Overview

The cons that you have to consider while playing Sean are:

No reliable reversal without meter (depends on the match-up)
Over-reliance on parries
Specials are very unsafe on block/hit and leaves him crouching on block
Some of his normals start-up/recover slower and/or do less damage than the other shotos
Has a bit of trouble building meter (there are ways around this)
Less advantage on Jump-ins than the other shotos

However, the pros to playing him are:

He's the most defensive shoto
High stun potential
Above average damage output
Has the most powerful cancel-able normal in the game that isn't Gill's (Close Roundhouse)
Has the strongest normal throw of the shotos (Ken's Knee-bash is the strongest but you can mash to reduce the damage significantly unlike Sean's)
Great mobility (standard dash + Sean Tackle)
Has more cancel frames on some of his normals than the other shotos
Good Kara Throw
Can potentially deal over 50% damage and with all 3 supers
Has 2 of the most out-prioritizing/invincible supers in the game (Shoryu Cannon and Hyper Tornado) and all 3 are viable
Great Mix-ups (especially with the taunt)
Decent selection of Anti-airs
Certain attacks get safer against smaller characters (may apply to everyone else as well)
Normals are more active than the other shotos generally

Differences in Sean's normals vs. the other Shotos:

Normal	Comments
Close Strong	Starts up in 4 frames (like Ken's) with 13 frames of recovery (the slowest) but has the most cancel frames and does the most stun of the shotos (9 pts.)
Close Fierce	Starts up in 5 frames (a frame slower than Ryu's and Akuma's but a frame faster than Ken's) and recovers in 20 like Ryu/Akuma's. Ties with Akuma for most cancel frames on this particular normal.
Far Strong	Starts up in 5 frames (same as Akuma/Ryu and is a frame faster than Ken's) but has the most recovery at 13 frames and no cancellation.
Crouching Forward	Starts up in 7 frames (like Ryu's) and recovers in 17 (like Ken's). Has the most cancel frames of all the Shoto's Crouch Forwards.
Crouching Roundhouse	Starts up in 8 frames (the slowest) and recovers in 30 (like Ken's)
Crouching Fierce	Starts up in 7 frames and recovers in 22 (like Ken's).

Basics

Utilize the Cl.MP-HK Target Combo as it is truly safe on block and hit. It does 1 less point of damage shy of Cl.Roundhouse. It even serves nicely as a nice AA as well.

Cl.HK is your friend.

Don't be scared to wake up with a EX Dragon Smash (seldom)

Use St.MK to out-prioritize lows when in the correct range

Super Art Selection

Hadou Burst
- More Hit-Confirms
- Situational Closer/Punisher
- Anti-Air
- More than 50% damage potential
- 50% stun potential
- Consumes 1-hit projectiles
- Small Meter Length
- Fast travel speed
- Easy to Parry
- Slightly long recovery
  - Game-plan: 4 Close Roundhouses can fill up a bar of Hadou Burst and you have 5 EX's in total. From a long range, the go-to confirm is Cr.MK. Up close, you have either Cl.HK, Cl.HP, Cr.MP or Cr.LK x2. After a parry, you have 3 choices: Cr.MP, Cr.MK and Cr.HP. Cr.HP is good against moves with long reach that recovers late and does great damage, Cr.MK is the standard, and Cr.MP is faster than the other 2 but you need to be within range. This super, like his others can link of a UOH. Parry -> Hadou Burst vs. certain "Parry-Bait Supers" near the corner can potentially deal near 50% if you have 2 stocks. To properly Anti-Air into this super, it has to be done off Cl.MP since that button doesn't reset the juggle counter like the other cancel-able ones. Be looking for opportunities to punish with this move, especially against crouching attacks. Sean can do a lot of "dash-back" set-ups with this super. The max damage output of this super can rival the max damage output of Ken's SA3.

