Fighting game fans consider Capcom's Street Fighter as one of the best franchises in the genre, with Street Fighter 5 still challenging casuals and enthusiasts in fun multiplayer matches until today. Some fans take this a step further as they enter the competitive scene, with tournaments such as EVO gathering the world's best players in the genre.
Moreover, its strong fan and player base makes SFV quite an attractive battleground for players wanting to test their skills. And it's players that master SFV's rather intricate meta that will dominate any match. How does this work?
10 Get Into Story Mode With Everyone
As a fighting game, SFV offers a large roster of characters: 45, to be exact, including all the DLCs. As such, this means players have the possibility of facing 45 different characters in matches, each of which has their own V-Gauge attacks, Guard Breaks, Super Combos, and even Ultra Combos.
Unfortunately, newbies can find this overwhelming. However, one of the best ways to solve this issue with unfamiliarity is to try and finish each character's designated Story Mode. Pursuing this strategy lets players get familiar with each character's move set. In turn, this allows them to at least understand what each character can generally do.
9 Figure Out Character Archetypes
Pros categorize SF characters across different games into common archetypes, each with their preferred playstyle, strengths, and weaknesses. Experts call these archetypes or playstyles with different names, but they all boil down to some basic descriptions. Rush-down characters such as Juri and Cammy specialize in pinning opponents on a corner with their aggressive combos.
Zoning characters such as Dhalsim and Vega rely on long-range attacks that keep opponents at bay. Grapplers like Zangief and Laura deal decent damage but devastate the battlefield with grapples in very close range. Balanced characters like Ryu and Ken have a healthy mix of short-range and long-range attacks, with some grapples into the mix. They can adjust to different situations when situations call for them.
8 Study Frame Data
Whereas the frame rate lets players know how fast SFV is running, frame data gives information on a character's move set. Additionally, frame data lets them know just which character's attacks are considered fast, safe or unsafe, can be canceled, or can make them invincible.
Moreover, players should pay attention to attack speed when studying frame data, regardless of console. For instance, most characters have their fastest attacks in the form of a Crouch + Light Normal, or Standing with three to four frames. These fast attacks work best with blocks that protect characters most of the time.
7 Control Combat Space
Pros dominate the SFV competitive scene not just through their controllers, but also through the best use of combat space. Newbies usually think they need to stay near enemies for their combos. However, attacks in SFV have a different reach and therefore have different uses. For instance, normal attacks with a decent horizontal range serve as good poking attacks. These "pokes" can force enemies out of your space, cancel their combos, or even threaten them.
Meanwhile, attacks with decent vertical reach serve as a great defense against jump attacks. Aside from anti-air attacks, certain attacks that cover air space can punish enemies carelessly jumping to players.
6 Figure Out Safe Attacks
Aside from fast attacks, players should start studying their safe and unsafe attacks. In the competitive scene, safe attacks are attacks that enable characters to block immediately afterward. As such, enemies can't counterattack immediately after these techniques. For instance, Ryu has a basic Crouch + Light Punch. That attack is considered safe, meaning Ryu can immediately block after performing that maneuver.
That way, even if opponents block that attack, players can immediately prepare for a counter. However, the Shoryuken is an unsafe attack. Unfortunately, this means players that miss their Shoryuken leaves them wide open for attacks before they can block.
5 Build Combos Around Cancels
Aside from fast attacks and safe attacks, players should carefully study their characters' cancels. Games like Street Fighter allow different characters to "cancel" an attack to transition into other attacks faster. Basically, this process "cancels" an attack's motion to make way for another attack. The tricky part here is that not all characters have the same cancels.
For instance, some attacks can only be canceled by V-Triggers or even Specials. As such, it's advised that players build character combos with attacks that cancel into each other. This process makes it much easier for players to have different combos for special situations.
4 Max Damage Isn't Always The Way
Players who start remembering their characters' strongest combos likely want to use max damage combos to end fights faster. However, they should remember that max damage combos don't always secure the win. When players start dishing out a max damage combo, they should consider what else they can use this opportunity for.
For example, they can use part of their max damage combo to push opponents in a corner. If players do this, their character has a better chance of finishing the battle with pokes or even weaker but more secure combos.
3 Adjust Quickly
All characters have their specializations, but SFV tries to make sure all characters work as balanced as possible in the right hands. This factor means players should adjust to certain character archetypes quickly by utilizing their character strengths. For instance, grapplers like Zangief become deadly in close-range combat. Characters facing them should either play the long game and rely on pokes and long-range attacks.
Alternatively, they can bluff a close-range attack and jump at the last second, using the lag time of a missed grapple to punish the enemy. Likewise, rush-down characters like Juri can play around the battlefield. This factor means she specializes in moves that naturally change her position, such as the combo shown in the photo above.
2 Recognize The Pattern
Players usually have go-to combos and strategies with their characters. In the case of competitive play, players should take note of these "basic strategies" and predict patterns their opponents can use. For instance, most characters have good counter options, meaning most players will want to counter after blocking an attack. Likewise, it's very likely other players will bait opponents into making a counter to punish them.
Alternatively, getting owned by a great moveset means players are doing something in the match that opponents exploit. For instance, M. Bison and other characters can catch (even return) projectiles. Likewise, players can stop Cammy's rush-downs with timed pokes.
1 Jumping Can Cost The Match
Jumping looks cool. Unfortunately, an opponent that counters a jump-attack with an anti-air can exploit a down opponent to finish the match. Unfortunately, the reality of any fighting game is that unnecessary jumping can give the opponent the advantage.
Players who want to go pro should use their jumps carefully - either to get out of an attack or to instill fear by getting into enemy space. Moreover, players should be able to get out of the opponent's reach as easily as they can jump in.