The King of Fighters '98 UMFE/Heavy D!

Introduction

Heavy D! is an extremely fast and long-ranged physical zoner who has some pretty great mixups and space-controlling options, but suffers a bit in the damage department. With his Shadow and D. Shadow moves, however, he can get some of the highest meterless damage in the game and thus becomes a ridiculously well-rounded and powerful character. He can hang back and control half the screen with his pokes and special moves, or get in and destroy his opponents with high/low/throw mixups from close- or mid-range. He suffers a bit when his opponent gets in on him, or when trying to do damage before he gets Shadow, but otherwise he's not too demanding to use and very difficult to deal with.

Changes from previous versions

98 to 98UM

Normals:

• st.C 2 frames less startup
• cr.D can now be cancelled

Specials:

• qcf+P now knocks down. weak version has 4 more startup frames
• qcb+K now has invincibility that stretches to the active frames but startup is increased. The enhanced version causes a juggle state
• qcf+K hitbox increased in size. it now has a hitbox consistent with where the move looks to hit

Supers:

• added qcfx2+K, Heavy D! goes into a special state where his moves become enhanced but he can't build meter when it's active

98UM to 98UMFE

Normals:

• cr.C less recovery, no longer whiffs on short characters

Specials: 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

Supers:

• 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

Normal Moves

Standing

• st.A : Standard far standing jab meant for anti-airing hops. Has extremely fast startup and lots of reach, so it can also function as a poke in some situations. Whiffs on crouching characters.

• st.B : Slower and way less safe than far standing A, with the tradeoff being that it doesn't whiff on crouching characters. However, crouching A also doesn't whiff on crouching characters and doesn't have these downsides. Don't use this button.

• st.C : Gigantic poke with tons of range. Decent preemptive anti-air against hops.

• st.D : It's supposed to be an anti-air, but it's really slow and range-dependent, and the priority isn't great. Heavy D! has way better anti-airs, don't bother with this.

Close

• cl.A : Solid, lightning-fast combo filler. Has a really nice hitbox.

• cl.B : Interchangeable with close standing A in combos. Also has a really nice hitbox.

• cl.C : Fantastic punish material. Comes out fast and combos into everything combo-able, including Dancing Beat at close enough range.

• cl.D : Basically a little self-contained hit-confirm. Hits twice, with both hits being cancelable. Won't combo into Dancing Beat. Does the same damage as close standing C.

Crouching

• cr.A : Has insane range for a crouching A, and is otherwise pretty much identical to far standing A (except that it hits crouchers). Great for picking up combos after you chain a bunch of crouching Bs in a row.

• cr.B : Heavy D!'s low combo starter. Range is pretty small, but it can chain into itself a ridiculous number of times for excellent confirms.

• cr.C : Excellent anti-air with a ton of priority and nice speed.

• cr.D : Sweep with a surprising amount of range.

Jumping

• j.A : Good all-purpose jump-in. Good priority and not much pushback.

• j.B : The most crossup button imaginable. Ambiguous as hell and with barely any pushback, allowing for lots of followup chain combos.

• nj.B : Decent air-to-air.

• j.C : Two-hit normal that does the most damage out of all of Heavy D!'s jump-ins.

• j.D : Far-reaching jump-in and air-to-air.

CD Attacks

• st.CD : Nice poke that knocks down. Fairly slow.

• j.CD : Covers basically the same range as jumping D, but with a little more range and priority.

Throws

Stomach Buster: (close) b/f + C

Untechable mash throw. Opponent can mash to take away some of the hits, you can mash to do the hits faster before that happens. Doesn't switch sides. Soft knockdown.

Reverse Stomach Buster: (close) b/f + D

Another untechable mash throw. Opponent can mash to take away some of the hits, you can mash to do the hits faster before that happens. Switches sides. Hard knockdown.

Command Moves

Rock Crush: f + A

Extremely standard KoF command normal. By itself, it's a decently fast overhead. When canceled into, it combos from just about any normal and combos into Rolling Soul Diver or D. Crazy, although it's no longer an overhead. Late-canceling it lets it keep its raw properties, though, letting you sneak in some surprise overheads if you timing is right. If you juggle into it, it's not damage-optimal but does give a hard knockdown with your opponent right next to you. Good for some useful conversions from lights.

Special Moves

Rolling Soul Diver: qcf + A/C

Heavy D!'s long-range dash punch. Good for ending grounded combos with lots of pushback or ending juggles if you want oki instead of damage. The A version is fast, while the C version goes further and does more damage. All the hits connect at every range. Both versions are safe against everything except moves that are both fast and long-ranged, so you can poke with it against some characters. Shadow makes both versions faster and more damaging, to the point that the A version combos from lights.

