Advice on dealing with online jumpfest

[Samurai Cop]

Trying to get into KOF online but the gameplay meta has always eluded me with KOF. I love a lot of the staple characters like terry and Robert and enjoy training mode and confirming into big combos but it seems like jumping and aggression is dominant in this game and there are a lack of defensive options.
Maybe im missing something is there a better way to punish someone for jumping? im asking honestly. Cause it seems like the risk reward isnt there. You either have a dp to counter a jump for 5 - 10% dmg or they hit you for 80% health if they land the jump in. Button anti airs like crouch heavy often trade and once again only hit for like 5%.
A lot of people spam short hops and you have to hit them with 10 anti airs to equal one landed jump in.
Throw in the lag spikes that this game is currently having online and jumping can feel unstoppable in some matches.
Any advice how to get more out of anti airs, be it damage or the best options for when they land? How to take your turn after one?

[Funkfist]

KoF is a jumpy game. You will need to learn how to air to air with moves like j.CD or whatever else your character has. Grounded AAs are fine but they wont be enough to deal with everything. Look up some good player footage and see how they are handling the jumps.

[Breeze]

Jabs typically beat hops.
For full jump ins, you might want to explore your character's best anti-air in training mode and try to anticipate the jumps. Ralf's heavy napalm blast is a really good anti-air, for example.
Also, if you're getting jump attacked often, try not to crouch as much. It's very hard to defend from jump attacks while crouching because you can't block them.

[MuskelBiber]

Originally posted by Naptime:

Jabs typically beat hops.
For full jump ins, you might want to explore your character's best anti-air in training mode and try to anticipate the jumps. Ralf's heavy napalm blast is a really good anti-air, for example.
Also, if you're getting jump attacked often, try not to crouch as much. It's very hard to defend from jump attacks while crouching because you can't block them.

So a jump in count as overhead attack?

ok now everything makes more sense , you want to block standing to block the jump in attack, but if you're opponent does an empty jump into low you eat a combo. So that's the whole high/low mix up situation everyone talks about.

I feel so stupid, I am always crouch blocking like a turtle and wondering why I can't block the jump in.

[Zé Bostola]

If you're new to KOF, think about this: unlike other games like SF, you got a lot more aerial options than just jump.
You can jump, hyper jump, hop, and hyper hop. All of those options have their usage and you should be prepared to expect when they're coming and what to do to punish them.
Against jumps and hyper jumps you can use pretty much any move with an upward hitbox, could be a normal, or obviously DPs.
Against hops, since they're super quick, you gotta make a read, but they're easy to punish: jab. That's it. Just jab. This move IS NOT invulnerable to air attacks but most of the pressure people use with hops are j.CD, and they take a while to come out. You can jab people out of it with ease, and if you miss, it's just a jab so it's not like they gonna get a full combo if you whiff. You can also hop at the same time and use a proper air to air, moves like Benimaru's j.D or Iori's j.B are great examples.

[Napalm Cake]

It depends on the characters you're using, some characters don't have anti airs buttons or special move like Kukri (for balance reasons I guess, though he can use teleport to runaway if timed well).
Basically if you are new and can't react with dp fast enough you have to rely on buttons.
For normal jumps you can generally antiair with close 5D or 2C, it is not universal so you have to go to the lab and see which button is it for your main characters. Some doenst have a button for that and some have different ones (like Maxima's 3C or his armored buttons).
Terry can use 5D (very good button) or 3C. Robert can also use 5D or 2C depending on the jump distance.

For hops it's super easy, just press 5A! Very reliable with any character, very easy, and has very low risk.

[Dr. Curien]

Originally posted by Funkfist:

KoF is a jumpy game. You will need to learn how to air to air with moves like j.CD or whatever else your character has. Grounded AAs are fine but they wont be enough to deal with everything. Look up some good player footage and see how they are handling the jumps.

as someone who mains KoF98UMFE, KoFXV really is just way too much. Most 2C's dont properly work, 6A trades too often, jump-ins are too oppresive and long. This is partly because character models are just too big for KoF-styled gameplay.

[DK|Radau]

KOF = jump all day, non-stop jump. don't forget to jump. remember jump?

[Shaia_Tempari]

The jump-ins feel as overpowered as they were in KOFXI. The only real good option is low B into combo, but not everyone can do that well, and that feeds into the problem that confirms off light attacks do too much damage in general in this for how easy they are.

It was meant as QoL change, but it didn't need to be added in.

[Doc Holiday]

Floor is lava

[Dr. Curien]

Originally posted by Shaia_Tempari:

The jump-ins feel as overpowered as they were in KOFXI. The only real good option is low B into combo, but not everyone can do that well, and that feeds into the problem that confirms off light attacks do too much damage in general in this for how easy they are.

It was meant as QoL change, but it didn't need to be added in.

The thing is that it's not that bad when you compare it to XV. Jumping is too strong in XI, but it doesn't ruin the entire game since the character sprites are relatively small and the jumps much faster than in XV.

[Xaks32]

Originally posted by Doc Holiday:

Floor is lava

[Xaks32]

Punishing Jumps has been made easier in KOF15, dude. It depends on your opponent's distance, you can try HK(Heavy Kick) if you think they'll jump or hop on you.

It really depends on the character tho, angel can't just HK their opponent, but she has speed to compensate for that and also special moves that allow faster movement.

Some characters just have teleports(Athena) or double jump(Isla) so pretty much every character has their own way of dealing with jump spammers and skill spammers.

You have to find out what EACH ONE of your Characters can do, characters like Terry, Joe, King can just High Kick on Thin Air, characters like Blue Mary can just slide under their opponents as soon as she sees them jumping.

[Shaia_Tempari]

Good advice, but characters have different options in the air, Some chars can punish you hard for selecting the wrong defense option.