With well over a million installs from the Google Play Store alone and seizing top spots in lists of new free mobile games across several countries, The King of Fighters Allstar has certainly become a huge hit among mobile gamers, and not just exclusively to fans of the fighting game series. With its current roster of fighters, everyone can surely find more than enough fighters to use for their own ultimate team. With its constant updates and occasional new content, though, The King of Fighters Allstar guarantees to keep on pouring new stuff to ensure that players who love and enjoy the game will ceaselessly find new activities to partake in.
It’s completely okay if you started out playing The King of Fighters Allstar a little later than most people. With all the initial bonuses you will receive and the relative easiness of securing rubies on the initial stages of the story, you will surely be able to catch up quickly enough. Just the same, if you are still trying to get a good grasp of the game’s basic mechanics and features, then be sure to read The King of Fighters Allstar beginner’s guide for some tips and tricks to learn as you dive into the game.
While we also touch briefly on the reroll strategy in that guide, you should also take a look at our Tier List to have an idea of which fighters you may want to try and grab a hold of early in the game. If you are likewise looking for ideas on how to form powerful teams, you can find our best picks in The King of Fighters Allstar teams guide. Last, but not the least, we also have a battle cards guide to help you understand how to utilize the battle cards feature more effectively.
We have already presented a tier list containing our top picks for who we consider are currently the best fighters in the game. As the global version of the game has only been around for a month, compared to the Japanese version of the game being around for over a year, we have come up with a separate list of upcoming fighters to keep an eye out for as they have grown to be top favorites among fans of the game. While we will not be able to clearly determine how soon or how long it will take for any of these characters to be added to the global version, each will surely come out exactly how they are in the Japanese version, which means that they will be as powerful or efficient as they are. Likewise, while the first list of top fighters we provided are all formidable in their own right, some of these fighters are simply above them by general standards.
For the most part, it is likely that you still have some fighters left to unlock given that The King of Fighters Allstar already hosts a plethora of fighters in its current roster. As you continue to earn and save rubies, though, knowing that a great number of fighters are still on their way should help you muster some patience to keep holding on to your hard-earned rubies for at least some of these top-notch fighters.
Orochi [KOF ’97 – Purple – Balanced Type]
At the top of our list considering every fighter we know is Orochi, who is the final boss of King of Fighters ’97. If you are a fan of the series and have played King of Fighters quite some time, you would have a solid idea about just how cheesy he is as a final boss. In The King of Fighters Allstar, he is likewise a powerhouse that sports immense abilities on his own that can be further elevated by the plethora of links and enhancements available in the game.
Orochi sports superb stat values and as a balanced type fighter, he does pretty decent damage. His leader skill is one to want especially if you have several Orochi Clan members in your roster to consider as his partners as it provides a 40% boost in attack power as well as a 20% boost in HP. While the leader skill stands well on its own, what makes it valuable is that most, if not all, Orochi Clan members are superior fighters in the game. Unlike most fighters in the game who only have 1 skill that has an added effect, Orochi has 2. His primary skill deals 523% damage to the enemy and also cause 25% burn damage for 7 seconds. His third skill, although dealing only 487% damage, grants him super armor for 1 second and while that may not be long, it’s a perfect setup to string a long combo or counter a huge hit.
Expectedly, using Orochi Clan Members as a striker for Orochi will bring about the best perks. For PvE battles, especially ones with mobs of enemies, we would recommend using Yashiro, Shermie, Chris, Orochi Yashiro, or Orochi Shermie for a 7% HP boost as well as a 3% HP regen per enemy defeated in battle. The best striker for a more offensive approach in either PvE or PvP is False Advent Orochi, who is also currently unreleased. Using him as a striker for Orochi provides a 10% attack power boost, an additional 7% penetration, and a 1-second cool down period reduction if Orochi’s HP is more than 70%.
Terry Bogard [KOF ’03 – Yellow – Balanced Type]
While Terry Bogard’s overall design from his Fatal Fury days are awesome, the 2003 version which sports Terry Bogard’s Garou: Mark of the Wolves costume, is one to really keep an eye on. Although all fighters from the 2003 series have yet to appear in The King of Fighters Allstar, the ones that we are certain will become available are all among our top picks with the Fatal Fury main protagonist leading the pack.
Terry Bogard ’03 may be a balanced type fighter, he packs quite a punch and with most skills revolving around his power gauge and charge, he can get close to or even match an attack type fighter’s offensive strength while still brandishing decent defense stat values. Terry Bogard ‘03’s primary skill deals 773% of attack value as damage and also boosts his attack by 25% for 8 seconds. His second skill does 690% of attack as damage and temporarily disables damage for 3 seconds. If he has a power charge of 2 upon activating the skill, it cannot be avoided.
