Street Fighter V/Universal Abilities

Basic Movement

Compared to many fighting games, the movement options in Street Fighter V are simple. Hold forward to walk forward, back to walk backwards or block. Press down to crouch, up to jump, up forward to jump forward, up back to jump back. Pressing forward twice quickly will perform a dash, pressing back twice quickly will perform a backdash.

See Controls and Terminology for more information.

Character

Forward Walk Speed

Back Walk Speed

Abigail

3.2

2.5

TBD

Blocking

Blocking is performed by holding the back direction. With the character facing right this means left, and with the character facing right this means left. To block jumping or overhead (referred to as Mid in game) attacks such as Ryu's f+MP Collarbone Breaker, hold back to block high. To block low attacks such as Ryu's crouch MK, hold down+back. High attacks such as Ryu's Stand MP can be blocked either high or low.

After blocking an attack you will go into blockstun. Blockstun is a special state where you are unable to do anything for several frames until you recover. This means even if you mash LP afterwards, it will not come out until your character exits blockstun.

Proximity Blocking

When a move is performed, even if it does not hit the opponent it will cause the opponent to go into a block state if they are within a certain distance. This is called "proximity guard". Since the opponent goes into a block state this means holding back makes them block, and they cannot walk backwards. Proximity guard is the reason you cannot simply walk away when Abigail is charing his HP in V-Trigger 1 or Sagat his V-Trigger 2; you are still able to jump and backdash and do anything else besides walk backwards however.

Normal Moves

Normal Moves refer to any single button hit, and are common across every character, The number of normals each character has is drastically reduced from previous Street Fighter games, removing close and neutral jumping attacks. Most have 18 total: standing LP, MP, HP, LK, MK, HK; jumping LP, MP, HP, LK, MK, HK; and crouching LP, MP, HP, LK, MK, HK. Certain characters such as Nash and Fang also have a different attack if done during a neutral jump instead of a forward jump.

Unique / Command Normals

Command normals are unique attacks for each character, performed by pressing a direction + a button. Examples of these are Ryu's Collarbone Breaker, Guile's Sobat Kick, and Chun-Li's Senenshu. These moves often have different properties than normals such as being overheads, moving the character far forward, and more. These moves can still combo into others, cause crush counters, or just be a good poke as with regular normal moves.

Target Combos

Target combos are pre-defined button sequences that execute unique attack strings. Examples of these are Ryu's Jodan Sanrengeki, Cammy's Lift Combination, and Cody's Final Combination. The largest difference is the timing on them is much less strict than a normal combo, they can be pressed one after another in a loose timing to get the moves to come out.

Special Moves

A special move is another class of moves in Street Fighter V. These moves usually have special properties compared to normal attacks; examples of them include Ryu's Hadoken, M. Bison Scissor Kicks, Birdie's Bullhorn, and Ed's Psycho Rising.

Special Moves are often a large part of what makes a character unique. When people think of Ryu they often don't think of what his sMP or f+HP look like, they think of the Shoryuken or Hadoken or Tatsumaki. When people think of Blanka they think of his electricity and rolling attacks, when they think of Chun-Li they think of her lightning kicks. In this way they have a variety of uses; some are used as combo enders, some are used for zoning, some are used as "Get off me!" moves, some for breaking the opponent's pressure, and more. Learning a character's specials is a good first step to learn what kind of character they are supposed to be.

Special Moves in addition to their utility alone are useful because many normals are special cancelable, meaning you can cancel moves that normally would not allow further combo into a special attack. The classic example is Ryu's crMK xx Hadoken where "xx" means cancel; on its own crMK is not advantageous enough to continue a combo but because it can be special canceled it allows further followups.

Special Moves also causes actual chip damage instead of only grey life.

There are several types of inputs for performing specials:

Motion

These refer to moves that are done via entering a motion, such as a Hadoken which is Quarter Circle Forward (QCF) + Punch, or Zangief's Screw Pile Driver which is F, DF, D, DB, B, UB + P (commonly called a 360 even though you only need to input a 270).

