FLAMES IORI IS OUTTTT at least on 360
ex dp into command grab is here
also interestingly he can whiff cancel far HP into 6lp6lp unlike clawiori (though both can whiffspecialcancel that move. i guess that's the main advantage it has over 5lk which has better recovery and a very similar hitbox and maybe better startup) may be useful as a preemptive anti hop
his neomax is unblockable but jumpable and blockstun prevents it. so i think it is gimmicky as a mixup as long as you know to jump after the superflash
also i like both ioris' close lk close hp link
also http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=7KYWNwHlNp4 MY BODY IS READY
i will give you some shit for mai
let's go over her normals first, which are gdlk
2lk-pretty good range crouching lk. even on block. like most 2lks in kof, chains into 2lp and 5lp and isnt special cancellable. also chains into 5lk. Self-gatlings on whiff etc.
5lk-godlike poke. even on block! hits crouchers even though it didnt used to! fucking amazing recovery and range. ABUSE THIS POKE. Even chains into 5hk! 2lk 2lk 5lk 5hk HD is a fantastic hit confirm. however, be careful if you throw this out in expectation of a shorthop because sometimes it will be done before they actually stick out a limb/get close enough. gotta delay it a bit in those situations, or use..
5hk-also godlike. great range, a bit better at anti-shorthop than 5lk. can be sort of an anti air for normal jumps. like -5 on block, which doesnt matter much because of the huge pushblock. however, if they have meter and a really fast EX ranbu super or something(iori, shen woo's bionic arm), they can punish it on block but ssshh dont tell anyone.
keep in mind that even if a normal isnt special cancellable normally hd mode makes it such. useful for combos obviously but also for desperate blockstrings
2hk-good sweep. you probably want to cancel it. not a lot else to say. cancelling into her projectile when you expect it to be blocked is pretty good for pressure.(light fan will give you more advantage, heavy fan or light ryuenbu will be better at stopping them from jumping/attacking)
Remember, like most sweeps and CDs, hers is whiff cancellable.
Do like 2hk(whiff) light ryuenbu to kill 2 birds with 1 stone.
Close hk: Dunno what advantages this has over close HP. Bigger cancel window?
5lp-Fantastic jab. Seriously, look at the range on that sucker. Self-gatlings on whiff etc. Special cancellable. Plus on block. This and 5lk give her very nice strike/strike pressure when combined with stuff like 5lk 5hk chain and 5lp lightryuenbu. Walk 5lp walk 5lp 5lp.... Chains into 5lk too. Like 5lk, great because of how it deals with both hops and crouching opponents.
Close lp-Great for pressureing. Lots of jabbing and walking can be strong, decent confirms with her chains.
2lp- + frames, so use this for pressure. A bit more range than 2lk, too.
5hp-This is your anti air when they're gonna be kinda right above head. ( http://wiki.shoryuken.com/The_King_of_Fighters_XIII/Strategy look at this) A decent move in neutral in general because of how it covers all of the space in front of her through all its active frames. Similar to 5hk on block, though.
2hp-Very fast, 4f IIRC. Im not sure if this, 2lk, 2lp, or close HP are her fastest normals. I generally use this because it has a large cancel window. You can do 2lk2lp link 2hp. Simply does more damage than 2lk etc.
Close HP-Can be a nice anti air, but can also fuck you up when you're trying to do far hp anti air in a certain way. Even on block. Might be her fastest, 3f or 4f.
j.lp Active for years. Abuse this.
j.lk Great for ambiguous crossups, fast, bigger than it looks, knees own in kof. Good amount of active frames.
j.hp Can do nice crossups, pretty nice hitbox. More active frames than j.hk but not as deep.
j.hk Her deepest jump-in i think.
j.2lk: "Ukihane". Great move. Can trade with DPs a lot. Great for crossups. Hits overhead. Master doing these very quickly, 82lk,(Hint: DONT hit LK too early or you'll get j.lk instead of j.2lk.) very nice overhead to just throw out. Normally not good on block but cancelling into dive pretty reliably leaves you at about even. You can do double overhead with stuff like j.d j2lk(i think this was only off fulljumps not hops) and then dive to make it safe. Knocks down.
C+D Great move. Whiff cancellable like all CDs. + frames on block. Doing this and cancelling into slow projectile gives you some really nice pressure. On CH, links into neomax and shit. On oki you can space CD and do slow-fan you can usually jump in CD or run up poke and you're in good shape.
j.cd Also godlike, tons of blockstun like most j.cds. Good air to air and if you can trade with their anti air this is pretty great since unless they use a DP you will recover sooner than them in a trade. (This is a nice thing about pretty much all j.cds)
236P: Very nice. She holds up quite well in fireball wars. Hitbox reaches lower than it looks. On hit you can combo into neomax. Called "kachousen". Light version is pretty great in blockstrings in terms of advantage, 236hp will frametrap much more often though.
