What is the kick meter?
The sneaker at the bottom of the screen is your kick meter. The meter can do two things:
1. Special moves
When the shoe fills up to a certain amount, you will unlock an aerial or ground special move. Both moves can be accessed by simultaneously pressing the dive and kick buttons while either in the air or standing.
When each move is unlocked depends on the character selected. S-Kill’s ground special, parry, is one of the fastest, and can be unlocked with very low meter. The second special to be unlocked usually is usually more powerful, and needs higher meter to unlock.
2. Kick Factor
At full meter, Kick Factor will activate. This makes your diving and kicking speed much faster. It also slowly drains your meter. During Kick Factor, the player can perform any special moves until the kick meter runs out. However, this will drain the meter faster.
How do I fill my meter?
The short answer is the answer to everything in this game: you dive and then you kick. But, like with special moves, there are many invisible factors at play in filling the meter.
Smaller dives will lead to faster growth
Small jumps means faster kicks. Kicks are what ultimately charge the kick meter.
Use kickback
You can press kick while on the ground to do a backwards evasive maneuver called “kickback.” Pressing kick twice charges the meter quickly without moving forward as much.
Characters with more forward momentum, like the Baz or Stream, may not be able to implement this tactic as effectively as other characters. Dr. Shoals is unable to perform a kickback kick and will have to rely on her aerial double kick to charge her meter more quickly.
Some characters have faster meter growth
Characters’ stats can affect meter growth, but so can the speed and angle of a character’s dives and kicks.
Generally, characters who have faster kicks (like Kick) or less horizontal momentum (like Mr. N) can charge their meters quickly. Floaty characters like Stream or Jefailey have a harder time increasing their meter.
S-Kill technically has the fastest meter growth (each kick raises his meter faster than any other character), but he needs to double jump before he can kick, which can slow down his overall meter growth.
Your meter carries over into the next round
Unless you get a concussion, your meter will carry over into the next round. Also, be aware that Jefailey’s unique air special, disqualification, will lower his opponent’s meter if it lands.
Now that you know the basics of the kick meter, you can begin to master each character’s special moves and Kick Factor. If you want to be a Divekick master (and avoid those fraud detection warnings), be sure to read my in-depth article on special moves.