Blast Upper: qcf + B/D

Heavy D!'s other big combo ender. Does more damage than Rolling Soul Diver, but has less range. Has a big-ass hitbox, so it makes a nice zoning tool and anti-air. Both versions do the same damage, but the B version is a bit faster (and combos from lights) while the D version has more range (and can be spaced to be safe). Great for ending juggles and just taking up space generally. Shadow makes it do more damage. Can nullify one projectile.

Ducking Combination: qcb + A/C (up to 2 times)

A weird but powerful rekka. The first part of the rekka has a ton of invincibility and moves forward quite a bit. The C version is slower than the A version but goes further, and has more invincibility. The second part of the rekka hits low and combos from the first part for the C version, and hits high but doesn't combo from the first part for the A version. Both versions of both parts can be mixed and matched. Ducking Combination is too slow to combo from anything, unfortunately, but it does a ton of damage and the invincibility makes it a great tool for blowing past neutral and forcing a mixup for free. Shadow makes both parts do more damage, although the extra damage for the first part only comes out if you don't follow it up.

Soul Flower: qcb + B/D

Sort of an anti-air move with limited invincibility. Slow, but very damaging, and launches for further damage. Fantastic for some juggles. B version is faster, while D version is more damaging and launches higher. Shadow makes it do even more damage.

Dancing Beat: (close) dp + A/C

A proximity unblockable, meaning it's basically a command grab at close range and doesn't come out otherwise. Does very nice damage. Shadow reduces the damage but makes it an insanely powerful launcher that opens up all of Heavy D's most damaging combo routes. Both the A and C versions are the same.

Shadow: d, d + A/C

An install move that powers up Heavy D!'s next special move in some way (generally more hits and damage). Once you have it, nothing gets rid of it except using it on a special move (or doing raw Rock Crush for some reason). If you do it twice in a row you end up spending it on a powered-up version of itself, which is pretty much useless. It's a very good idea to pop this in neutral whenever you get the chance, although the D. Shadow DM makes it much less important.

Desperation Move

D. Crazy: qcb hcf + A/C

Pretty standard KoF ranbu DM. Has about the same speed and range as Rolling Soul Diver, so it combos from all the same things. The MAX version is the same but does more damage. Use this instead of Rolling Soul Diver in grounded combos when you feel like spending meter on more damage.

D. Magnum: qcf qcf + A/C (push down to hold)

Projectile DM with fairly slow startup. Won't combo from anything, but it'll blow through projectiles and you can set up a couple of juggles into it with MAX Mode. The MAX version is the same but does more damage. Holding it doesn't give any kind of benefit.

D. Shadow: qcf qcf + B/D

Easily Heavy D!'s best DM. Install DM that gives Heavy D! his Shadow buff for the next five special moves or ten seconds, whatever gets used up first. The MAX version gives him the buff for the remainder of the round. With this, Heavy D!'s damage goes through the roof, and he goes from slightly underpowered to slightly overpowered and gets to stay there for quite a while. The install also has no startup or recovery, allowing Heavy D! to activate it to see what his opponent is about to do and then respond appropriately with no lag time. If Heavy D! has meter to spend, it should probably be on this.

Combos

Meterless

cl.C > dp+P

cr.B > cr.A > dp+P

cl.D > qcf+D

j.A/C/D > cl.C > qcf+D

[Almost any combination of 2-4 chained light normals] > f+A > qcf+C

Shadow

cl.C > dp+P > qcf+D/qcf+A

cr.B > cr.A > dp+P > qcf+D/qcf+A

j.A/C/D > cl.A > dp+P > qcf+D/qcf+A

D. Shadow

cl.C > dp+P > qcb+B > qcf+D/qcf+A

cr.B > cr.A > dp+P > qcb+B > qcf+D/qcf+A

j.A/C/D > cl.A > dp+P > qcb+B > qcf+D/qcf+A

For any of these, replace qcb+B with qcb+D if you happen to have MAX Mode on

Other Uses of Meter

[Almost any combination of 2-4 chained light normals] > f+A > qcb hcf+A/C/AC

d d+P > cl.C > dp+P > qcf qcf+A/C/AC (MAX Mode only, in Extra Mode you can Quick MAX the last hit of dp+P)

d d+P > cr.B > cr.A > dp+P > qcf qcf+A/C (MAX Mode only, in Extra Mode you can Quick MAX the last hit of dp+P)

d d+P > j.A/C/D > cl.A > dp+P > qcf qcf+A/C (MAX Mode only, in Extra Mode you can Quick MAX the last hit of dp+P)

Strategy & Tips

Best Pokes and Keepaway Moves

st.A

st.C

st.CD

cr.A

cr.D

qcf+D

Videos

King of Fighters 98 UM FE: Heavy D! Guide by Mash It Out