Shoryu Cannon
- More than 50% damage potential
- Corner Juggles
- True Anti-Air
- Situational Closer/Punisher
- High invincibility
- Grants a free Mix-up afterwards
- Goes through projectiles
- Bad recovery and range
  - Game-plan: 6 Close Roundhouses fill up a bar and its 4 EX's in total. Cr.LK x 2 or Cl.HK are the go-to confirms for this super. It's main usage is as an Anti-air but still has to be timed correctly or many of the hits will whiff. Cl.HK x SA2 is the primary Anti-air, and should be one of the few things to go for when a super is stocked. This can punish moves that leave opponents too close on block (overheads, Sean tornado, Remy CBK's, etc). The strongest combo with a single stock of Shoryu Cannon (with the corner Cl.HK reset) is equal to Chun's strongest combo with Hoyokusen. With 2, it can deal from 70% to 80%. Beats a lot of Parry-baits with the exception of itself, Hyper Tornado, and a few other supers. It can link off of a UOH but only as a Meaty up close. It doesn't have much range so the main goal should be to always be close to the opponent. S.C. has 10 frames of invincibility and some of the highest priority in the game with the exception of a few supers.
  - Sean has 3 moves that can link into Shoryu Cannon: Standing Short, Standing Forward, and the Overhead Wheel Kicks. Standing Forward has to be done on Meaty up close (against Crouchers) for it to work. Same with the Wheel Kick but its a Yun/Yang only link.

Hyper Tornado
- True Punisher
- More than 50% damage potential
- Higher invincibility
- Travels through projectiles
- Great range
- 50% stun potential
- Large Meter
- Bad capacity for EX
  - Game-plan: The Punisher. Meter building is very important for this super. It takes 7 Close Roundhouses to fill it and you only get 3 EX's. It starts up in 3 frames (like Ken's Shippu) which allows him to punish a lot of things in the game once stocked. H.T has the same confirms as Hadou Burst (minus the ones with Dragon Smash) and can almost cover the same amount of range. The go-to confirms are Cr.LK x 2, Cr.MK/MP, and Cl.HK. Hyper Tornado has very high invincibility, even higher than Shoryu Cannon which means it blows up Parry-Baits more reliably (except against itself and a few supers), and it can travel through projectiles too but the projectile has to be far from the opponent or you risk wasting the super. Like his other supers, H.T can be linked off of a UOH too. The maximum damage potential of this super is just shy of Hugo's Gigas by a few pixels.

Kara-Techniques

Sean's main Kara grab buttons are Close Roundhouse, Far Fierce and Towards Fierce. The difference between Far and Towards is very minimal so it doesn't matter which one you use. Walking forward as you Kara will make it more effective too. The input is just F.HP ~ LP+LK. If you want to Kara into the Back throw just press back right as you do the input. If you mistime it, it'll move Sean out of range and it'll whiff.

List of moves after which you can Kara-throw:

Normal	Comments
Crouch LK	(You will not be able to Kara-throw opponent within first 4 frames after Cr.LK. It's 6 frames on Chun-Li, Ryu, and Q)
Standing LK	(You will not be able to Kara-throw opponent within first 5 frames after Cr.LK. It's 7 frames on Chun-Li, Ryu, and Q)
Close MP	(You will not be able to Kara-throw opponent within first 4 frames after Cl.MP. It's 6 frames on Chun-Li, Ryu, and Q)
Standing LP	(You will not be able to Kara-throw opponent within first 6 frames after Cl.LP. It's 8 frames on Chun-Li, Ryu, and Q)
Crouch LP	(You will not be able to Kara-throw opponent within first 6 frames after Cl.LP. It's 8 frames on Chun-Li, Ryu, and Q)

As for Close Roundhouse, it doesn't give any extra throw range but, its very useful for SGGKs:

Sean's option select Parry (SGGK) - Tap Forward/Down and press Attack button + Throw (for Kara Throw). When done at close range one of 2 things can happen:

If opponent attacked - Sean will parry the attack and hit with the move you used for Kara Throw. If you used cl.HK then Sean will hit with cl.HK, if you used cl.HP then Sean will hit with cl.HP etc.

If opponent was blocking or tried to parry - he will get thrown.

