Neutral (Awareness Priority)

• Dealing with 3MK
  • Don’t maintain a distance where 3MK has no Punish
  • As a guideline, opening distance generally has no Punish against 3MK, so play at a closer range
• Dealing with elbow drop
  • Don’t stay at a distance where feints are possible
    • Remember that opening distance is the feint-friendly position
  • When at a feint-possible distance:
    • Anti-air with a move that has strong upward-diagonal hitbox to handle both elbow drop and forward jump
      • If you don’t have a strong upward-diagonal move, focus on normal anti-air in Neutral
• Dealing with throws
  • After any throw, if Kimberly uses raw Rush on your Quick Rise, OD invincible is guaranteed
  • If you lack OD invincible, remember that SAs with 8F or faster Startup are guaranteed unless super flash is reacted to
• Understanding the 236K mixup
  • 236K cancelled from normals other than MP and heavy attacks can be stopped with jab
  • When cancelled from MP or heavy attacks, hold jab mash or do nothing as your two options
  • Doing nothing leads to Nue Leap mixup, but the risk-reward after Nue Leap is easier to balance, so doing nothing on 236K confirm is recommended
• Understanding the post-Nue Leap mixup
  • After Nue Leap, Bushin Hojin Kick and Bushin Izuna Drop exist
  • You only need these 3 options:
    • Do nothing (Bushin Hojin Kick is Punishable on Block)
    • Backdash (dodge Bushin Izuna Drop and Punish)
    • Fastest Rush > medium attack (counter Kimberly’s jump-read Rush)
  • Jumping is the worst option
    • Getting picked up from raw Rush leads to a combo
• Dealing with Hidden Variable
  • 214P
    • Teleports from the side to in front of you
  • 214PP
    • Teleports from above to in front of you
  • When you see smoke, use a delayed upward-hitting normal to cover both OD and normal versions

Recommended Counter

236K > Nue Leap from the following normals can be beaten with fastest mash:

• HP
• 2HP
• MP

Everything else — MK, LK, etc. into 236K is not a real mixup, so mash. The video has guard reversal 4F 2LP recorded with these actions:

• MK > 236K > Nue Leap
• LK > 236K > Nue Leap

Recommended Counter

• Emergency stop throw
  • If you read this, press a 6F medium move at fastest timing for good return
• [HP OR 2HP OR MP] > 236K > Nue Leap
  • If you read this, do nothing and stay quiet
    • Mashing will get hit by Nue Leap
  • Then transition to follow-up mixup: see 236K > Nue Leap (post-follow-up mixup) section
• [Not HP OR 2HP OR MP] into 236K
  • Not a real mixup, so always mash 4F
  • For example MK > 236K can be beaten with fastest 4F
• If they show invincible-read delayed options, punish with neutral jump

The mixup gets complex easily, but your options when you see 236K should be limited to: fastest 6F medium attack, or do nothing.

Impact can be a counter in some cases but emergency stop can punish it, so not recommended. Also, even if you stay quiet and Block Nue Leap, it just starts the next mixup, so don’t panic and focus on the options.

The video below has this recorded:

• HP > 236K > Emergency stop > Throw

If HP > 236K > Nue Leap happens, you lose, but accept it as rock-paper-scissors. What’s important is that even if you lose the read, you want high return when you win. Pressing LP when you read emergency stop is wasteful. If you can deal 2000-3000+ from medium Counter Hit, you can gain Advantage in the Kimberly matchup.

Recommended Counter

After Blocking 236K > Nue Leap, Kimberly has 5 options, but you only need 2:

• Wait
• Backdash

Never jump.

Also when waiting, Kimberly’s options include:

• Raw Rush
  • She’ll likely buffer raw Rush reading your neutral jump
  • Counter with Fuzzy short-recovery medium move
• Forward jump
  • Elbow drop is possible too, so use a wide-hitbox anti-air
  • The distance is short, so heavy Shoryuken should handle most cases

Recommended: Fuzzy medium > anti-air awareness. The video has these recorded:

• Raw Rush > 2MK
• Forward jump > (near apex) 2MP
• Forward jump > (jumping) HK

Recommended Counter

• Check which offense they use more
  • If raw Rush is frequent, choose Quick Rise
  • If 236K > Emergency stop is frequent, choose Back Rise
• Without SA3, Quick Rise has higher expected value
• With SA3, Back Rise has higher expected value
• For big-body characters, even with SA3 walk Shimmy can be denied, so Quick Rise is fine

Recommended Counter

You don’t need to determine 214P vs 214PP. When you see smoke, “wait a bit” then place an upward-hitting normal to cover both versions. Practice in training mode.