Last, but not the least, Terry’s third skill does 828% damage that gets further boosted by 50% if he has a power charge. Considering these 3 notable skills, you can mix and match to combo in on an enemy with opportunities to do more damage based on your power gauge level. His leader skill is also considerably perfect for a balanced type team as it provides a 45% boost to attack power and a 7% boost to defense for yellow element allies.
There are numerous striker choices for Terry Bogard ’03 but our best picks are Art of Fighting buddies Joe Higashi ’97 and Andy Bogard ’96. Either one as a striker grants Terry with a 12% attack boost as well as a 1-second skill cool down decrease provided that his power charge is 2 or less. For more defensive setups, Geese Howard ’96 grants the same 12% attack boost under the right circumstances. Instead of the cool down reduction, though, Geese provides a 5% damage reduction.
Ash Crimson [KOF ’03 – Green – Defense Type]
Our next pick for the best upcoming fighters to keep an eye on comes again from the King of Fighters 2003 game and this time, it’s the main protagonist of the Ash Saga himself, Ash Crimson. As expected all protagonists in the series are fan-favorites and sill be among the top picks for teams in The King of Fighters Allstar. Although Ash has yet unavailable in the game, he will definitely be a great addition to your roster once he becomes a new challenger.
Each of Ash Crimson’s active skills have special effects that can present various opportunities for you to strategize around with. For starters, his primary skill deals 680% attack damage but also boosts his attack damage for the succeeding 7 seconds, making it a great combo starter if all skills are available. His second skill deals 716% damage and also boosts his HP recovery by 50% for 7 seconds. His third active skill works like a combination of both dealing 622% of attack as base damage, regenerates HP by 1% for 7 seconds, and also chips in an additional 30% burn damage on enemies for 7 seconds.
On top of all that, activating Ash Crimson as a striker gives your fighter super armor for 3 seconds as well as regenerate HP by 12%. Ash Crimson’s leader skill comes pretty handy for an offensive team with 45% boost to green element allies’ attack as well as a 20% increase in power gauge acquisition. Ash Crimson is an excellent striker as well providing your fighter with a super armor and a 12% HP recovery rate for 3 seconds.
Although partners in the 2003 game, Duo Lon and Shen Woo, have not joined The King of Fighters Allstar yet, there are plenty of striker candidates that give Ash Crimson a great boost. Our top picks would be Kyo Kusanagi ’96, Iori Yagami ’96, and Chizuru Kagura ’96. Setting anyone of these fighters as Ash’s striker grants him an additional 20% power gauge at the start of the stage. In addition, it provides a barrier that prevents all attacks for a second. If Ash Crimson is built to have a higher defense, Mukai will be a great striker with his boost that provides an attack increase equal to 25% of his defense, add a 5% increase in power gauge acquisition, and also reduce skill cool down period by half a second.
Mukai [KOF ’03 – Blue – Attack Type]
Yet another fighter from the King of Fighters 2003 game, Mukai, the game’s final boss, is our next pick on this list. As powerful as he is in the fighting game version, Mukai, without any cores, or battle cards, come in pretty strong as an attacker. His active skills do more than just raw damage as well and each one already does decent amounts of damage without the added effects.
Mukai’s leader skill provides the blue element team members with an additional 20% HP as well as a 50% damage boost for active skills. Given that he is an attack type fighter with high damage values, this skill adds a lot more to his value as an attacker. Mukai’s first active skill deals 594% of his attack as damage to an enemy and additionally grants him a 10% power boost for the succeeding 10 seconds. The second one does 636% damage and activates a super armor for 1 second. Last, but not the least, his third active skill deals 571% damage and inflicts stone on an enemy for 0.3 seconds, much like in the 2003 game. Mukai carries with him the stone curse-inflicting ability as a striker, making him a top-notch pick for a striker as well.
Mukai may not have as many options for his striker but each one available provides a completely different set of boosts. Setting up Ash Crimson as Mukai’s striker leaves him with the exact same perks. Ash enables him to have an attack power boost of 15%, an added power gauge growth rate of 5%, and a much-desired skill cool down reduction of 0.5 seconds. If you want more offensive power, Kim Kaphwan ’94 is your guy as he gives Mukai a 7% boost in attack power and a 10% power gauge acquisition boost. If you prefer bulking up defense more, Takuma Sakazaki provides him with a 7% HP boost as well as a 2% HP gain per enemy killed.
