Props to Akuma players

[Judy Stroyer]

Mad respect for all of you who play Akuma despite him being such a difficult and underpowered character

[Gleap]

Originally posted by Ranch Dressing:

Originally posted by Gleap:

That's fair and its not fair. Its too early to decide if hes top 1 within the world of SF6 or not. But hes very obviously not OP like we have seen in tons of other fighting games.

Within 24 hours of labcoat 21 coming out she was wining literally every single tournament. A truly broken character is apparently at jump. if they take time to get explored then they are at least within the stratosphere of well balanced.

I didn't say how good I thought he was. Only it how it felt for me to fight him, and I'm not particularly skilled. Plus, Fighterz is an entirely different kind of fighter. I did however, imply that he's strong. I don't think anyone considers him weak except maybe some Gief players. Whether he's top tier however, is still unknown.

He's probably strong or strongish seems to be the fairest assessment at the moment. Only time will tell beyond that.

Have I ranted about android 21 yet? Because I hate her and she should die.

[Everchosen]

Originally posted by Ranch Dressing:

Originally posted by Jiraishin:

Who cares. I eat Akumas for breakfast. I adapt. Being more popular also means more practice against that character ;)

At least there's that. Fighting him with Marisa is rather frustrating when he has....five reversals? Four? Something like that. I don't think she'll be my main despite how fun most of the climb to master was. She's too volatile.

Marisa was my Akuma waiting room (well her and Juri) thus far Gief, Juri, and Marisa have been problematic from a match up standpoint.

[Everchosen]

Originally posted by Ranch Dressing:

Originally posted by Everchosen:

Marisa was my Akuma waiting room (well her and Juri) thus far Gief, Juri, and Marisa have been problematic from a match up standpoint.

So you're playing Akuma now right? How are you liking him?

Really digging him, he's got a really fun kit and I like the high risk/high reward play style. His damage is kind of over hyped. Marisa is capable of just as much, if not more and doesn't sacrifice a huge chunk of health to get it.

He's got a lot of great setups, strong neutral, good oki, ridiculous mixups and an extremely versatile kit. The ♥♥♥♥♥♥ part about Akuma, is that even a slight mistake can put you on the brink of losing a round even if you were absolutely bullying your opponent for 80% of it.

He's been my main for like 25+ years, and even early on his SF6 incarnation is by far my favorite.

[Purple Monkey]

Originally posted by Gleap:

Originally posted by Purple Monkey:

The results of high levels of play are immaterial unless you're also playing at high levels of play.

if you are bad then the balance is nearly entirely irrelevant.

Most players are bad of course but at those levels minor balance differences are just so meaningless its absurd. Only ease of execution matters.

Akuma doesn't have easy execution and he doesn't have high level results so in either scenario its mostly just people sobbing because people like to sob.

You're talking nonsense. Skill isn't a binary of "bad" and "high level".

[FAT WANZER]

Originally posted by Peddie:

Originally posted by Gleap:

People are all in on the akuma is OP narrative regardless of what the results say at high levels of play. So far every tournament has been dominated by Lukes, DJ's, Blankas, Guiles, and Rashids.

Can't forget Lily.

can't wait for evil Lily (Dhalsim story mode he senses satsui no hado in her)

[Gleap]

Originally posted by Purple Monkey:

Originally posted by Gleap:

if you are bad then the balance is nearly entirely irrelevant.

Most players are bad of course but at those levels minor balance differences are just so meaningless its absurd. Only ease of execution matters.

Akuma doesn't have easy execution and he doesn't have high level results so in either scenario its mostly just people sobbing because people like to sob.

You're talking nonsense. Skill isn't a binary of "bad" and "high level".

sure its a sliding scale, but almost the entire player base exists deep on the bad side of things. Balance isn't really relevant at that level, just ease of execution, look at season 1.

Honda was objectively bad in season 1 yet he had by far the highest win rate at every level of play until suddenly he dropped like a rock and had a horrible win rate. His game plan was brain dead easy to execute, but not actually strong to someone with a good grasp of the mechanics.

[Judy Stroyer]

Originally posted by jellypig:

Originally posted by Gleap:

People are all in on the akuma is OP narrative regardless of what the results say at high levels of play. So far every tournament has been dominated by Lukes, DJ's, Blankas, Guiles, and Rashids.

Like Akumas probably pretty good, but this whole he's easy and OP thing is just nonsense based off the results seen so far. People just be salty cause hes very common right now and some of the people playing him can make cook.

I don't see a character like him getting consistent results in tournaments, due to his low hp and how effective offense is in this game, and I feel like way too many people are underestimating how much of a downside his health pool is. You can really feel it on something as basic as a punish counter throw.

Yes, he is so tournament non-viable that he is the 2nd most represented character in top 24 of the first major tournament after his release.
https://x.com/CatCammy6/status/1796764122811429224
"I feel like way too many people are underestimating how much of a downside his health pool is". And I feel like you are overestimating it. Akuma's health is pretty much a non-factor considering that, unless you play Gief or Marisa, Akuma's damage output is most likely higher than yours.
Akuma has the fastest walk speed, the best fireball, the best plus in your face neutral skip that he can either whiff to bait out DPs or mix you up with overhead/ low/ throw. Add that to his air fireball and you have a character that you cannot anti air consnistently. When it is Luke, it's a problem and he needs a nerf (which he absolutely did) but when it's Akuma it's somehow ok because "He has always been OP" and muh 9000hp.
Akuma, just like Ken, does not have a weakness in his tool set. Yet on top of that he has more and better tools than any other top tier in the game, and on top of THAT, more damage than every other top tier.
I have a strong sense that Akuma downplayers are the same people that downplayed Ken in the first season resulting in Ken not only dodging nerfs but getting buffs.
Akuma players (previously Ken and Luke players) are just afraid to use a character with a an actual weakness and now they can finally justify playing a broken character by using Akuma's "low" health as a shield againsnt any criticism of their character's balance.

