadvantageous the
situation becomes for Clark.

-HAYATE: Hayate has one really good gimmick. That is his air zoning game,
which revolves around his air boomerangs. If you're facing someone who isn't
familar at all with Hayate (which is most people) then you can win by
confusing them with air boomerangs mixed up with his other aerial moves.

However, once someone learns how to get around that gimmick, Hayate has
absolutely nothing else going for him. He has several killer flaws, including:
a) The 2nd worst defense in the game (takes 10% more than average)
b) THE worst stun defense in the game (takes 30% more than average)
c) Some of the WORST recovery on his moves

There's a reason for all of that, though. Playmore didn't intend Hayate to
really be an up-close, in-your-face fighter. He does use a boomerang, after
all. Pretty much, he plays like he does in Kizuna, not a hyper-hopping,
QS-combo machine like most top XI characters.

His main problem then in this game is dealing with really strong rushdown
characters like Kula and Gato, as well as characters with just plain good
anti-airs (Kyo and Iori). This is because against characters with solid
anti-airs, you can't really pressure them after an air boomerang. Against
rushdown monsters, every mistake you make will be magnified because of
Hayate's extremely poor defense and stun guard. Hell, just about any
opening that someone like Duck, Oswald, or Maxima gets on you is pretty
much a guaranteed stun and then most likely kill if they have even 1 stock
and a DM.


5) Kara-cancelling uses:

-The concept: Like in Third Strike: e.g Ryu kara-throw f+mp, quickly
interrupt the command into lp+lk, Yun kara-palm qcb,lk~+P, (do the qcb
motion, throw a lk, in then quickly finish the command and press P),
Yun kara-kara palm (useful during Genei Jin), mp~qcb,lk~+P (same as
above except you add an additional input by kara cancelling the mp,
into a kara palm.) etc.

Clark can kara-cancel his standing E into SAB for a massive increase
in range.

I'm not too familiar with Duo Lon, but I think that you can kara-cancel
his d+C or f+A.

Ralf's standing E should be used for kara-cancelling into his DP+P.
Seriously, that kara cancel alone makes him at least 50% more dangerous,
and gives him a medium-risk, high-reward anti-air.


6) Some useful KoF web communities (Google them):

Orochinagi
Cyberfanatix


7) Credits to: (the co-authors of all substantive knowledge in this post)
Shiki Dan
Kendaichi

of the GameFAQs forums.


Copyright (c) TheTRobbReport 2009

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