They say the best offense is a great defense. However, sometimes, the best offense is actually not letting the opponent start an offense at all. This is the core idea behind the playstyle of Street Fighter 6’s Speed-type characters: dancing around enemies, poking away with fast normal moves, and using diverse and unpredictable movement abilities to move straight past their attacks and into their faces.
These characters’ blindingly fast playstyles are perfect for making opponents crumble under the pressure of repeated pokes and mixups, pushing them to panic as their mental stack of options is overloaded. Players, even beginners, should stick with these characters if they want to secure their wins by forcing their opponent to make a mistake and open themselves up for a K.O.
5 Blanka
One of Street Fighter 6’s weirdest characters, the kind-hearted bestial Blanka, is a very tricky character to deal with, which Blanka players should use to their advantage. His Rolling Attack and Backstep Rolling Attack special moves let Blanka fly at the opponent from almost full-screen, giving him decent okizeme if they hit and returning him to safety if they’re blocked; Rolling Attack can also be used in the air for a quick dive kick-esque punish on whiffed moves or fireballs.
Wild Hunt is a forward-moving command grab that can be used to open up opponents who are sitting back and blocking the player's repeated Rolling Attacks, granting Blanka a strong strike/throw mixup. New in Street Fighter 6, he can also drop a Blanka-Chan Doll, which will slowly move forward for a regular hit, or be empowered by Blanka’s Electric Thunder special move to gain extra hits and move forward faster, giving Blanka a projectile to follow behind and threaten from a distance.
4 Chun-Li
The world’s strongest woman returns in Street Fighter 6 with an older, more refined look, but she maintains all the qualities that made her such a threat throughout the series. Chun-Li is still a terrifying force on the ground, able to convert her incredibly fast Crouching Medium Kick and Standing Heavy Punch into high-damage combos and knockdowns, especially on counter hits. Her Kikoken remains a solid projectile to keep her opponents out, and her wide selection of anti-airs – Tensho Kick, OD Spinning Bird Kick, and Standing Medium Kick – means trying to avoid Kikoken by jumping in on this Kung Fu master rarely ends well.
Her new command stance, Serenity Stream, also gives her access to unique moves, such as the overhead Lotus Fist and launching Tenku Kick, giving her many unpredictable options. As always, her Hoyoku-sen Super Art makes whiffing against Chun-Li very dangerous, as it can be easily canceled into from Crouching Medium Kick or OD Lightning Legs for huge damage and a follow-up air juggle.
3 Juri
The sadistic Taekwondo practitioner Juri is an incredibly threatening presence in Street Fighter 6, able to easily maintain close-range pressure on opponents and make them crack, ready for a brutal punish. In neutral, her long reach with her legs ensures she can safely poke opponents out from mid-range alongside her low-hitting and slow-moving projectile Saihasho which allows her to follow behind it and force a low/overhead mixup. Her Tensenrin anti-air shuts down anyone jumping towards her, in addition to the OD version being an invincible reversal to get her out of pressure.
Using Fuhajin enhances her other special moves with Fuha stocks, stackable up to 3, which improves their damage and frame data, allowing for even stronger pressure and combos. Extend combos with her Ankensatsu and end them with Go Ohsatsu (which can also easily be converted from her amazing Crouch Medium Kick) for good okizeme to keep the heat on the opponent. Her Feng Shui Engine Super Art allows her to uniquely chain her normal moves from Light>Medium>Heavy strength, granting her specialized, high-damage combos that are flashier than any other character in the cast.
2 Cammy
The Killer Bee returns with an offense just as terrifying as ever. Cammy is by far one of the fastest characters in Street Fighter 6, letting her easily close the gap on her opponent and reset her pressure if it’s ever stopped. Her long-reaching normal moves, combined with the forward-launching Spiral Arrow, make her whiff punish abilities incredibly good, forcing opponents to stay hesitant. If they get too hesitant, however, her jumping Hooligan Combination is a key part of her kit to enable mixups; able to end with an overhead kick, a straight punch, a command grab, or nothing at all, Hooligan Combination ensures her opponents need to be able to react quickly to avoid being pressured looped by Cammy.
Her Cannon Spike is an effective anti-air, becoming an invincible reversal when the OD version is used, and is a reliable high-damage combo ender that can often be used in juggles after Spiral Arrow. Her Cannon Strike dive kick is also brilliant at baiting anti-airs or low attacks, letting her start a combo if it lands as a counter hit.
1 Kimberly
Debuting in Street Fighter 6, Kimberly is a Bushinryu prodigy following in the footsteps of Guy and Zeku with strong pressure and ambiguous mixups. Key to this pressure is her Sprint special move; at a distance, it can be canceled into a flip kick, low-hitting slide, or a running overhead, allowing her to cycle these options to mix up opponents who aren’t ready to react. When close to her opponent, her Sprint becomes Arc Step, a jumping kick that can be followed up with either a flying kick or command grab, putting them into a 50/50 situation where they have to guess to either block or jump to beat either option. If the opponent guesses wrong, Kimberly can easily reset her pressure and start the mixups all over again.
Her Hidden Variable is a teleport that puts her right next to the opponent (slightly airborne above them if the OD version is used), which can be used as an anti-projectile tool or simply to surprise an opponent playing it safe. After a knockdown, Kimberly can use Shuriken Bomb to improve her okizeme and force opponents to block on wakeup, granting her a free mixup. Note that her Shuriken Bombs do not replenish automatically or between rounds, so Kimberly players must manage their resources with her Genius At Play special move to restore them and keep her okizeme threatening.
Street Fighter 6 is out now on PC, PS4, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S.