Charge

Charge refers to moves that you have to hold a direction for a certain period of time before being able to perform. These include Chun-Li's Kikoken, Guile's Sonic Boom, and Bison's Scissor Kicks. These are either hold back for several frames (usually around 50, or almost a second) then pressing forward + an attack button, or hold down then press up plus an attack button. These moves are designed to limit mobility to have access to them; for example while Guile is walking forward this means he is not charging and cannot Somersault Kick, making it safer to jump at him.

Hold

Hold specials are similar to charge, however they are performed by holding a button (or buttons) for a certain number of frames. Examples of these are Balrog's Turn Around Punch, Birdie's Bullhorn, and Falke's Psycho Kugel. The amount of time you need to hold the button varies depending on the character and the special.

Rapid Input

Rapid input, or mash specials, are moves that requiring hitting a button several times in quick succession. Examples are Blanka's Electricity and Ed's Psycho Flicker which require 4 punch buttons presses, and Kolin's Parabellum which requires 5 punch buttons to be pressed. The last input determines the strength of the move if there are multiple; for example if Kolin presses LP, MP, HP, MP, LP then the LP version is performed; if Kolin does LP, MP, HP, MP, HP then the HP version is performed. If the last input is 2 or 3 punch buttons at the same time such as LP, MP, HP, MP, LP+MP, the EX version is performed.

There are two common ways to handle these types of inputs: Piano and Sliding. Sliding is performed by sliding a finger along the punch or kick buttons hitting them as you go along, and ending with the appropriate button. Pianoing is similar concept; see VesperArcade's YouTube tutorial for more information.

Easy-Input

New to Street Fighter V and currently unique to two characters, Ed and Falke, easy input moves refer to specials that are performed by simply pressing two buttons with no motion or charge attached to them. For example, Ed's Psycho Upper is performed by pressing two punch buttons at the same time and the EX version is performed by pressing 3 punch buttons. With this comes some benefits; being able to press just one button to have an invincible reversal come out versus having to do a motion means it is much easier and quicker to get them to come out in tight situations such as trying to anti-air or trying to beat a charging armored move on reaction.

EX Specials

EX Specials are powered up versions of regular specials, and take 1 section of the EX Gauge to use. When an EX Move is performed, the character will glow yellow and 1 stock of EX gauge will disappear. They are performed by doing the motion of a special move that has an EX version, and inputting 2 or 3 buttons of the appropriate type (punches or kicks). These moves often have extra benefits or properties than the regular version. Using Ryu as an example:

1. Ryu's regular Hadoken is a single hit that is -6 on block, does 60 damage, and leaves the opponent standing on hit. Comparatively his EX Hadoken is two hits, meaning it can break most armored moves, knocks the opponent down on hit, is does 100 damage total, and is +2 on block allowing Ryu to continue pressure safely if he wants to.
2. Ryu's Tatsumaki normally does not hit crouching opponents while his EX version does.
3. Ryu's Jodan Sokutou Geri normally knocks the opponent backwards on hit, while the EX version causes the opponent to bounce off the wall allowing a Shoryuken to combo afterwards for more damage
4. Ryu's HP Shoryuken is normally not invincible until frame 3 while his EX Shoryuken is invincible frame 1, does more damage, and can combo after moves that normally don't such as after an air-to-air jump MP.

Most special moves have EX versions, however not every move does. Ed's Psycho Flicker and Falke's Psycho Kugel are two examples. In general special moves granted as part of V-Trigger do not have EX versions either.

Almost all EX specials are also the same regardless of inputs; meaning there is no light, medium, and heavy versions of them. QCB+LK+MK and QCB+LK+HK do the same move with the same properties. However some specials such as Urien's Metallic Sphere performs different versions depending on the button combination. Inputting QCF+LP+MP will doing the slow version, QCF+LP+HP or QCF+LP+MP+HP will perform the medium version, and QCF+MP+HP will perform the heavy aerial version. Other examples are Kolin's QCB+P counters which perform low, mid, and high versions; and Gill's projectiles which work similarly to Urien's.

One interesting thing about EX Moves is they do not consume meter until the 2nd frame, meaning if they are counter hit on their first frame no resources will be consumed.