Kara Throw Set-ups:

Cr.LK, St.LP (whiff), Kara-throw [vs. crouching]

Walk in, step back, Kara-throw

Cross-up j.MK, Cr.LK, Kara-throw

St.Mk, step forward, Kara-throw

Cr.LK, step back 2 frames, Kara-throw

LK Wheel Kick, walk forward, Kara-throw

T + HK, wait, take a step, Kara-throw

Shoryu Cannon, Cl.HK Reset, wait, Kara-throw

Walk in, back dash, walk in, Kara-throw

Taunt, wait and see if they blocked or parried, walk forward, Kara-throw

Jump MK/HK, back dash, walk in, Kara-throw

etc.

Kara UOH:

You can Kara into UOH using Far Fierce (since its easier) then again, walking forward and using Towards Fierce is more effective. The range on it is pretty good, and it gives Sean another option that can go into super (if stocked) from near half-screen. This is the maximum distance of where the UOH can hit from:

Zoning

Far HP will be the main tool you use to maintain your zone. Use it to smack away any dive kicks/jump-ins that come your way.

All 3 variations of MP (cr/cl/fr) are very useful to keep the position as well, being that they're all safe on block and hit.

Don't be afraid to stick a cr.MK or st/cr.LP on the screen from time to time (just be careful doing so)

You have a vast assortment of AAs so choose your AA's wisely

EX Tornado

EX Tornado can be combo'd depending on the attack and the opponent's current state:

Attack/Opponent	Stand HK	Stand HP	Crouch MP
Akuma, 12
Stand Close	Yes	Yes	Yes
Stand Far	No	Yes	No
Crouch Close	Yes	Yes	No
Crouch Far	No	No	No

Attack/Opponent	Stand HK	Stand HP	Crouch MP
Hugo
Stand Close	Yes	Yes	Yes
Stand Far	No	Yes	No
Crouch Close	Yes	Yes	Yes
Crouch Far	No	Yes	No

Attack/Opponent	Stand HK	Stand HP	Crouch MP
Urien, Remy, Dudley
Stand Close	Yes	Yes	Yes
Stand Far	Yes	Yes	No
Crouch Close	Yes	Yes	Yes
Crouch Far	No	No	No

Attack/Opponent	Stand HK	Stand HP	Crouch MP
Oro
Stand Close	No	Yes	Yes
Stand Far	No	No	No
Crouch Close	No	Yes	Yes
Crouch Far	No	No	No

Attack/Opponent	Stand HK	Stand HP	Crouch MP
Ibuki, Q, Necro, Alex
Stand Close	Yes	Yes	Yes
Stand Far	No	Yes	No
Crouch Close	Yes	Yes	Yes
Crouch Far	No	No	No

Attack/Opponent	Stand HK	Stand HP	Crouch MP
Chun Li
Stand Close	Yes	Yes	Yes
Stand Far	No	Yes	No
Crouch Close	No	No	No
Crouch Far	No	No	No

Attack/Opponent	Stand HK	Stand HP	Crouch MP
Yang, Yun, Makoto, Ryu, Ken
Stand Close	Yes	Yes	Yes
Stand Far	No	Yes	No
Crouch Close	No	Yes	No
Crouch Far	No	No	No

Attack/Opponent	Stand HK	Stand HP	Crouch MP
Sean
Stand Close	Yes	Yes	Yes
Stand Far	Yes	Yes	No
Crouch Close	No	Yes	No
Crouch Far	No	No	No

Attack/Opponent	Stand HK	Stand HP	Crouch MP
Elena
Stand Close	Yes	Yes	Yes
Stand Far	Yes	Yes	No
Crouch Close	No	Yes	Yes
Crouch Far	No	No	No

Taken from japan's atwiki

Strategy

Chippiness

Sean can deal alot of damage to your Stun meter in small "chips" at a time.You see since he can't combo very well he needs to hit you more over the duration of the match to break even. He's not ranked very high because "chippy" (High/mid damage : Low combo ability) characters in tournaments fall apart because professional players will not give you a chance to hit them many times and they don't make many mistakes. So try to find ways to chip until you have meter then use your SAs to deal large damage to break even.

