Boss Challenge


 * "I got a bad feeling about this! Just what's gonna happen?"
 * -The Announcer

Boss Challenge is a mode in The King of Fighters XV.

Overview
Boss Challenge is a free mode added in the Ver.1.20 update. This goal of this mode is to take down superpowered Boss versions of previous bosses in the series.

vs. Omega Rugal

 * "Take him out before he blows all of us up!!!"
 * -The Announcer



Omega Rugal was added along with the Boss Challenge Mode on April 14th, 2022. Defeating him grants the player his alternate costume from The King of Fighters 2002: Challenge to Ultimate Battle, referred to as the "Omega Armor", as well as his Boss Theme, Conclusion R&D -KOF XV ver.-, the Player Title "The One Who Surpassed R", and the Strange Plateau stage.

Survival
Surviving against Omega Rugal is actually not difficult at all. The most important thing to keep in mind is to not jump at Omega Rugal recklessly as he will almost always respond with a Genocide Cutter, dealing about 300 damage.

As long as a crouch block is maintained, Omega Rugal has barely any tools open up a player. His only overhead, Double Tomahawk, is extremely telegraphed as it only hits overhead on its second hit. Staying crouched has the additional benefit of avoiding all Violent Ray attacks that he launches.

Omega Rugal is slightly more dangerous when he has at least 2 meters, as this gives him access to his boss-exclusive Super Special Move Dead Mount Press. Following the release of the Goenitz boss challenge, Omega Rugal has improved AI and will attempt to get in close before using said move. It is extremely important to keep him outside of grab range by utilising far normals or sweeps as this move deals more than half a character's health. Eventually, Omega Rugal may decide to use Dead Mount Press at a distance anyways, which is trivially avoided by simply jumping over him.

When Omega Rugal accumulates 4 meters, he may attempt to activate raw MAX Mode and perform Gigantic Pressure. However, it is of no threat whatsoever to a turtling playstyle and instead opens him up to a full combo if blocked.

Offense/Counter Attack
The two main significant openings that Omega Rugal has are explained in the survival section: Dead Mount Press and raw MAX Mode. These two moves are available to him at 2 and 4 meters available respectively.

Dead Mount Press can easily be jumped over, but only if he uses it at a distance. Omega Rugal has significant recovery frames if this deperation move is jumped over, long enough for an additional hop combo starter.

When Omega Rugal has 2 meters, it may be worthwhile to deliberately stand up and block some Violent Rays (but not the version) so that he builds more meter quickly to have 4 meters.

If Omega Rugal activates raw MAX Mode, something he only does if he has at least 4 meters (due to his desire to do a full DM > SDM > Climax combo), he will always perform Gigantic Pressure immediately afterwards. Challenging Gigantic Pressure is ill-advised as it is easily blocked for no damage and he is open to a full combo afterwards.

One more move that leaves Omega Rugal open is his reflector Dark Barrier. It can be awkward to punish this move without suitable moves due its large and active hitbox. Certain standout moves that can punish it while active are Krohnen's Blaze Thrower and Kula's  Diamond Breath, both bypassing the reflector and setting up a combo. Super Special Moves such as Ralf's Galactica Phantom, Yashiro's Final Impact, Luong's Tei and ironically Rugal's own Desperate Ray all have fantastic anti-projectile properties and cleanly beats this move.

In the absence of such moves, certain far and fast reaching cancellable normals such as Rock's, K''s Yashiro's far and Ralf's crouch  are the best for punishing Dark Barrier after it vanishes.

Finally, at about full-screen distance. Omega Rugal may opt to perform a taunt. It is possible to run all the way up to him to punish him even at this distance, depending on the character's run speed.

CPU exploitation
Omega Rugal's reflector AI can be abused for him to take repeated counter hit damage. He frequently walks himself forward until about 1/3 character distance away before using his special moves - this is the perfect distance for this exploit. At this distance, Omega Rugal will still attempt to use Dark Barrier to reflect certain fast projectiles but perform it too late and instead receive a counter hit. Players can wait for Omegal Rugal to enter the ideal range, launch a fast projectile (e.g. Iori's Yami Barai), get a counter hit and simply wait for Omega Rugal to advance himself back into the ideal range before repeating.

vs. Goenitz

 * "Good luck keeping your footing in this wild gale!"
 * -The Announcer



Goenitz was added to the Boss Challenge Mode on June 20th, 2023. Defeating him grants the player his new alternate costume, titled "Gale-Force Tyrant", as well as his Boss Theme, Trash Head -KOF XV ver.-, the Player Title "Harbinger of Despair", and the Strange Plateau stage.

Survival
Unlike with Omega Rugal, surviving against Goenitz is a much bigger challenge. Turtling can be partially effective but Goenitz has the deadly and nigh unreactable Hyouga (teleport) cancelled into Yami Doukoku (super command grab), which does as much damage as playable Goenitz's MAX Yami Doukoku (a whopping 380 damage). As a reference to his original version in KOF 96, Goenitz is able to use Yami Doukoku and Shin Ya Otome: Yomotsu without meeting the meter requirements and instead use as much meter as he has available, up to 1 full. Depending on the distance when Goenitz starts using Hyouga, you will only have a few frames of reaction time to jump. At closer ranges, it is essentially impossible to avoid. It is possible to use your own command grab or grab-invincible reversals to beat this move, but these too face the same reaction time issues.