Critical Arts

When a character's Critical Art gauge is full, they can perform their Critical Art. Critical Arts are often called supers; they are extremely powerful moves that are a great way to end a round. When activated all Critical Arts have a special animation associated with them where the screen freezes and zooms in on the character performing it, before going into the attack itself. For many characters there is a follow up animation if the attack hits; some exceptions are Ryu, Cody, and G. Critical Arts are unique as they are the only way to chip out an opponent, and many can be canceled into from other special attacks such as Ryu HP Shoryuken xx CA, or Alex Flash Chop xx CA which is normally not possible. Critical Arts are also almost always very unsafe with a couple exceptions being Guile's when he is in V-Trigger 1 and Dhalsim's which is a large orb projectile, so make sure to punish with your most damaging combo if you block it. Not all critical arts can be blocked however; Laura, Zangief, and Mika's are all command throws that need to be back dashed or jumped.

Forward Dash

Forward dashes are performed by pressing forward twice, causing the character to dash forward. During the dash they are unable to perform any other action, making them a risky but quick option to close the distance. Dash speeds and distance covered varies greatly for each character, with Ken and Chun-Li's being the fastest at 15f total and Zangief and Abigail's being the slowest at 25f total.

Character

Total Frames

Distance

Abigail

25

150.4

TBD

Back Dash

Back dashes are performed by pressing back twice. During the entire backdash characters are throw invincible, making it a great option for escaping throws or creating space between the opponent. 3 frames into a backdash a character is considered to be airborne, meaning many regular attacks hit during them will cause a flip out state preventing a combo opportunity. A common example is against Alex; after his Lariat which is +3 on block it is sometimes worth it to perform a backdash to escape the command throw or MP xx Flash Chop setup; if the MP hits it will cause the opponent to flip out making the Flash Chop completely whiff and giving you the advantage for just spending a bit of HP, and if Alex tried to go for a command grab it will whiff due to the throw invincibility, allowing for a punish.

One special thing to note about backdashes however is while airborne a character is in a counter hit state; meaning crush counter moves are especially deadly in these scenarios. This begins on frame 3 for all characters, while the ending frame is different for each character.

Character

Total Frames

Distance

CH Frames

Abigail

25

99.4

3-16

Akuma

21

109.6

3-10

Alex

24

110.2

3-11

Balrog

24

106.1

3-10

Birde

26

134.6

3-20

Blanka

24

111.7

3-10

Cammy

21

118.2

3-16

Chun-Li

21

123.5

3-10

Cody

23

84.2

3-13

Dhalsim

25

82.5

3-10

E.Honda

24

95.1

3-10

Ed

23

89.9

3-10

F.A.N.G.

24

135.6

3-10

Falke

25

101.5

3-10

G

25

105.2

3-10

Gill

25

124.5

3-10

Guile

25

111.5

3-13

Ibuki

21

92.3

3-10

Juri

24

125.0

3-10

Kage

21

82.4

3-10

Karin

21

115.8

3-11

Ken

24

127.7

3-12

Kolin

21

105.0

3-16

Laura

21

127.7

3-11

Lucia

21

100.6

3-16

M.Bison

22

125.0

3-10

Menat

24

112.1

3-11

Nash

24

110.0

3-10

Necalli

22

110.5

3-11

Necalli (VT)

22

130.0

3-11

Poison

23

116.3

3-10

R.Mika

24

120.0

3-10

Rashid

24

109.7

3-18

Ryu

21

97.3

3-10

Sagat

24

111.5

3-10

Sakura

23

99.8

3-10

Seth

23

97.3

3-10

Urien

25

118

3-10

Vega

21

122.5

3-10

Zangief

25

106.5

3-16

Zeku (Old)

22

128.6

3-11

Zeku (Young)

22

100.4

3-11

Throws

Throws are inputted by pressing LP+LK near an opponent, and causes you do throw the opponent dealing a decent amount of damage and slight advantage. Inputted b+LP+LK performs a back throw, which throws the opponent behind you often dealing slightly more damage than a normal throw. This can be a great move when you are in or near the corner to instead put your opponent there. Regular throws are only able to grab grounded opponents, meaning back dashes and jumping will beat them. You also cannot throw an opponent if they are in hit or block stun, meaning they cannot be used in combos.