Parrying with Sean

You need to parry and parry well to use Sean. Jump into/out of parry dash in/dash back into parry. Parry makes Sean a good character. If you do not use it he will suck. A lot of his moves are extremely situational/impractical or have a strange hit-box placement. You need the parry and other tech to setup into said moves. Learn to red parry a lot things that can help you in match-ups as well (multi-hit overheads, Ken's SA3, Chun's SA2, etc.).

EX Tornado

After a EX tornado, you have 8 different options you can choose from while your opponent typically only has 5 (but be ready to gamble):

Block [Loses to grabs but wins against reversals and super]
Throw/tech throw (Regular or Kara) [Loses to reversals, evasive maneuvers, super but wins against blocking]
Parry/SGGK/OS [Least amount of risk that involves 2 or more options at once]
EX Dragon Smash [Loses to throw, blocking, reversals, evasive maneuvers and super but wins against throws that come out too early or attacks that don't have enough priority]
Zenten [Loses to blocking, reversals and super but wins against throws and certain attacks]
Dash Backwards [Loses to super but wins against throws and reversals]
Jump forward/backwards [Loses to reversals but wins against throws]
Super (SA2 only) [Loses to blocking but wins against everything else]

The strongest one-off attacks Sean can do safely at any given moment are:

Cl.HK - The strongest hit confirm normal of the shotos and builds great meter on hit or block. Comes out in 5 frames and is safe all across the board. Its a great AA that you can cancel into SA2 with and its great for Meaties. Look to land this particular normal the most in a match. Does 25 DMG Standing/32 Crouching (Akuma). Cl.HK confirms into super can outdamage super confirms that involve Dragon Smash, especially if caught crouching.

Target Combo - A quick and simple 2 hit combo that does 24 DMG Standing/29 Crouching, and another one of Sean's good AA's. Target Combo on hit is 0 Standing/+2 Crouching and -2 on block. Even though its -2 on block, its completely safe and in fact, its best to buffer parry after this in case the opponent tries to punish what can't be punished. It puts you near half screen on block, even further if you delay the 2nd hit of the combo. It can link into super but only on Makoto standing and Ibuki crouching (w/Delay).

Back + Throw - Sean's Back throw does 4 points more DMG than the other shotos which means that at mid-screen, you should be looking to do this to put the opponent into the corner. Using Sean's Far Fierce, you can Kara Back + Throw giving him more reach to grab. Its a great way to end a match if you have the opponent trapped in the corner.

Block-strings:

Cr.LK - St.LK - St.MK

Cl.HK - St.MK

St.LP - St.LP - St.MP

St.LP - Target Combo

Cl.MP - Cl.HK

St.LP - Cl.HP

Offense

Sean has the basic Shoto mix-ups that allow him to confuse and knock down his opponent repeatedly (albeit to a lesser degree but still effective). If you're not sure on what these mix ups are (tick throw, high/low, Kara throwing, etc.) please consult the Ryu section for examples. Always minimize the risk.

Sean is most effective either in close proximity or within a far distance from the opponent. His best close normals are:

Close Strong/Fierce/Roundhouse
Crouching Strong

From a distance, the main normals to use are:

Standing Forward
Far Standing Fierce
Crouching Forward
Crouching Roundhouse
Towards Roundhouse

Oki

Things you can do on the opponent's wake-up:

Close HP into Sean Pachiki (TC)
Crouching LK, Crouching LK
Crouching LK, Standing LP (whiff), Kara-throw [vs. crouching]
Crouching LK, step back 2 frames then Kara-throw
Walk in, step back, Kara-throw
Meaty UOH [can link into super]
Meaty Close HK into Crouching LK/Standing MK/Crouching MK or Super
Standing MK, walk forward and Kara throw
Cross-up j.MK
Cross-up j.MK, Crouching LK, Kara throw
Jump back HK (HK after jump back must be done fast)
Jump at same time opponent is getting up and parry his reversal
Throw opponent few times and jump at same time your opponent is getting up
Throw opponent few times then dash backwards. If the opponent tried to tech the next throw punish him with a combo
Standing LP, Target Combo (1-frame link) [vs. Standing]
Any one of his block strings
UOH (whiff), Close HP/MP/HK, Super
Close Strong*

