The King of Fighters 2002 UM/King

Normals

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• cl.A/B/C/D are cancel-able
• cl. A is chain-able
• cl. B hits low
• cl.C can be used to stop opponents from jumping over your head
• cl.D hits twice while the first hit is cancel-able which makes it a great combo starter and useful in blockstrings

Standing

• Far A/B/C/D are not special cancel-able
• Far A is chain-able into itself
• Far B is can whiff on some crouching opponents
• Far A/B/C/D are good standing anti-air normals for hop checking and pre-emptive anti-air
• Far C and D can be Max Mode bypassed into hcb+K as hcb+BC.
• Far C and D can whiff on small crouching height opponents

Crouching

• Crouching A/B are chain-able
• Crouching B and D hits low and share the same hit-box distance
• Crouch C is special cancel-able and whiff cancel-able
• Crouch C is a very good crouching anti-air which can stop hops and jumps if used in advance
• Crouch D is a really slow sweep and is not whiff cancel-able

Jumping

• Jump A hits at a downward angle and is good for pre-emptive hop and jump checking
• Jump B is a good air-to-air but whiffs on some crouching opponents
• Jump C share the same animation and range as jump A but starts up slower
• Jump C/D can cross-up but the hit-box is rather small
• Jump D has a sharp downward angle and is best to use as a air-to-ground attack to start combos or blockstrings, as an instant overhead against opponents who have high crouching heights

Blowback Attack

• Stand CD has lower body invulnerability, moves her sprite forward a bit, slightly resembles her Venom Strike starting animation, and is whiff and hit cancel-able

• Jump CD has a swinging hit-box from the top of her head and swings downward at 30 degree angle. It may whiff on some crouching opponents if performed too late.

Throws

Hold Rush: (f + C) close

• King knees then punches opponent. The opponent is thrown across the 3/4 of the screen away from King.

• Can be broken

• Tech-able knockdown

• dmg 90

Hook Buster: (f + D) close

• Scissor grab and then flips opponent in opposite direction. The opponent land at the corner of the screen.

• Can be broken

• Tech-able knockdown

• dmg 90

Command Moves

Trap Kick - (f + B)

• King hops forward and hits with an overhead kick. It has great range, safe on block, invulnerable to low attacks, and combos from heavy attacks. It has rather slow start-up like many other command moves that are overhead attacks which makes it easy to spot on the defensive side. It's obviously not cancel-able at all but it can be used in short blockstrings in the corner to pressure the opponent, which is helpful because it leaves her neutral on block. But careful of 1-frame instant command throws and normal throws if you do plan to use it as an offensive pressure tool. It's best used poke to program and condition your opponent into stand blocking while using it in conjunction with her Slide (df + D) which hits low.

• Overhead attack

• Evades low attacks

• dmg 90

Slide - (df + D)

• This slide is a low attack. The range of this slide is approximately equal to the range of when she lands from a regular hop. Similar to combo properties of her Trap Kick which combos only from heavy attacks; in Max Mode, it is cancel-able into her Tornado Kick and Trap Shot. King's slide is only safe on block at it's maximum range, which highly unsafe when used at a point-blank range. You can also activate into Max Mode during it's active frames on hit. The slide's low profile hurtbox can cause King to evade certain standing and jumping attacks aimed high, and evade some projectiles:

Ryo's qcf+P & hcb+K

Robert's qcf+P

EX Robert's [b]~f+P & [b]~f+K

Athena's hcb+P & hcf+P

Kensou's hcb+P

Orochi Shermie's hcb+P, qcfx2+K

K's qcf+P~f+B

Whip's j. hcb+P, hcb+B

Kula's qcb+K

Foxy's qcf+P

Chang's [P] repeatedly

Lin's qcb+P, qcb+K

Shingo's hcf+K

Yamazaki's qcb+B, stand D

Blue Mary's qcf+A

Billy's f+B, qcf+C

Heidern's charge b~f+P

Takuma's qcf+C, hcb+D

EX Takuma's qcf+P

King's qcf+K

Mai's qcf+A

• Does not knock down
• dmg 120

Special Moves

Venom Strike - (qcf + B)

• This fireball doesn't knock down upon impact but inflicts 100 damage and has a fair amount of recovery if it's blocked. It can combo from close heavy attacks and King can move after the fireball has moved near the middle of the screen. A good projectile to zone with at far range but be care at mid-range since her upper body is vulnerable to incoming hop attacks.
• dmg 100

Combo Advice: This fireball combos after heavy attacks like cl.C, cl.D, and crouch C.

Double Strike - (qcf + D)

• Two Venom Strikes are hurled at the opponent. Both of the fireballs are quite fast, and it seems that if you get hit by the first one, the second will always hit the opponent and knock them down. Defensively it can be hard to evade without full jumping at her, but she's vulnerable if the opponent blocks and Guard Cancel Rolls the first fireball then attack her while the second fireball is still in motion. The Double Strike can combo from heavy attacks just like the Venom Strike but has FAR less recovery on block - so, be sure not to use it as a blockstring up close.
• Double fireball
• Hits mid
• 150, if both fireballs connect

Combo Advice: Double Strike combos after heavy attacks like cl.C, cl.D, and crouch C.

Trap Shot - (dp + B/D)

• King performs a flip kick followed by multiple kicks. The light kick version (B) has some lower body invincibility during its start-up, as well can combo from light and heavy attacks. The heavy kick version of this move just has slower start-up, can't combo from any normal attacks but has a slightly longer range than the light kick version. Overall, this move isn't very safe to use by itself because it has slow start-up, very limited invincibility, and has very bad recovery when whiffed or blocked...but King is granted a huge amount of push-back if blocked. You can try to use its range to eat up certain long range pokes or special moves that extend the opponents hitbox (like normal Takuma's qcf+A) but beyond that, it is not very useful to use outside of combos.

• dmg 150

• Soft knockdown

Mirage Kick - hcb + A/C

• Dash forward kick, follwed by several more kicks
• dmg 130

Tornado Kick - hcb + B/D

• Flying kick
• B version hits once, D version hits twice
• dmg - B: 100; D: 110

Mirage Dance - close hcf + A/C

• Volley of kicks ended with a knockdown
• Hits high, mid and low
• dmg 120

DM

Illusion Dance: qcf hcb + B/D

• Hop backward follwed by a volley of attacks
• dmg 210

Surprise Rose: qcf x 2 + B/D

• Flip kick launcher follwed by a volley of aerial kicks
• dmg 210

SDM

Illusion Dance - qcf hcb + BD

• Violent flurry of kicks
• dmg 310

HSDM

Secret Mirage - f, hcf + BD

• King's foot glows with blue energy as she delivers a series of violent kicks.

Combos

BnB's

• cl.D (2), special attack
• cl.B, hcf+P
• cr.B, cr.A, dp+K

Super Canceling

• st.X, hcb+P (3), qcfx2+D

Max Mode Attack Strings

• (corner) hcb+P (4), qcfx2+D
• hcf+P (3), dp+K, (mid screen) qcf+D/(corner) qcf hcb+K
• hcb+P (4), (mid screen) qcfx2+D/(corner) dp+K, qcf hcb+K

Quick Max

• cl. strong, df+D, (BC), (midscreen) hcb+P (4), qcfx2+D/ (corner) hcb+P (3), dp+K, qcf hcb+K
• Far C, (BC)（midscreen) hcb+P (4), qcfx2+D/（corner) hcb+P (3), dp+K, qcf hcb+K
• cr.B, cr.A, cr.B (BC), hcb+P (4),（midscreen) qcfx2+K / （corner) dp+K, qcf hcb+K

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