Introduction
A colossal wrestler nicknamed the Red Cyclone. Zangief is dedicated to physical improvement and instructing his students.
Zangief is the original big-body grappler character, and acts as a lumbering monster who utilizes his size and long reach to intimidate the opponent into sitting still, before opening them back up with one of his many command grabs.
Zangief's gameplan is very simple: use his arsenal of good pokes like 5MP, 5HP, 5LP, and 5MK to wear down the opponent while slowly approaching them. Gief's huge size allows him to poke at longer distances than most of the cast, making it difficult for them to respond to his advance without surrendering space or committing to a high-risk option. Once the opponent has been conditioned to sit still, Zangief lurches forward and grabs his opponent with the signature Screw Piledriver. This command grab has completely absurd range, is incredibly fast, and deals monstrous damage on hit. SPD has the potential to instantly turn the tide of a match and sets up the remainder of the Zangief's gameplan.
From here, Zangief continues to approach his opponent, moving between safer options and risker options to capitalize on the mistakes of his opponents. Zangief has dozens of ways to set up tick throws and punish poor decision making. He also has a bunch of unique tools for hard reads, like Siberian Express. Additionally, Zangief's signature Lariat allows him to become projectile invulnerable for a while, giving him the ability to deal with fireballs somewhat. All of this, combined with his solid pokes, makes Zangief into a midrange menace.
While Zangief is a perfectly effective character, he is notably not a vortex character like some other famous grapplers. Every time Gief uses Screw Piledriver, he sends the opponent nearly fullscreen and must play neutral all over again. Zangief is notably weak to keepaway, and in general must play very patiently. There are many strong zoners on the SF6 roster, which can make his life difficult. Even still, a good Zangief player is more than capable of overcoming his bad matchups. Choosing to stick with the Red Cyclone will let you live the wrestler power fantasy of your dreams while terrifying your opponents into submission.
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Classic & Modern Versions Comparison
Here is the list of differences when playing Modern Zangief:
- Universal Changes in Modern
- 1-Button Special Moves and Super Arts
- Sweep performed with 3H
- Missing Normals
- Standing Medium Kick (5MK)
- Standing Heavy Kick (5HK)
- Crouching Medium Kick (2MK)
- Jumping Light Punch (j.LP)
- Jumping Medium Punch (j.MP)
- Jumping Heavy Punch (j.HP)
- Missing Command Normals
- Cyclone Wheel Kick (6HK)
- Smetana Dropkick (3HK)
- Power Stomp (22MK)
While Modern Zangief has access to Instant Specials and Super Arts which allow for easier (if not impossible) punishes. Classic Zangief benefits from the wider variety of normals and command normals to aid in the neutral game.
Additionally, Modern Zangief can perform all Specials with either the Special Button or Manual Inputs.