Original Zero [KOF ’01 – Blue – Attack Type]
Our next fighter on the list is no other than Original Zero, who is a sub-boss of the 2001 game and known to be a formidable opponent with one of the best loved designs in the series. With a fighting style that makes use of strikers, expect to see Glaugar, his pet lion, to appear alongside him with the activation of some of his skills. In The King of Fighters Allstar, Original Zero is one of those attackers that sport a higher-than-usual attack stat but leaves him with very poor defense. In any case, he is a glass cannon that makes it all the more important to block and dodge.
Original Zero’s leader skill increases attack power by 30% for blue element fighters and also buffs HP by 10%. His primary skill deals 592% of attack as damage and also boosts his attack by 10% for the next 10 seconds. His second skill is a guaranteed guard-breaker, in addition to the 559% of attack damage it inflicts on his enemy. His third skill is equally notable with a 1-second super armor activation following the 553% of attack damage it deals. Like Mukai, Original Zero is an excellent scrambler as a striker, with an ability to stun enemies he hits for 0.6 seconds on top of the 279% attack damage it deals.
Maxima ’99, K’ Dash ’99, or Whip ’99 set as Original Zero’s striker grants him with aboost on attack as well as power gauge acquisition. Going for a more balanced approach, Clone Zero can give him a 7% HP boost and a 5% boost on both attack and defense. Igniz is also a great choice as he grants an additional 5% damage to enemies, HP regeneration of 4% per enemy defeated, and a 1% power gauge acquisition per second.
Kyo Kusanagi [KOF XIII – Red – Balanced Type]
In our first tier list of fighters currently available in the game, Kyo Kusanagi ’95 was our #4 pick. Truthfully enough, Kyo Kusanagi ’98 was also among our favorites and would have earned the 11th spot if we were to extend our list beyond 10 fighters. For the yet unreleased characters, Kyo Kusanagi from King of Fighters XIII, also known as the NESTS version Kyo , is one of the characters we will be waiting for in the global version of the game. As another balanced type fighter with some attack boosts along with other gains from his skills, this version of Kyo can offer a wide variety of strategies and plays for various team combinations.
Despite being a balanced type fighter, Kyo Kusanagi XIII’s leader skills are more in line with an offensive setup with 30% attack power boost for red element fighters as well as a critical rate increase of 11%. Each of his active skills has an added effect on top of the damage. The first one deals 644% damage and boosts his attack further by 12% for the next 7 seconds. Kyo’s second skill is even more impressive with a raw damage of 605% and a free super armor. Beyond that, it raises his power gauge acquisition by 30% for 10 seconds while also reducing the enemy’s power gauge gain by the same percentage.
Kyo Kusanagi XIII will be starting off with fewer than the usual strikers with links. Despite that, each one can be a pretty decent choice and can offer varied perks to choose from based on how you want to strategize around him. Our top pick for his striker would be K Dash ’99 that gives him a 10% boost in attack power, an added 5% burn damage, and a skill cool down reduction of 0.5 seconds.
Pretty Chang Koehan [KOF AS – Yellow – Defense Type]
It’s actually a bit of a spoiler but The King of Fighters Allstar will have some character versions exclusive to game and while some of it has already been unveiled in the recent Halloween Event, a lot more will be coming out. One of these events will involve female versions of some male fighters and of the 3 we know, Chang Koehan is among our favorite upcoming fighters. Chang Koehan is probably not among many players’ favorite heroes in the game, and probably not what people consider to be among the series’ most attractive characters. In the pretty series, though, the female Chang has a pretty sturdy build and probably one of the tankiest fighters in the game.
Pretty Chang’s leader skill is perfect for an all-female team as it offers a 60% attack boost to the team at the cost of losing 10% HP. If you are all for assault with some members not starting of with high HP stats anyway, it is a pretty decent trade off. With a naturally high defense attribute, Pretty Chang’s first skill adds more bite to her bark with a 10% of defense added to her attack for 10 seconds on top of the base 617% damage. Her second skill starts off with 697% damage and activates a super armor. Her third active skill does 640% damage and boosts her defense by 15% for 10 seconds. With these skills alone, you can activate her 3rd skill for a defense boost before launching her first skill for extra damage. As a striker, Pretty Chang can stun all enemies for half a second, which is pretty awesome.
Having Pretty Yashiro or Pretty Billy Kane as Pretty Chang’s striker gives her an added 12% critical damage and 3% critical rate. The Christmas Event version of Chang set as her striker is our favorite pick since it gives her 15% of defense as attack bonus, a 1% power gauge gain per second, and 2% HP regeneration for every enemy defeated.
Haohmaru [Collaboration – Red – Attack Type]
Our next pick may not be familiar to fans of the King of Fighters series but for SNK and fighting game enthusiasts, Haohmaru from Samurai Shodown is a character that needs no introduction. It may be a bit of a spoiler as well but you should expect characters from other series to join in on the action in The King of Fighters Allstar. As the main protagonist of the Samurai Shodown series, it’s no surprise to see Haohmaru’s design in the game to be an impressive fighter that won’t disappoint his fans.