Originally posted by Gleap:

That's fair and its not fair. Its too early to decide if hes top 1 within the world of SF6 or not. But hes very obviously not OP like we have seen in tons of other fighting games.

Within 24 hours of labcoat 21 coming out she was wining literally every single tournament. A truly broken character is apparently at jump. if they take time to get explored then they are at least within the stratosphere of well balanced.

And within 2 weeks Akuma became the most represented character in legend ranks. As of now there are twice as many Akumas in legend rank than there are Cammys or Lukes, being 2nd and 3rd most represented characters respectively.
https://x.com/AlietteFaye/status/1798254492519174589

[Peddie]

That's just classic conflating correlation with causation. He is a much hyped character that a lot of the legends have dabbled with before. So of course those legend tier players are going to try him out in his release month and push him as high as they can.

You can't really make this judgement before we've had several majors with him and until after the initial Akuma hype has died down.

[🌎Earth]

Originally posted by Judy Stroyer:

Originally posted by jellypig:

I don't see a character like him getting consistent results in tournaments, due to his low hp and how effective offense is in this game, and I feel like way too many people are underestimating how much of a downside his health pool is. You can really feel it on something as basic as a punish counter throw.

Yes, he is so tournament non-viable that he is the 2nd most represented character in top 24 of the first major tournament after his release.
https://x.com/CatCammy6/status/1796764122811429224
"I feel like way too many people are underestimating how much of a downside his health pool is". And I feel like you are overestimating it. Akuma's health is pretty much a non-factor considering that, unless you play Gief or Marisa, Akuma's damage output is most likely higher than yours.
Akuma has the fastest walk speed, the best fireball, the best plus in your face neutral skip that he can either whiff to bait out DPs or mix you up with overhead/ low/ throw. Add that to his air fireball and you have a character that you cannot anti air consnistently. When it is Luke, it's a problem and he needs a nerf (which he absolutely did) but when it's Akuma it's somehow ok because "He has always been OP" and muh 9000hp.
Akuma, just like Ken, does not have a weakness in his tool set. Yet on top of that he has more and better tools than any other top tier in the game, and on top of THAT, more damage than every other top tier.
I have a strong sense that Akuma downplayers are the same people that downplayed Ken in the first season resulting in Ken not only dodging nerfs but getting buffs.
Akuma players (previously Ken and Luke players) are just afraid to use a character with a an actual weakness and now they can finally justify playing a broken character by using Akuma's "low" health as a shield againsnt any criticism of their character's balance.

Originally posted by Gleap:

That's fair and its not fair. Its too early to decide if hes top 1 within the world of SF6 or not. But hes very obviously not OP like we have seen in tons of other fighting games.

Within 24 hours of labcoat 21 coming out she was wining literally every single tournament. A truly broken character is apparently at jump. if they take time to get explored then they are at least within the stratosphere of well balanced.

And within 2 weeks Akuma became the most represented character in legend ranks. As of now there are twice as many Akumas in legend rank than there are Cammys or Lukes, being 2nd and 3rd most represented characters respectively.
https://x.com/AlietteFaye/status/1798254492519174589

provided enough time passes in a match to get your drive meter back, akuma can be killed by ryu in like 2 punish combos and a fireball. akuma is crapping himself at round 2 because you have a lvl 3 ready. even throws are scary for him, he dies in one throw punish as soon as he has yellow health. and no, i don't main akuma.

[Judy Stroyer]

Originally posted by Peddie:

That's just classic conflating correlation with causation. He is a much hyped character that a lot of the legends have dabbled with before. So of course those legend tier players are going to try him out in his release month and push him as high as they can.

You can't really make this judgement before we've had several majors with him and until after the initial Akuma hype has died down.

https://x.com/AlietteFaye/status/1798580439575339254
here you go

[Gleap]

Originally posted by Judy Stroyer:

Originally posted by Peddie:

That's just classic conflating correlation with causation. He is a much hyped character that a lot of the legends have dabbled with before. So of course those legend tier players are going to try him out in his release month and push him as high as they can.

You can't really make this judgement before we've had several majors with him and until after the initial Akuma hype has died down.

https://x.com/AlietteFaye/status/1798580439575339254
here you go

That shows him being just a hair over represented which is pretty reasonable considering all of the known best shoto players instantly swapped to him.

Again android 21 this ain't.

Oh and akumas max damage combos lower than aki Ryu Marisa and gief at least so he's like 5th on that front probably lower. Only his meter less bnb is really very high so he's consistent on the damage front.

[Judy Stroyer]

Originally posted by Gleap:

Originally posted by Judy Stroyer:

https://x.com/AlietteFaye/status/1798580439575339254
here you go

considering all of the known best shoto players instantly swapped to him.

I wonder why that is. Capcom even buffed Ken knowing full well that every meta goblin in the game would drop him an instant Akuma comes out. Didn't help though :)

[Gleap]

Originally posted by Judy Stroyer:

Originally posted by Gleap:

considering all of the known best shoto players instantly swapped to him.

I wonder why that is. Capcom even buffed Ken knowing full well that every meta goblin in the game would drop him an instant Akuma comes out. Didn't help though :)

If Akuma was dirt tier it still would have happened. Shoto players have always loved Akuma heck most players do.

Him being really good doesn't hurt of course.

Jamie also has higher max damage than Akuma this season and by just a tiny tiny amount so does Blanka.