EX: fast as fuck, plows through things, links to neomax, chip motherfuckers when they have no life
214P: Light one is a great anti jump(As in, they jump towards you like over a projectile but not quite in jump in range..and you make them land on ryuenbu.) when spaced decently, even links into neomax. Good poke too, good blockstring ender when you're worried. Slightly - on block. Can be made even pretty easily with a little distance. Called "Ryuuenbu". Heavy is only for combos i think.. Negates projectiles but eh.
EX: +7ish on block but be wary of Guard cancel rolls. Great for combos.
41236K: Light version can be safe if spaced decently, but usually unsafe. Basically useful for the fact that it makes you into a fast forward moving hitbox, and maybe punishing them when they roll your fireball from a distance..? Heavy is pretty much always unsafe as far as i know.
EX: Only like -3.
j.214P: Great for beating DPs if you time and space it right. Normally about -3, but if you aim at their feet you can make it even or even slightly plus. Be careful about using these against grapplers. Light is aimed steeper.
There's an option select with this by mashing j.214EX when j.214p is hitting. On block nothing happens. On hit, enemy is put into a juggle state. Can get 300 damage if you do 41236HK after this but its hard to make it reliable. More reliable near the corner.
EX: Always even on block AFAIK.
[2]8P: Wallleap. She has like none of her options before aside from dive, ukihane after a certain laate point, and just landing. Maybe you can airthrow too, i haven't tested that. Mainly for runaway and a few weird things.
2141236K: EX version has invincibility. Mediocre in combos if not done right(like in the corner is ideal). EX version is pretty much your only real reversal.
2363214LP+HP: GODLIKE NEOMAX. If mai has 3 bars and full stock THEY CANNOT JUMP. FAST AS HELL. Combos off any cancellable normal. If you hit them with light ryuenbu out of the air you can often link into this. CH CD? Neomax. Hit by your projectile? Neomax. They rolled? Neomax. They're throwing projectiles? Neomax. Partially justifies putting mai in 2nd position IMO.
Oh yeah, and she has an airthrow, 4 or 6jHP.
Combos:
non-hd with super bar:
If you're Not too far from the corner(like 40% away) you can do something like: 2hp cancel EX ryuenbu link 41236 HK(1) drive cancel C ryuenbu link ryuenbu link airthrow. About 40-50% damage for 1 bar 1 stock. Good shit.
If you're closer to the corner you can do something like EX ryuenbu link C ryuenbu link C ryuenbu airthrow, you may have to delay the first ryuenbu very slightly and walk backwards very slightly(What I do is i do the 214 slowly so that i get a slight walk before hitting HP) due to some weird thing with ryuenbu's hitbox not hitting the enemy when mai is right in the corner. You can get the full combo but it ends up being tighter because of that walkback. remember, airthrow will pretty much always do more damage than a ryuenbu if you're doing the juggle and feel like you messed up.
you can actually do ex ryuenbu <c ryuenbu x 3> airthrow but it requires you to not have to do a small walk backwards.
To add more, drive cancel the last c ryuenbu into 236a, and then do more ryuenbu loops. you may have to delay the ryuenbu before this 236a based on height
that dive option select combo near corner is like dive->Ex dive->land, c ryuenbu(1) drive cancel ex ryuenbu into ryuenbu loops into airthrow
if you're far from the corner and really want to carry them but dont have full HD: EX ryuenbu, link 41236HK(1) drive cancel EX ryuenbu, run a bit and 41236hk. 390ish damage, corner to corner. not great but not awful for 2bar 1stock. you could super instead of 41236hk at the end if you want but bleh, nott efficient.
HD combos:
If you are in the opposite corner and you want to do an HD combo, do something like this: 2lk 2lk 5lk 5hk(or whatever) HD 5lk 5hk 41236HK(2 hits) drivecancel C ryuenbu(1 hit) drivecancel 41236HK and possibly super(but its not very meter efficient)
Or, you can keep doing 41236HK(2) HP ryuenbu(1) on loop, but people have trouble. In any case, here's how you do the loop:
The problem is that this overlaps with her super motion, 2141236K because the game's motion buffer is pretty huge.
However, you can use this buffer to overcome this. What you do is either:
A)Input 214 very quickly after you hit HK for 41236HK, but dont hit Punch until you want the ryuenbu. The buffer will keep it, but the 214 will have been done long enough ago that you won't get super
B)Do something like this:41236hk then immediately after hitting K start doing a half circle back, "slowly". back and forth, back and forth. i feel like doing this and not letting the stick go to neutral makes this much easier. you may prefer method A.
It really helps if you are at close range and can get both of the first two ground hits of 41236hk. Hell, i dunno if you can do it with only one of the ground hits which happens sometimes due to range, but not really in HD combos.