• Place a slightly delayed move with strong upward-diagonal hitbox

Recommended Counter

On Block

• MP > HP > 236K
  • Gimmick
  • 4F light wins
• MP > HP > 236KK > Nue Leap
  • Mash punish
  • There’s a gap, so OD invincible wins
• MP > HP > Cancel Rush > 2LP
  • Not a true Block string, so OD invincible wins
• MP > HP > 236KK > Emergency stop
  • Invincible bait

Recommended Counter

Midscreen Hit When MP > HP hits, Kimberly’s standard combo is:

MP > HP > 236K > MK

When you eat this combo, always use Quick Rise. Kimberly’s follow-up options after this are below — Back Rise also results in point-blank Oki:

• Forward step > 236K > Emergency stop
  • Kimberly is +7F
  • Back Rise loses screen position
  • Quick Rise denies walk Shimmy
• Forward step > Forward step > HK
  • Kimberly is +11F
  • Back Rise loses screen position
  • Quick Rise still allows walk Shimmy

Conclusion

• Choose Quick Rise
  • If step > 236K > Emergency stop was used, the situation worsens
  • When SA3 is active, walk Shimmy becomes possible — keep this in mind
  • Big-body characters can deny walk Shimmy even with SA3 active

Recommended Counter

Corner Hit Kimberly’s corner combo is:

MP > HP > 236K > MK > 214K

Kimberly’s follow-up options:

• 2LP (frame consumption) > 2MK
  • Low option
• Windmill
  • Overhead option

When 2LP is used for frame consumption, walk Shimmy is impossible without SA3 active. Big-body characters can’t be Shimmied even with SA3.

Also after SA, she needs to walk back considerably, making reversal Low likely to land. Drive Reversal gets Blocked because 2MK has resustained Hit, so don’t use it.

Conclusion (Recommended Counter)

• After SA3 is active:
  • If you see 2LP, 2MK is likely
  • Big-body characters can’t be Shimmied so include early tech in your options
• Before SA3:
  • Walk Shimmy isn’t possible so include early tech in your options
• Don’t choose Drive Reversal
  • 2MK can Block Drive Reversal

Recommended Counter

Don’t maintain opening distance. Properly punish 3MK.

Recommended Counter

• Be aware of choosing your anti-air based on distance
• Don’t press Parry out of habit — it could be bait
• Frame Advantage on Block varies by state:
  • Standing: Kimberly -1F
  • Crouching: 0F
  • Either way, press 4F at fastest

Recommended Counter

• Just Parry on reaction is ideal.
• If Just Parry fails, press a light with upward hitbox to knock her down.

Recommended Counter

After Block, the only moves that reach are LP, LK, and MP. Since only MP allows a follow-up combo without Cancel Rush, the strike option is almost always MP. If you press 4F, it trades — here’s a list of Kimberly’s trade combos:

Players who research per-character trade combos as Kimberly are rare, so for characters where the reaching move isn’t MP, fastest mash is fine.

Manon and Dee Jay in particular benefit greatly from fastest 4F mash.

Recommended Counter

Getting your D Gauge chipped is a bigger losing pattern, so unless it’s a kill, just hold Parry aiming for Just Parry. Throws don’t hurt that much. For ranked, it’s fine to just commit to this.

Recommended options:

• MP > HP > 236K > MK > 22P (3F setup)

  • Shimmy is impossible, so it’s fine to force OD invincible or early tech as a reversal
  • If they show reversals, they’ll meaty strikes, so aim for Just Parry

• MP > HP > 236KK > 236K > LK > 22P (Shimmy possible)

  • Shimmy is possible, so use OD invincible and throws sparingly
  • Kimberly’s delayed strike option is strong, so walk throw and forward jump are also very effective
  • Just Parry attempt > hold Parry
    • Throws do low damage so holding Parry is fine
    • Throw damage: Punish Counter throw 1800-2400, mid/low: around 3000 as reference
    • If chip was chosen, she chips 2-4 Drive Gauge bars, so if you’re holding Parry you can recover 3 bars

Recommended Counter

• Backdash and forward jump don’t work, so characters with strong reversals should use them
  • Blanka’s OD Aerial Rolling, Chun-Li’s air Hyakuretsukyaku, etc.
• If you don’t have strong reversals:
  • Kimberly’s fast walk speed means delayed strikes (HP) are used very frequently
    • If you find invincible getting Blocked often, include Fuzzy jump and one-Block jump in your options
    • Understanding delayed timing mixups is essential to beat Kimberly
  • If 2MP catches your delayed tech, she’s confirming throw whiff, so consider walk throw
• Also, meatying the strike option HK is very difficult
  • Fastest mash is also a viable option

Recommended Counter

• Characters with OD invincible
  • Quick Rise > Confirm Rush > OD invincible
    • First priority is denying offense this way

• Characters with 8F or faster long-range SA
  • Back Rise > Confirm Rush > SA (8F Startup)
    • Hidden Variable can dodge OD invincible, but characters with good range and Startup can fully cover this
    • Blanka and Luke benefit greatly from this counter
    • Research your character’s SA Startup and range

Recommended Counter

• Standard: Quick Rise > Confirm Rush > Counter with medium attack or higher

Recommended Counter

• Keep close distance and stop Rush from there
• Also, Kimberly’s common Rush > 2MK is Impact-guaranteed unless it’s resustained, so try it