Street Fighter 6/Kimberly/Introduction

Introduction

Uninvited student to Guy, the 39th successor to Bushinryu. Kimberly had an ordinary upbringing, but she's a genuine prodigy who graduated college early... and now wants to be a ninja. Loves '80s pop culture.

Kimberly is a fast, tricky character who uses her plethora of unique movement options and setplay to get in and keep the opponent guessing.

Strengths

Weaknesses

High Mobility: Kimberly has many unique movement options. She has great forward walk speed, along with multiple ways to close the gap on her opponent including a Command Sprint and Teleport. She can change her jump arc, and has multiple ways to get past fireballs. Her Level 3 Super installs her with a permanent speed/damage buff, which puts her walkspeed in a league of its own. Spray Can Oki: With Shuriken Bomb, Kimberly can set up an exploding spray can after certain corner knockdowns, giving her great mixup potential. She can even combo off her Forward Throw in certain situations, and will maintain pressure even if the opponent blocks the mixup correctly. Good Links/Target Combos: Kimberly has Target Combo confirms that work from light normals or from her stronger confirm normals like 2MP. Both routes can lead to strong oki and corner spray can setups. Corner Offense: Many of Kimberly's combo routes have very high corner carry without sacrificing much damage. She can also side switch easily with a Target Combo when her back is to the wall. Once the opponent is cornered, her damage and mixup potential are significantly improved. Gimmicky: Kimberly's abundant movement options make it hard for opponents to consistently react to her offense. She is a character with many knowledge checks that can confuse and overwhelm an unprepared opponent.

Stubby Normals: Kimberly's normals have relatively short reach compared to the rest of the cast, putting her at a disadvantage in neutral. She lacks a cancellable low poke like 2MK to initiate Drive Rush offense, so her punishes against back-walking opponents are weak. Kimberly players may often find themselves unable to link out of her lights and mediums from outside close range. Lackluster Defense: Kimberly has no invincible special moves, instead relying on Lv.1 or Lv.3 Super for invincibility. Her 214K lacks true anti-air invincibility on the meterless versions, forcing her to spend meter to reliably counter some airborne options. Kimberly must rely on universal system mechanics to defend herself. Committal Offense: Kimberly does not have a truly safe special move that she can cancel into; any move that is "safe" has an interruptible gap before it connects. Combined with the game's lack of frame advantage and high pushback on normals, Kimberly can quickly be pushed too far away to continue her offense unless the opponent is in Burnout. Midscreen Damage: Before her Level 3 Super buff, Kimberly's damage is notably lower than most other characters; the 11% damage boost from her Install brings her up to the level of the rest of the cast. Combos beginning with lights or her 4HK overhead tend to have low damage and poor midscreen oki. Gimmicky: Kimberly's reaction/knowledge checks become much weaker against experienced opponents, forcing her to play more honestly until she lands a clean hit. There are many ways to punish her Teleport and Sprint followups with some awareness. Any spray can setup that isn't designed to work with Throw can easily be defended against with Parry.