Street Fighter 6/Defense

Defense

Blocking

Blocking is performed by holding away from the opponent ( or ) and will guard against the opponent's attacks. Blocking cannot be performed while airborne or during the recovery of your own attacks.

Most attacks can be blocked standing or crouching (/). Overhead/High attacks must be blocked standing , while Low attacks must be blocked crouching .

Crossup attacks occur when a move hits behind an opponent, usually during a jump-in (usually j.LK or j.MK). These must be blocked by holding forward () as though attempting to walk underneath the opponent. Crossups cannot connect on a fully cornered opponent, and can be blocked in either direction. If a cornered character blocks by holding back, the jumping character will land in front; if blocked by holding forward, they will land behind the opponent in the corner.

Throw Techs

By pressing + (LP+LK) shortly after a throw connecting, you can tech a throw. Teching a throw causes you to push the opponent away, preventing any damage and returning both players to neutral. Only regular throws can be teched; command grabs and air throws cannot. Throws that are connecting as a punish during the opponent's recovery cannot be teched. You can input a Throw Tech until the 9th frame after a throw connects.

Drive Parry

Drive Parry can be used to parry opponents attacks at the cost of drive resource. Drive parry can be done by Holding + (MP+MK). Parries can block any direction while the buttons are held, and result in the same frame advantage is blocking the attack normally. If perfectly timed, a parry will become a Perfect Parry, allowing for powerful punishes.

More details about Drive Parry can be found here

Wake-up

There are two types of wakeups in Street Fighter 6: Normal Rise and Back Rise. There is no difference in the knockdown frame advantage, so meaty setups are unaffected as long as the opponent remains close enough to attack. Inputting 2 buttons upon landing will result in a Back Rise, otherwise Normal Rise occurs. Hard Knockdowns (such as a Throw that connects as a Punish Counter) prevent Back Rise entirely.

Characters count as standing for one frame on wakeup, even if holding crouch. Meaty attacks that only hit crouchers will still hit. However, waking up with a crouching attack will cause the character to skip this standing frame.

Reversals

Inputting a Special Move or Super right before wakeup or before exiting hitstun/blockstun allows the move to be buffered as a Reversal. This makes the move easier to time defensively. The most useful reversals are moves with invincibility, as they can beat attacks that are hitting "meaty". Only OD Special Moves and Supers can have true invincibility on startup, but not all of them do.

There is a 4 frame buffer when performing a reversal on wakeup or out of hitstun, blockstun, or air reset. This means that you have a 5 frame window to time the reversal on the first possible frame that you are able to act. This also applies to things like normals, throws, or Drive Impact, but buffering Drive Parry will not allow you to get a Perfect Parry.

Anti-Airs

An Anti-Air is an attack used to interrupt an opponent's jump attack. This is usually done with a normal, special, or super that hits upwards like an uppercut. Many specials like Ryu/Ken's Shoryuken, Guile's Somersault Kick, or Kimberly's Bushin Senpukyaku have invincibility frames against airborne attacks, making them particularly useful as anti-airs.

Not all characters have useful anti-airs at every range. Other techniques for countering air attacks include jumping with a quick air attack of your own (known as "air-to-air). This is most effective when done with a fast light normal, an air normal that causes a knockdown, or an Air Throw.

Against close jumps, walking under the opponent may cause their attack to whiff, which can open them up to a Punish Counter during their landing recovery frames. It is also possible to Low Profile some air attacks by using a move that shifts your hurtbox very low to the ground.

Some air attacks can alter the trajectory of a jump-in, making the character more difficult to anti-air consistently. In general, attacks like this are put into a "Forced Knockdown" state if they are hit while airborne, which makes it more rewarding to interrupt these attacks.