How to Play: Street Fighter 6

A surface-level overview of the things you can do in the game. For a much more in-depth breakdown of the game, go here: https://moqlnkn.wordpress.com/street-fighter-vi/

Intro

This will just be a basic, surface-level explanation of the mechanics in Street Fighter 6. For a more specific, in-depth breakdown of how the game functions and how to win more consistently, go here: https://moqlnkn.wordpress.com/street-fighter-vi/

Technically, I will only be focusing on the most basic, hardcore way of playing: offline Versus, using tournament-standard rules, and attempting to win as consistently as possible against the widest possible array of potential future opponents. Extreme Battle mode, World Tour mode, other single-player modes, external cheating tools, and manipulation/reading of game code/RAM is not considered, nor is any tournament-illegal tool or software such as macros. However, in your pursuit of the hardcore, I highly recommend the use of certain other game modes, namely Training Mode and Replays, to help facilitate your learning process.

The goal of the game is to defeat your opponent in two separate rounds. Both players control one character on the screen, and you win a round by depleting the opponent's character's life to zero, or by having more life than them when the timer runs out. Between rounds, everything resets except for your Super Meter, with a couple of character-specific exceptions.

You MUST understand Frame Data Concepts in order to succeed at any fighting game. Memorizing frame data for specific characters might be tedious and boring, but knowing the fundamental applications of certain groups of numbers is not. This is one of the most essential things you can learn.
https://docs.google.com/document/u/0/d/1tfSRTxgFy3A3WAbVQVTAOEKhfAYT7CO6WXE7yYDcunM/edit

I will be using "Numpad Notation" when describing directional inputs, so you need to know that, too.
https://docs.google.com/document/u/0/d/1QHGQA-kSDtDBJ_vWF7MfpjRJGdyLHQ6f38o_raDjJ5Q/edit

Control Type

Always use Classic Controls. If you care enough about the game to read a guide on how to get better, then you should never use Modern or Dynamic controls. If you feel like learning the game is a slog, you may temporarily switch to Modern controls, but only if you legitimately will quit the game otherwise. Modern controls are NOT a good gateway into learning how to use Classic controls. They're just a way to get a short-term advantage over your friends who also don't know how to play the game.

Basic Movement

Hold back [4] or forward [6] to walk. This is the safest way to move around the screen, but also one of the slowest ways.

Double-tap left or right to dash in that direction. Your character is completely vulnerable for a short time while dashing, making it much riskier than walking, but you travel much more quickly. Additionally, the first portion of the back dash is invincible to Throw-type attacks (for 15 frames).

Hold down [2] or a downward diagonal [1/3] to crouch. You cannot move while crouching, but certain attacks will have a harder time hitting your character. There's more to this mechanic which I'll explain later, with Hit Types.

Hold up [8] or an upward diagonal [7/9] to jump in one of three directions. You cannot defend yourself while jumping, making it a high-risk medium-reward gamble most of the time.

Blocking, Attack Types, & Hit Types

Hold a backward direction [1/4] to block. By default, this negates ALL damage that you take, but there is a lot of nuance here when it comes to Hit Types and Burnout. Beware of Throw-type attacks, which cannot be blocked at all; you can jump or back dash to avoid those.

All attacks in the game fall under one of three Attack Types: Strike, Projectile, or Throw. There's no immediate important difference between the types, except that Throws cannot be blocked, and Projectiles tend to travel very far distances while the character who threw the projectile can still move around and act. However, attack types will become very important as we delve into more and more systems; for example, certain actions are invincible to certain attack types, just like back dashes are invincible to the Throw attack type.

All Strikes have a Hit Type. "Low" attacks MUST be blocked while crouching [1]. If you try to block while standing [4], the Low attack will simply hit you. Likewise, "Overhead" attacks must be blocked while standing, and not crouching. Most attacks in the game, however, are "Highs," which can be blocked in either direction. In general, when you choose to block, you should crouch-block, and then react to situations where an overhead might be coming, such as if the opponent jumps at you.

Normals & Specials

There are six attack buttons: Light/Medium/Heavy Punch/Kick.
I'll be referring to these buttons as two-letter combinations: LP / LK / MP / MK / HP / HK

Each attack button performs a different attack when your character is standing, crouching, or jumping. Thus, every character has a grand total of 18 "Normal" attacks.

In addition to your Normals, you have an entire Command List which contains several pages of unique attacks for your character. This includes "Unique Attacks" (Command Normals), Special Moves, and Supers.