With a rare leader skill that is not restrictive at all, Haohmaru boosts the attack power of his allies by 55%. Setting him as leader of your team freely leaves you to choose just about anyone as partners. To make him more fearsome where attack damage is concerned, his primary skill gives him a 12% attack power boost for 5 seconds on top of the 566% damage it deals. Another notable skill is his third one, which packs 566% damage with a 13% bleed effect for the next 7 seconds.
While Haohmaru is a formidable fighter all on his own, the potentially perceived downside may come from his striker choices. The reason for this is that his striker options with link effects come from the same series that come exclusively from the Samurai Shodown time-limited event. In any case, any one of them serves as a decent striker for Haohmaru. Either Genjuro or Ukyo will grant him a critical rate boost of 3% and an increase in critical damage by 9%. Our top pick would be Amakusa, though, for the solid 5% attack boost plus a 10% HP boost.
Igniz [KOF ’01 – Purple – Attack Type]
We have covered a lot of boss characters in both lists and essentially, it would appear that boss characters in King of Fighters are easy choices to bank on as character choices without even knowing that much about what they can entirely do. For the final boss of King of Fighters 2001, though, Igniz is definitely a destructive force with a lot of power in the game. Although he lags behind in defense as well as in HP, Igniz can be built to deal with enemies quick before he runs out of HP.
Igniz’ leadership skill can be somewhat delimiting but if you pack him in with a couple of NESTS fighters, he can boost attack power by 40% and critical rate by 10%. Igniz has a superb set of skills and to start off, his primary active one which deals 685% damage boosts his critical rate further by 17% for 5 seconds and gives him a super armor for 3 seconds. In PvP battles, Igniz’ second skill can disable the buff effects of his opponents skills within 4 seconds after it hits on top of the 652% raw damage it deals.
For striker considerations, both Original Zero and Krizalid grants Igniz with a power gauge acquisition boost of 10%, a skill cool down reduction of half a second, and a barrier that prevents all attacks for 1 second when attacked. This would be the best damage enhancer that offers pretty superb defense capabilities for him. K’ Dash ’99, Maxima ’99, Angel ’01, Kula Diamond ’00, or Whip ’99 set as his striker gives Igniz a 20% starting power gauge level as well as an attack and defense boost of 7%.
Sakura Festival Hinako [King of Fighters AS – Yellow – Balanced Type]
Yet another The King of Fighters Allstar exclusive version of characters will be the Sakura Event that features 4 fighters in unique costumes. Of these 4, we found Hinako to be the most impressive and consider her as the one to keep tabs on once the limited event takes place. Once it does, this will be the first version of Hinako to join the fray.
Although Hinako is a balanced type fighter, her leader skill is swerving more towards building a team of balanced types into more offensive ones with a 60% boost in attack power and a 10% reduction in HP. It may seem a huge trade-off since balanced types typically sport a high amount of HP compared to attack types but in a sense, it still works well for any decent team of balanced types considering each of them will typically have good levels of defense stats as well. Hinako’s most notable skill is her primary one, dealing 501% of her attack as damage and giving all other skills a boost of 10% damage for the next 10 seconds. Using Hinako likewise has the effect but only with 5% proficiency.
Although Hinako only has 4 available strikers with link boosts, each one offers a totally unique set of buffs that can be used for a variety of situations. Sakura Festival Chizuru gives her an additional 5% damage to enemies with a 1% power gauge gain per second. Sakura Festival Joe grants an additional 9% critical damage and HP regen of 2% for each enemy you defeat. Sakura Festival Billy starts you of with an extra 20% on your power gauge and reduces skill cool down by 0.5 seconds. Last, but not the least, using Robert Garcia ’97 gives you 12% additional gold after clearing a stage on top of the added 5% attack and 10% power gauge acquisition.
This is where we will end our top picks for upcoming fighters. There are certainly a lot more we are waiting for to appear in The King of Fighters Allstar and there are certainly other note-worthy characters to take a deeper look into. In any case, if you are not particularly looking to obtain any of the featured fighters in the current banners, be sure to do your best to save your rubies for upcoming events.
We hope that you enjoyed reading through our list and as much as we want to cover as many of our favorites, we may just have to come up with another set of picks later. Which King of Fighters characters or versions are you most eagerly waiting for to be the next challenger? Let us know of them in the comment section below!
Ocelot
Tuesday 12th of November 2019
Disappointed to see my boy Krizalid not mentioned uWu. I love this list! Good stuff!