Fans ofKing Of Fighters 15know that while this installment starts with a newKing Of Fighterstournament, there’s definitely something suspicious with the new tournament coordinator Anastasia and the world at large since the defeat of Verse in the previous game. Oddly enough, the suspicions of characters were right as previously-deceased fighters are suddenly back, and new power-users called Amplified Specters also join the tournament.
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To newcomers and savants to the series, the idea of playing a three-man team of 39 characters (47, with the DLCs) can make things quite overwhelming. And with the game’s fast-paced mechanics, players that execute a mistake can be severely punished. Thankfully, players can avoid certain mistakes everyone makes to give them an edge against most players.
8Don’t Ignore The Timer
Each fight in aKOF15match takes place over the course of 60 seconds, giving players quite a lot of breathing room to pummel opponents into submission. Moreover, when one character gets defeated, the winning character gets a bit of their health back during the next round. This is neat for most players, as this ensures they’re not purely at a disadvantage during the next round. However, players need to remember that the timer has to do with how much health they get back.
At its core, players who defeat their opponents faster will get more health back, incentivizingfast-paced gameplay. Likewise, players that defeat their opponents so close to the ending of the timer won’t get a lot of health back. Losing players can actually stall to ensure that the winning player gets the least health back possible, giving them a winning shot in the next round.
7Don’t Jump Without Purpose
The Jump mechanic is an ever-present element in most fighting games, especially since it can help create distance and create opportunities for hard-to-block aerial attacks. However,KOF15puts more emphasis on Jumps as they open opportunities in combat depending on how they’re used. Players who use Jump haphazardly might wonder why sometimes their characters jump too far or too slowly, and why sometimes their attacks won’t connect. This is because the gamehas four different jump types:
6Don’t Jump Attack Too Haphazardly
The Jump Attack is one of the most favorite mechanics of anyone who’s ever touched a fighting game - it just looks flashy in the eyes of a beginner, and is a great way to initiate combos for experts. However,KOF15’s emphasis onspecific kinds of jumpsmeans it also takes its Jump Attacks seriously as well. Reckless Jump Attacks might result in damage numbers players don’t expect because the game expects Jump Attacks to be used a particular way.
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For instance, attacks from Jumps may not necessarily connect into combos because of the height, as they often only have poking capabilities. Meanwhile, attacking from Hops or during the recovery stage of the Jump can help players initiate combos - but the added timing element here means Jumps need to be used more carefully.
5Don’t Ignore Defense
While the fast-paced nature ofKOF15makes it very enticing for players to simplygo all-out in terms of offense, players who don’t know their defense can fall quickly for opponents who know their combos. Thankfully, aside from the typical back-to-block mechanic, the game employs useful defensive strategies that players can use to their advantage:
4Don’t Neglect Throws
While other games simply have throws as a gimmick,KOF15emphasizes throws as an extremely flexible mechanic - makinggrapplers very dangerous characters. After all, unlike other games that have a “standard” flow for any kind of throw,KOF15has different kinds of throws - such as Command Grabs that work at Frame 1, Armor Grabs, and even Fully-Invincible Grabs. All the aforementioned grabs have different animation sets and frame vulnerabilities, meaning players can’t easily “tech” a grab unless they predict the grab a character does.
This makes throws an extremely viable option for both attackers and defenders. For those on the defense, any grab can beat most attacks if they connect right on the same frame. Meanwhile, attackers who want to avoid grabs upon enemy wake-up can simply stand a few frames away or attack from the air where they can’t be thrown.
3Don’t Hesitate With Meters
While it’s perfectly possible to playKOF15completely with the base combos and the occasional Special Move, it’s imperative that players don’t hesitate to use their Meters when playing the game. Without the meter, attacks may seem potent enough, but they don’t have the extra kick and flexibility that using Meters can provide.
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For instance, players shouldn’t reserve their Special Moves, EX Moves, and Climax Supers for special occasions. Rather, they should use them as often as possible as these moves oftenopen more opportunities for combatthan players realize. For instance, EX Moves of attacks often create “bounce” animations that leave opponents often for counters, whereas their regular versions don’t leave enough frames for a follow-up.
2Don’t Put A Main Up Front
Unlike other titles,KOF15is a team-based game, meaning players choose a trio of characters to use in combat. While other tag-based games let players switch characters easily,KOF15will have character choice that affects combat.
For instance, even character sequence has an impact on the resources players have in the game. The first character can only get up to 3 Meters, while the second character can get up to 4 Meters, and the last character can get up to the maximum of 5 Meters. This means the last character in a match has the most potential for a comeback situation, given the combat advantages of metered special moves and abilities. In this regard, players should put their mains ormost powerful charactersas their last choice so they can try to reverse a losing situation.
1Don’t Shame The Keybinds
WithKOF15coming from a franchise of popular fighting games, it makes sense for fighting game enthusiasts to want to learn the game “purely” - in that, they may want to perform all commands via manual input. However, one of the key problems here aside from technical difficulty is the strain this puts on player creativity, as they’re often burdened by the need to get inputs right instead of experimenting with builds.
One thing players could do in this regard is to make effective use of keybinds. In the Options screen, players can actually assign a button to certain commands that are often accomplished by multiple inputs. For instance, the Blow Back attack that is often accomplished with Heavy Punch + Heavy Kick can be assigned to a single key. This makes inputs much easier to control and gives more room for creative movement, which explains why some players make certain characters lookincredibly overpowered.
King Of Fighters 15is currently available on PC, PS4, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S.
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