And then, when you're close enough to the corner, do stuff like this:
Mai HD corner combo: <whatever start> 41236HK(All hits) drive cancel j.214a 41236HK(2) dcancel 214c link 214c link 214c(1) dcancel 236a link 214c link 214c(1) dcancel 236a 214c airthrow. You can probably do more 214c but that's just where i ended it the last time i was messing with corner combos. Gets you 600+ damage. Could probably toss in a neomax near the end or super after HD mode is over pretty welll.
Dont freak out too much about getting the whole thing, just get the basics down. Plus, if they have shitty defense you can end it early and land another attack and make good use of another drive cancel or two into another 400 damage, lmao.
close hp 236a links into 2hp in the corner. the realm of true ballers(not me)
OTHER RANDOM TIPS:
Normally in KOF you cant run and throw, you have to walk/stop. However, in this, you can run, hit hp or hk, and then hit back very slightly afterwards and you get throw. I think its because the startup frames of close moves are cancellable into throw or something weird like that because its SF2 style. keep in mind the throw protection window is still pretty huge.
IIRC superjumps and superhops are throw vulnerable on startup.
if they're sitting back and just eating chip damage because they have too much of a life lead for you to chip them, run in behind a light kachousen, watch for their jump attempts, and then go into pressure.
Mai has lots of pressure options. Basic mixing of 2lk, + frame 2lp or 5lp, and shorthops. Lots of strike/strike/throw mixup with 5lk and 5lp and shit. Good frametrap/+ frame options with cancels into light ryuenbu or fans. Good containment ability. Spaced ryuenbus and CDs on oki can be nice. j.2lk can be really nice. Nice crossups. EX ryuenbu is hella + so pretty decent as long as they dont have meter to guard cancel roll.
LATE EDIT FOR JOURDAL: A basic mixup aside from using kneefall or throw or guardbreak's threat is to do..i think it is either 2 or 3 2lks(might be 2lp) and then do either hop or hyperhop j.hk. Hop wont crossup, hyperhop will. If they start mashing when they see the poke setup, you might be in range for far lk far hk for an easy to confirm big punish, i dont remember, havent done this shit on a long time.
There's certainly tons of other shit I forgot but whatever. I'll think of things later.
i apologize for the mixed notation.
as for athena/robert/other stuff
athena's reflector is a pretty dickish move. it is + frames(though its big pushback so this isnt super meaningful), is an attack as well as reflect, is pretty meaty, can AA, and is just kind of annoying as fuck.
to not get dp when doing run command grab, do 412369
robert's heavy flying kick is unsafe. i think light flying kick is kinda safe idk
learn this combo or you arent really playing athena: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_co66AR5Yp4#t=3m04s
While grabs normally catch rolls, robert's kickthing is an unblockable technically, not a grab. So it is like a grab in every way but doesnt catch rolls.
athena's jumps are MUCH floatier than most characters. this really affects how she uses shorthops
when looking at their normals consider http://wiki.shoryuken.com/The_King_of_Fighters_XIII/Strategy
using athena's dive to crossup is one of the dirtiest crossups known to mankind
the fact that athena has both a dp and a command grab means that she has fantastic options after her light dive even though its like -1 or so. this same principle helps you be an extra shitwad after teleports as well which leave you at a significant disadvantage when cancelled into but..
ex teleport is special cancellable. praise be to anime
remember that like marvel, a lot of normals are whiff cancellable, but the window ends in recovery, so try to time it at the end of active frames
the fact that robert's 6lp gives a really easy juggle on anti air even when not counterhit is really fantastic. exploit that
i think robert is the only dude who not only has two command normals but can chain one into another. you should have no trouble hit confirming. maybe i should play robert lol
when you are running, your roll goes farther
athena has one of the few sweeps that isnt cancellable
http://wiki.shoryuken.com/The_King_of_Fighters_XIII/Game_Elements/Command_Interpreter
comboing off lows is generally 2lk 2lp and then either a command normal or a cancellable normal like 5lk or something. like yuri does 2lk 2lk 5lk special, iori does 2lk 2lp 6lp, or some dont have a "third normal" for low chains and just special cancel off 2lp, like mai
if yuo havent seen http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r75Lz1Drp8g then watch it
http://wiki.shoryuken.com/The_King_of_Fighters_XIII/Robert
http://wiki.shoryuken.com/The_King_of_Fighters_XIII/Athena
http://www.dreamcancel.com/wiki/index.php?title=Athena_Asamiya_%28XIII%29
http://www.dreamcancel.com/wiki/index.php?title=Robert_Garcia_%28XIII%29
And the dreamcancel forum character topics can have good stuff but the DC forums appear to be down!
note that both of these wikis can have old info from arcade or just plain wrong stuff