Throws are universally 5f startup, 3f active, and 17f of recovery. The advantage and distance between the player and opponent after a throw varies by character and whether it is a back throw or a forward throw. After a successful throw the player is usually advantageous enough to apply some pressure, with some characters better at it than others.

Throw Techs

By pressing LP+LK within 7 frames of 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 etched, command grabs and air throws cannot.

Upon successful throw tech, the player will stay in the same position however the opponent will be pushed back about 1 square on The Grid Stage

Command Throws

Command throws are unique special moves or Critical Arts tied to a character. Examples of them are Zangief's Spinning Pile Driver, Vega's Grand Izuna Drop when clawless, and Balrog's B3 when in V-Trigger 2. These are more damaging than regular throws and often give better advantage, however if the throw misses the recovery is much longer at a near universal 60f of recovery. Command throws cannot be throw teched and with few exceptions such as Zangief and Balrog's V-Trigger 2 command throws they cannot be combed into

Air Throws

Air throws are generally performed by pressing LP+LK while in the air, however certain characters such as Kolin and Zeku have special move that act similarly. Not every character has an air throw; examples of those that do are Falke, Chun-Li, Guile, and Ibuki. Air throws cannot be teched. Different air throws have different animations which can lead to different advantages; for example Falke's knocks the opponent down while staying airborne herself meaning the height she threw them determines how advantaged they are, meanwhile Chun-Li follows them to the ground which always gives the same frame advantage. With a couple of exceptions such as Kolin and Zeku's special moves, air throws cannot be used in a combo

Throw Ranges

Not every character has the same throw range, and not all characters have the same throw hurtbox range. This means there are situations where the opponent may be able to grab the opponent when the opponent would not be able to.

Below is a table of all character's throw ranges and throw hurtboxes. Throw range means how far away a character's throw hitbox extends, with larger numbers reaching further. Throw hurtbox means how large a character's throw hurtbox is, with larger meaning the character is wider and easier to throw.

Character

Throw Range

Throw Hurtbox

Abigail

0.9

0.4

Wake Up Options

After you are knocked to the ground, in most cases there are 3 ways you can get back up. Quick, Back, or Delay Rise. Each of these have different timings for getting up, which can help avoid different setups from the opponent. Note that not all options are available after every move. After a crush counter sweep, the only option is delay rise. After a throw or wall bounce, you cannot back rise. Certain moves such as many critical arts force the opponent to quick rise. Other moves may have other restrictions, off of most options however you will be able to choose which you want to do.

A yellow spark as you hit the ground indicates you can perform a wake up option

As of the current version, all character's wake up timings are universally the same.

Quick Rise

Quick Rise is the fastest way to get off the ground. Performed by pressing 2 punch buttons or pressing Down after hitting the ground, the player will quickly get back on their feet.

Back Rise

Back Rise is more of a defensive option, and the more common one seen. Performed by 2 kick buttons or Back as you hit the ground, the character will slide backwards before getting on their feet. Back Rise is always 5f slower than Quick Rise. In addition to being slower, back rise causes you to move away from the opponent creating distance, however moving yourself closer to the corner. Because of the speed difference, it can be useful even in the corner to throw off the opponent's setups.

Despite the different animations, all back rises move the character the same set distance.

Delay Rise

Delay Rise is done by not inputted anything, and is the slowest option. In many instances this allows the opponent to activate moves such as Alex's V-Skill Overhaul or Ibuki to stock up on Kunai. The advantage however is it messes with the opponent's timing, making it much more difficult to time meaties or setups than a quick or back rise.

Throw Invincibility

After you recover from any option, you are throw invincible for 2 frames. Regular throws have 3 active frames so will still connect on a throw perfect setup, however command grabs may whiff

Taunts

Taunts are performed by pressing all 6 buttons at the same time. Besides Akuma's taunt which causes a small attack that can be comboed out of they have no effect other than annoying your opponent. Use them wisely or risk showing up in a Twitter / YouTube video of your premature taunt!