If knocked down, it is inadvisable to use an invincible reversal to escape. Goenitz often blocks such moves and is extremely eager to punish such mistakes - dashing all the way across the screen for a potentially 700 damage punish.

As with Omega Rugal, jumping at Goenitz also does not work most of the time, with him anti-airing you with Wanhyo.

Keeping him out is also a very difficult task. Besides the aforementioned teleport into grab, he also possesses a brand new move Shin Tsumakushi: Yoarashi, a quick overhead swipe that has invincibility frames. He often does this move as a response to long range poking - beating many moves and working his way in. The EX version of this move is even worse, being plus on block. He may also use Wanhyo as a response to challenging him in neutral. Its massive hitbox and generous invincibility easily dominates any attack it faces.

Unlike Omega Rugal, Goenitz properly punishes relatively unsafe moves instead of doing semi-random moves when out of blockstun. Combined with his extremely high damage combos, reckless usage of unsafe blockstrings will quickly result in a win for Goenitz.

When nearing guard crush, it may be worth considering not doing a recovery roll to have some extra time for guard meter replenishment.

When Goenitz has 2 meters, there is a very high probability of him using his boss-exclusive Super Special Move Ibuki Nagayo. Anticipating this, players should keep a close, but not point-blank close distance to him and wait for him to execute this super. Once this occurs, run towards Goenitz and then roll past him. The tornado has no vacuum effect behind Goenitz.

If Goenitz instead performs this move from further away, do a backwards jump instead. Goenitz will launch the tornado at one of two timings: if he launches it quickly, the tornado flies quickly and should be forward rolled immediately. If launched after a short delay the tornado will instead travel noticeably slower and should accordingly be forward rolled after a short delay. At a pinch, either tornado can be blocked and then guard cancelled rolled for players not confident of the roll timing.

Offense/Counter Attack
There two key situations where Goenitz is vulnerable if blocked. The first of which is his new overhead special move Shin Tsumakushi: Yoarashi. If blocked, Goenitz is roughly -8 and is more often than not left close enough for a close heavy. It is best to use a reliable punish (generally crouch C) that works both close and far rather than counting on Goenitz being close enough.

The second move that is vulnerable if blocked is Shin Aoi Hana: Seiran, or his "Rekka" special. If the first hit is blocked, Goenitz is -3 and is only punishable with Benimaru's Iai Geri. If the second hit is blocked, Goenitz is instead at -5. This is punishable with several far or crouching light attacks, depending on the character. To ensure that Goenitz is close enough for a punish, keep an approximately 2 character width distance so that Goenitz's jump attack will be at a sharp angle.

Whenever Goenitz manages to build up 2 meters, a full combo opportunity will be available. Stop attacking altogether to prevent provoking an or super reversal and keep a close distance and wait for him to do his boss-exclusive super. (Said distance is coincidentally also roughly a 2 character width at most). Subsequently, run towards Goenitz and roll forwards and past him. After Goenitz launches his tornado away, he is open to a full punish.

Occasionally, Goenitz's Wanhyou may be blocked. While it is relatively unsafe, it can be difficult to get a more than a sweep or far normal out of this due to its pushback. Getting hit by Wanhyou is not necessarily a bad thing, as the taunt afterwards builds 1 full meter for Goenitz. Keep in mind that Goenitz having 2 meters is a precursor to a full punish.

Goenitz also has a tendency to stand next to players after a knockdown, especially in the corner. Characters with instant command grabs can take advantage of this to score some free damage.

CPU exploitation
The most egregious way of exploting Goenitz AI is with Isla. From round start, do a backdash cancelled into Piecing B (+). Once Goenitz is knocked down, simply perform vertical hops cancelled into Piecing C (+) ad infinitum.

While not as effective as Isla, Maxima is also able to keep Goenitz blocking continuously by repeatedly using Vapor Cannon (+). This is not guaranteed however, as Goenitz may do a guard cancel roll or counter with Wanhyou or even  Shin Ya Otome: Yomotsu.

If something more "earned" is desired, choose Omega Rugal and put him as the 3rd character. Preserve all meter usage solely for him. With 5 meters in stock and using raw MAX Mode, Omega Rugal can fire up to 7 Desperate Rays (+/). Goenitz has 2000 health, with each Desperate Ray doing 180 damage, that means at least 1,260 damage can be dealt. However, since it is likely that Goenitz will attempt to backdash or fight back with his own Yonokaze at a distance causing a few counter hits, roughly 1,395 or about 70% of Goenitz's health can be eliminated in this manner. At round start, run away and keep a full screen distance from Goenitz, then activate MAX Mode and let the lasers fly.

Trivia

 * The Character Select and Order Select theme in this mode changes depending on what Boss you're about to fight;
 * vs. Omega Rugal changes the Character Select and Order Select theme to Going to R&D, his cutscene theme halfway through Arcade Mode in The King of Fighters '94.
 * vs. Goenitz changes the Character Select and Order Select theme to Wind, his debut cutscene theme in The King of Fighters '96.