[KOF Arena] The secret of ‘single-blow finishers’ — the damage changes by distance

Jun 4, 2023

Short and strong finishers, damage changing by distance

The finishers that attack the opponent once are single-hit attacks and don’t have high hits. The biggest factor of these finishers is that their damage changes by the distance between you and the opponent. Although they look like single hits, they’re actually multiple hits, and the number of hits changes by distance. That being said, when you’re playing a fighter that has a finisher of this type, you have to use it from close range to give 100% damage with the max number of hits.

▲ No wonder Tenchi Haouken felt so weak!

The finisher of “Yashiro”, Final Impact is up to 5 hits!

The full number of hits of Yashiro’s finisher, Final Impact, is 5. If the distance from the opponent gets far, it is reduced to 4 or 3 hits. About 60% of the damage is dealt on the 5th hit. The damage up to the 4th hit is only 40%. Compared to a full 5-hit finisher, if you get only 3 hits, the damage dealt is only 33%.

▲ Due to the distance from the opponent, the hits were reduced, and the damage was also reduced.

▲ There is no reason to use the finisher unless it’s a full 5-hit attack. (From top to bottom, damage with 5 hits, 4 hits, and 3 hits)

▲ When you use MAX mode + double finisher, even if the distance of the first finisher is far, you can make all 5 hits land for the 2nd finisher.

The finisher of “HeavyD!”, Magnum is up to 6 hits!

HeavyD!’s finisher, Magnum, is 6 hits. If the distance gets far, it can be reduced to 4 hits or a minimum of 3 hits. The damage of the 5th and 6th hits is equal to the damage dealt from the 1st to 4th hits. When you land only 4 hits, the damage is reduced to 50%. If it’s 3 hits, it’s about 33%. Fortunately, the horizontal movement of Magnum is very good, so if you use it from mid range, you can land all 6 hits most of the time. Also, when you use a double finisher, even if the opponent flies backward, you can land all 6 hits with the 2nd finisher.

▲ The damage decreases with Magnum, HeavyD!’s finisher, according to the distance.

▲ The distance isn’t too difficult to cover with HeavyD!’s finisher compared to Yashiro or Ryo. (From top to bottom, damage with 6 hits, 4 hits, and 3 hits)

The finisher of “Ryo”, Tenchi Haouken is up to 2 hits!

It is much more important for Ryo to control the distance when using his finisher compared to Yashiro or HeavyD! The full number of hits is 2, but the 1st hit only has a knockdown effect, and the damage is inflicted on the 2nd hit. If the distance gets far, the opponent only gets knocked down without any damage.

With Ryo’s Tenchi Haouken, the opponent doesn’t fly backward — they get knocked to the ground, so even if the opponent is only knocked down without any damage on the 1st hit, the following hits all land.

▲ The 1st hit of Ryo’s Tenchi Haouken only knocks down the opponent without any damage.

▲ If you use Tenchi Haouken from its maximum range, the animation looks like it hit, but there is no actual damage.

▲ Fortunately, if you use a double finisher, even if the 1st finisher dealt no damage with 1 hit, the 2nd finisher lands with 2 hits.

The finisher of “Chizuru”, for which the following multiple hits are important, is up to 9 hits!

Chizuru’s finisher, ‘Rimen 85 Katsu: Reiji no Ishizue’, has the first 3 hits occur simultaneously, and there are multiple hits (6 hits) that follow. When you land all 9 hits, you can look forward to more damage compared to other finishers. What you need to be careful of is that the range of the following multiple hits is shorter than the first 3 hits. It is important to learn the range where you can land the following multiple hits since it has more damage than other finishers if you land them.

▲ The following multiple hits have a shorter range than the first 3 hits.

▲ The damage of 3 hits isn’t bad, but the damage when you land all 9 hits is massive, so you should take much more caution with the range.

Stronger finisher in MAX mode, “Yabuki Shingo”

Shingo’s finisher, Ge Shiki: Kake Hourin always has 2 hits when connected, so the damage doesn’t change due to distance. However, unlike other fighters, the damage increases when you use it in MAX mode. It may be Shingo-style critical of the original KOF series. Therefore, it’s always better to use Shingo’s finisher in MAX mode.