Counterhits
As in other fighting games, a Counterhit (abbreviated as CH) occurs when a player hits an opponent with an attack while said opponent was also using an attack. In essence, they occur when one player counters and hits the opposing player's attack such as from choosing the correct anti-air or landing a frame trap.
Specifics of Counterhit
In the KOF series, what is considered a counterhit and what isn't differs somewhat from other fighters.
- The standard definition of a counterhit is that you must hit your opponent during the startup or active period of his attack.
- Hitting the opponent during the startup or active period of a jump attack does not count as a counterhit; doing the same against a hop attack does count as a counterhit.
- If two attacks trade, it depends on the type of attack who is granted a counterhit.
- If two normals trade, both players are granted a counterhit.
- If a normal trades with a special or a super, the player who did the normal is granted a counterhit.
- If a special or super trades with another special or super, both players are granted a counterhit.
Universal Traits
In KOFXIII, landing a Counterhit can cause a variety of positive effects for a player.
- Any attack that causes a Counterhit will deal additional damage varying from a 20-40% increase.
- With certain specials, DMs, and Neomaxes, little to no Counterhit damage is applied. These are typically the multi-hitting 'ranbu' moves, where the first hit deals 0 damage, so the total damage remains the same. Other cases just don't apply CH damage such as with Iori's Yatagarasu Neomax (
×2 + 
+ 
). It's really worth knowing which moves cause great damage on Counterhit while being built in for utility such as Athena's Shining Crystal Bit DM (
×2 + 
) which is used as an anti-air and will automatically deal more damage if an opponent has thrown out an aerial move during a hop.
- With certain specials, DMs, and Neomaxes, little to no Counterhit damage is applied. These are typically the multi-hitting 'ranbu' moves, where the first hit deals 0 damage, so the total damage remains the same. Other cases just don't apply CH damage such as with Iori's Yatagarasu Neomax (
- An opponent who is Counterhit out of the air can be hit by another attack, even for moves that do not cause a knockdown. You could think of it as if hitting a move with counterhit makes whatever move you do next an Anywhere Juggle move.
- This mostly applies to anti-airing an opponent with normal moves. Light attacks can be followed up, but the opponent will reset out of a hittable state fast, leaving little room for confirming a Counterhit. Heavy normals generally launch the opponent higher while leaving an opponent vulnerable for a longer window of time, making a followup hit more reasonable. In some cases, special moves can score a Counterhit and allow a followup. For example, if Shen's Gekiken! ( +
) trades against a jumping opponent, Shen will recover on the ground fast enough for him to land his Tatsu! Gekiken DM (×2 + ). - The most common way to utilize this property is from a CH j.+ during an air-to-air attempt. The player must touch the ground first before being able to input a followup, which gives the player the duration of the air time to confirm a Counterhit. Connecting a j.+ will knock the opponent higher and toward the corner, which can limit the player's followup opportunities depending on spacing or meter availability. Almost every character can universally Superjump again into another j.+ for an additional hit that moves the opponent far toward the corner. With meter or the corner to work with, a player can turn an aerial Counterhit into big damage.
- This mostly applies to anti-airing an opponent with normal moves. Light attacks can be followed up, but the opponent will reset out of a hittable state fast, leaving little room for confirming a Counterhit. Heavy normals generally launch the opponent higher while leaving an opponent vulnerable for a longer window of time, making a followup hit more reasonable. In some cases, special moves can score a Counterhit and allow a followup. For example, if Shen's Gekiken! (
Wallbounce
- Certain attacks, usually specials or DMs (although Daimon's j. + also works here as well), will bounce an opponent off of the wall when they hit as a Counterhit. Maxima's M4 Vapor Cannon (
+ ) is the poster boy of wallbounces. This counterhit-triggered wallbounce is also sometimes referred to as 'counterwire'. The positioning between the player and opponent after the bounce can change the available followup options due to spacing, but the bounced opponent will be in a free juggle state during the wallbounce.