The most notable thing about moves in the Command List is Special Cancels. You can cancel a Normal into a Special by inputting the command for the Special immediately as the Normal makes contact. However, only certain Normals are cancelable, the cancels only work on hit or block (the cancel is impossible if the Normal hits nothing), and a few select Special moves cannot be canceled into at all.

In addition to Special Cancels, your Light Normals can be "chained" into each other rapidly, on a character-specific basis. For most characters, the most basic combo you can do is to chain two/three light Normals, and then cancel the last Normal into a quick Special. But the game gets a lot deeper than that very fast.

Normal Throw

With any character, press [LPLK] to perform a Normal Throw. This counts as a Throw-type attack, and thus cannot be blocked, but it has several weakness, the most notable being its incredibly short range. You can also hold backward [4] when pressing the buttons to throw the opponent behind you.

When both players Normal Throw each other at approximately the same time, a Throw Tech/Break occurs, and the situation is reset to neutral with no damage being dealt to either character. In other words, if you think the opponent is going to throw you, you can try to throw them at about the same time, and you'll just shove them away safely.

Specifically, you have a 9 frame window to tech a throw, including the frame where they throw you. This is way too fast to react; you must predict when a throw is coming, based on the distance between you and your opponent.

Knockdown & Wakeup Options

When the opponent's attack knocks you to the ground, you have two options for how to get back onto your feet. If you do nothing, then your character rises in place. If you instead press any combination of two attack buttons, your character slides backwards while rising.

Notably, this does not change *when* you get off the ground; it only changes *where* you get off the ground. Thus, if your back is to the wall, this choice is meaningless.

Additionally, certain attacks cause Hard Knockdowns, as indicated by the text prompt on the screen. In these cases, you have no choice, and always get up in the same location, every time.

The Counters

If your attack hits the opponent during the *startup* of their attack, it is a Counter Hit. These deal +20% bonus damage, and cause 2 extra frames of hitstun, allowing for new combo paths.

If your attack hits the opponent during the *recovery* of their attack, it is a Punish Counter. These deal +20% bonus damage, and cause 4 extra frames of hitstun instead of 2. Also, certain attacks gain unique properties, such as crumples, wall splats, or torpedo launches. (If that sounds cool to you, pick Zangief)

If a Normal Throw causes a Punish Counter, it instead deals +70% damage.

Punish Counters also drain the opponent's Drive gauge slightly, depending on the attack.

Supers

The meter in the bottom corner of the screen is your Super Meter. This starts empty, and builds as you attack the opponent, stocking up to three times. You must spend stocks of this meter in order to perform Supers. Figure out how to perform Supers by reading your character's Command List.

Level 1 Supers are similar to Special Moves, but they deal more damage (about 20%). You can cancel into Level 1 Supers from the same Normals that cancel into Specials.

Level 2 Supers deal more damage (about 30%) and can additionally be canceled into from your EX Specials (explained below).

Level 3 Supers deal even more damage (40%) and can additionally be canceled into from most Non-EX Specials.

Supers also are affected less by Damage Scaling, which I will not be covering in this guide. Click the link at the start of the Intro to learn more; it's in the Combo System section.

Supers drain the opponent's Drive gauge when they land.

When you're below 25% life, your Level 3 Super becomes a Critical Art, which deals more damage and drains more Drive from the opponent.

In previous Street Fighter games, math nerds could examine the values of Super Meter built by various moves and structure their combos at the end of the round to maximize that ratio. In Street Fighter 6, however, ALL of that is normalized; every single combo builds the same ratio of Super Meter for you and your opponent.

Drive Gauge & Burnout

Every round, you start with 6 stocks of Drive, indicated by the bright green segmented bar at the top of the screen. This is the most important mechanic so far, and is what separates Street Fighter 6 from previous Street Fighter titles. This one gauge does a *lot* of different things.

Firstly, it is a Guard Gauge. The more you block attacks from the opponent, the more the gauge drains. However, if you attack the opponent, the gauge rises. It also rises slowly over time when not blocking, and builds even faster if you walk forward.

You can also spend stocks of Drive to perform various Drive actions, namely EX Specials, Drive Impact, Drive Parry, Drive Rush, and Drive Reversal, all explained in their respective sections.

If you ever run out of Drive for any reason, you enter Burnout for 20 seconds. During this time, none of the Drive actions are available to you, but that is the least of your worries.

