Ash Crimson/Move List

Overview


Ash is a Zoner (mostly with charge motion inputs, a la Heidern and his adoptive daughter) who excels at poking and keeping opponents away from him. He also has many other tools at the player's disposal that can be used to rush down efficiently, all while keeping the pressure on them, such as "Ventose", a standard projectile, "Nivose", a great anti-air and reversal move, and "Vendemiaire", a short ranged command auto-combo. His Leader Super Special Move (now just a regular MAX Super Special Move in XV), "Sans-Culotte", allows him to uses his Special Moves without the need to charge them, making his inputs akin to the Mortal Kombat series.

However his greatest tool is the ability to steal others abilities. During the ending of The King of Fighters 2003, Ash steals the abilities of Chizuru Kagura, and gains her Mirror and Sealing powers into his moveset. For The King of Fighters XI, he gained a follow-up Super Special Move "Germinal", where he dashes forward and seals the opponent's Special Moves and Super Special Moves for a short while.



During the Climax of KOF XI, Ash steals the Yasakani Jewel from Iori Yagami, adding his purple flames to his arsenal. While he doesn't use it in The King of Fighters XII, he uses them in full force in The King of Fighters XIII, where he gains new moves, such as "Genie", where he can setup traps. He also gains a Neo Max Super Special Move called "Fructidor", a short ranged command grab that utilizes Iori's flames for maximum damage.

Come KOF XV, however, and Ash - no longer having the Yasakani Jewel or Yata Mirror - is back to his XIII moveset without the powers granted to him by the Sacred Treasures (notably his Germinal Caprice has had its animation altered, and both Germinal and Fructidor are gone). As far as his gameplay's concerned in XV, he's about the same as he was before, just with buffs to his combo damage (especially from raw MAX Mode), new and improved standing kicks (his standing was exactly the same as the close version while standing, now an instant version of Floreal, shared the same animation as his command moves back in XIII), and a completely new Climax Super in Espoir, which is a near full-screen super that, while slow, does colossal damage, especially if canceled into during raw MAX Mode.

Overall, as of KOF XV, Ash is a very beginner-friendly Zoner character who excels at most defensive play and can punish the opponent heavily for their mistakes. Given his dependence on meter for damage (especially if one plans on using Sans-culottes to its fullest potential) Ash is best placed last in the Order Select menu, as an Anchor.