During Burnout, you take 25% damage when blocking non-Normal attacks, including Specials and Supers, instead of 0%. This damage is completely real, and can finish you off if you're low enough on life.

During Burnout, *all* blockstun you receive is increased by 4 frames. In other words, every time you block any attack, your character is stuck in place for slightly longer. This gives some characters extremely unfair advantages, especially if your back is to the wall.

Drive Impact is especially dangerous while you are in Burnout, which will become apparent when you read about Drive Impact.

Anything that normally boosts your Drive will instead reduce the remaining Burnout timer slightly. Most Burnouts last approximately 10 seconds because of this.

Upon exiting Burnout, you immediately regenerate a full 6 stocks of Drive, but that's assuming you survive that long.

EX Specials

Input a Special with two buttons instead of one button to perform an enhanced version of the move, which the game calls "Overdrive Art (OA)." The exact buffs to your move will greatly vary, but they all cost 2 stocks of Drive to perform. The most important thing to remember is that EX Specials can be canceled into Level 2 Supers.

Drive Impact

Press [HPHK] to perform Drive Impact, at the cost of 1 Drive. This functions like a Special, and can be canceled into from the same Normals, and even deals damage when blocked if the opponent is in Burnout.

The attack is slow to come out, but has the ability to absorb up to two hits from the opponent. It's also completely safe if they block it, making it a strong tool by default. However, it has several weaknesses.

The most important weakness, and the first thing you should practice, is Drive Impact. If both players Drive Impact, then the one who uses it *second* will win, because the first gets absorbed and punished. There's even an option in Training Mode dedicated to helping you react to Drive Impact. If you cannot beat Drive Impact on reaction, the game will simply not be fun, and will just devolve into spamming the same move over and over again, so you NEED to practice this.

Secondly, all armored attacks, including Drive Impact, lose to "armor breakers," which includes all Throws, Supers, and Drive Reversals. Drive Impact cannot absorb these attacks at all. Even if you don't have access to these things, any attack that hits three times quickly will also beat the Drive Impact, such as Jamie's [5HP].

If the Drive Impact hits or is blocked, the opponent is thrown backward. If they hit the wall, they Splat against it, and you get to hit them for free. In other words, if you're midscreen, blocking the Drive Impact is fine; however, if you're cornered, you absolutely need to react before the Drive Impact hits you in order to survive. Additionally, if the opponent is in Burnout, the wall Splat becomes a wall Stun.

If the Drive Impact hits as a Punish Counter, it always crumples the opponent, regardless of how far away the wall is. This also happens on non-Punish hits if the armor was triggered at least once.

Don't forget to practice reacting to Drive Impact with your own Drive Impact. I highly recommend setting an extra button to [HPHK] so that you can activate it even faster.

Drive Parry

Drive Parry is an extremely nuanced mechanic with a lot of intricate details that I will not be covering here. Again, click the link in the Intro.

Press [MPMK] to Drive Parry at the cost of half a stock of Drive. You can also hold the buttons down to extend the Parry indefinitely, but at the cost of slowly draining Drive, until you eventually Burnout.

Drive Parry is essentially a Block Button. If you plan to block an attack, Drive Parrying it is always superior, for the following reasons.

Drive Parry beats *all* strikes and projectiles. You don't have to worry about high/low or left/right blocking, at all. It is also active immediately, and has no vulnerable startup. However, the frame advantage is the same as blocking.

Drive Parry builds you Drive when successfully parrying attacks, which is the opposite of blocking.

However, the downside to Drive Parry is that, if you are hit at all during the animation, it counts as a Punish Counter. Thus, a Throw is guaranteed to get that 70% damage bonus.

Another downside is that it isn't free. If you don't successfully parry anything, you waste Drive meter, which is extremely precious in the grand scheme of the round.

Perfect Parry

If you successfully parry something within *two* frames of pressing [MPMK], then it is a Perfect Parry. Your character recovers instantly, and you're almost guaranteed a Punish, since the opponent is unable to cancel their attack. Even if you Perfect Parry the deepest possible jump attack, your character recovers 2 frames before the opponent.

The downside is that your combo is automatically scaled by 50%, so you deal less damage. This seems pretty strict, considering it's a two-frame-window, but remember that Drive Parry by itself is already extremely safe.

Perfect Parrying projectiles is slightly different, so your ability to Punish may vary depending on the distance between you and your opponent.

Note that this is a true two-frame-window, with no buffer. You can buffer the Drive Parry - in fact, the buffer is infinitely long if you hold the buttons, but I won't get into that here - but Perfect Parry will not occur during the first frames of a Drive Parry unless you specifically hit the buttons right as the Drive Parry began. If you have no idea what this means, don't worry about it; click the link in the Intro.

Drive Rush

This is the second most important Drive action, under Drive Impact.

While Drive Parrying, input a forward dash to Drive Rush. This costs an additional half-stock of Drive, for a total of 1 stock.

Your character dashes forward while glowing green. After a very short delay, you can perform any attack you want. If you perform a Normal or Command Normal during this time, it gains 4 frames of hitstun or blockstun (depending on if the move hits or is blocked), and can be used in certain juggle combos more freely.

Let me reiterate; you're dashing forward, and your Normal gains +4 blockstun. So if the move was -2 on block, it's suddenly +2 on block. If the move was -7 on block, it's now -3. This is obviously an extremely powerful tool, and it only costs a total of 1 Drive.

The weakness of Drive Rush is its startup. You are completely vulnerable while dashing, and there's no added invincibility to your attack. Thus, if the opponent is already starting to attack when you perform the Drive Rush, you're likely to just run straight into it and get Counter Hit.

You can also perform a Drive Rush straight out of a cancelable Normal by inputting a forward dash as if you were canceling into it. This, however, costs 3 Drive instead of 1, which is the most expensive Drive action in the game.

As of a recent update, you can also cancel into a Drive Rush by pressing both Medium attack buttons as if you were canceling into it. This is functionally identical to the other input, and probably a bit easier. Notably, you MUST be holding neutral [5] or forward [6] when pressing the buttons, which means that charge characters don't get an advantage.

There are many potential uses for Drive Rush. You can do it out of nowhere from a long distance to try to get frame advantage. You can cancel into it to basically guarantee frame advantage. You can use it in combos for a decent damage boost. You can use it to fool the opponent into thinking you're doing a Drive Impact. Or you can completely destroy your Drive gauge for no reason in a split second decision. It's all up to you, really.

Drive Reversal

While blocking, press [6HPHK] to Drive Reversal at the cost of 2 Drive. This cancels out of your blockstun and swats the opponent away. However, it's kind of slow, and, if they block it, they can punish you.

This is probably the weakest Drive action overall, but it has its uses.

Additive Hitstun

Counter Hits add +2 hitstun.
Punish Counters add +4 hitstun.
Being in Burnout adds +4 blockstun.
Drive Rush adds +4 hitstun or blockstun.

These all add together. So, if you Drive Rush and land a Punish Counter, that attack gains +8 hitstun. This is just one example.

Projectiles

Projectiles act slightly differently in Street Fighter 6 compared to previous Street Fighters. They've added a new "Priority" system, like King of Fighters has had for decades.

There are three "tiers" of projectile priority: Normal, EX, and Super. Which priority is used depends on how much meter you spend on the projectile.

When two projectiles clash, one or both of them is destroyed. If they are the same priority, they are both destroyed; otherwise, the one with lower priority is destroyed, and the other continues on.

This happens on a per-hit basis. There are plenty of projectiles in the game that hit multiple times. For example, Ryu can use Denjin Charge to give his next Hadoken an additional hit. In the case where a regular Hadoken collides with a Denjin Hadoken, both projectiles are the same priority, but the Denjin Hadoken has more hits, and so one hit is destroyed by the Hadoken while the second hit continues forward. This only happens if the projectiles are the same priority; even if Guile has 10 mini-booms coming toward you, a singular EX Hadoken will plow through all of them, because it has a higher priority.

TL;DR

Game's cool, you should play it.

[Omni]

Wow! Great guide, learned a lot.

[😎 Omar]

Nice work

[Viceroy]

Back against the wall I’m staring at a woman radiating neon colors. She’s about to knock my lights out. If I don’t react to this fucking drive impact I’m dead.

[Pvt Tommy]

"If you cannot beat Drive Impact on reaction, the game will simply not be fun, and will just devolve into spamming the same move over and over again, so you NEED to practice this."
^ This is extremely true. I've been doing my best to consistently react to drive impact because of how powerful it is against newcomers. A lot of games, when you block, the only thing you have to worry about is grabs so it's tough to overcome at times because muscle memory tells me to block.

[breast milk🥛]

thanks, I think I'll play it