*Close Strong can lead into TC (which then can also lead into Hyper Tornado but only on specific characters), Crouching LK x2, Close HP/HK (after a step forward), and Throw (Kara if possible)

Meaty Attacks

Close/Crouching Strong
Close Fierce/Roundhouse
Standing Forward
UOH
LK Wheel Kick

The best Meaties for Sean are Close Roundhouse and Close/Crouching Strong. On Meaty, Close Roundhouse's advantage increases to +9 (if crouching), allowing him to link Crouching LK or his Forward kicks (Stand and Crouch). 2 of those 3 can link into Hadou Burst or Hyper Tornado for the same amount of damage as a jump in.

Meter Building

There are 4 things that Sean can do to build meter. They are:

Crouching Strong
Close Roundhouse
Jump Backwards HK (whiff)
Taunt

A whiffed Crouch Strong builds 2 points of meter and it recovers quick. As said above, Close Roundhouse should be his go-to button whenever possible whether on block or hit. His taunt builds quite a bit of meter as well, anywhere from 4-11 points depending on if the opponent parries or blocks. Jump Back HK is one of the few safe things Sean can do to build meter.

A trick to meter build a bit quicker would be to Close Roundhouse (as an AA) then cancel into the Taunt. Gives about 23 or 24 points of meter instead of the normal 19 with Close Roundhouse by itself.

Defense

As said above, Parrying is paramount when playing as Sean. Knowing the opponent's options at all times and how to deal with them as Sean will be key to winning with him.

Anti-throw moves

Zenten (3rd frame throw invincible)
UOH (airborne in 5 frames)
Towards Roundhouse (airborne in 6 frames)
Wheel Kicks (airborne in 15 normally, 13 EX)
Shoryu Cannon (1-frame start-up, 10 frame invincibility)
Hyper Tornado (3-frame start-up, 12 frame invincibility)

Wake-up

UOH
EX Dragon Smash (Warning: He CAN be thrown out of this)
Zenten
EX Wheel Kick
Super
Guard Jump (Backwards/Forward)
OS Throw
HJC Specials (Zenten, Tackle, etc.)

Anti-Airs

Sean has a wide selection of AA's to choose from:

Crouching Fierce
Close Roundhouse (Steep jump in)
Dragon Smash (Over or near Sean's head only)
LK Tornado (Steep jump in)
Wheel Kick (Mid-far jump in but don't kick into them, use the correct strength of W.K)
Towards Fierce
All variations of MP (Far, Close, and Crouching) [Close can lead into TC]
Far Roundhouse (Good for angled jump-in)
Close Fierce (Close)
Towards Roundhouse (Far jump-in)
Standing Forward (Does well against Cross-ups)
Far Fierce (Far jump in)
Standing Jab (Close)
Hadou Burst
Shoryu Cannon

Specials

Some of his specials have better usage defensively rather than offensively, especially the non-EX's.

Dragon Smash

Dragon Smash doesn't have the same amount of priority or range as the other Shoto DPs but it's good against dive-kicks and moves that leaves limbs extended. The attacks will either get stuffed out or will trade in Sean's favor and send them flying. It's also anti-Demon Flip too. Since it can go high in the air, if it hits and he lands and recovers while they're still in mid-air, a Hadou Burst will hit them before they hit the ground.

Sean can do the Anti-Parry OS too (like the other Shotos) where they late-cancel into the DP on parry. This requires meter however, since only EX Dragon Smash has invincibility but its another option to consider. This situation is probably the only one where he cannot be grabbed out of it like he usually can.

EX Dragon Smash can bail Sean out of projectile traps like Ken's Crouching Forward x EX Hadou if parried.

EX Dragon Smash, if done late enough, can stuff out other invincible DPs.

Sean Tackle

Tackle is the one special he has that is effective both offensively and defensively. As such, this is his most important one. Defensively, its his strongest punish (that knocks down) from a distance if he doesn't have meter after a parry against attacks that stay out too long. Normals such as Chun's Standing Fierce or Ryu/Akuma Towards Strong can be punished with Tackle. Against normals with even longer recovery (like Sweeps), EX tackle can be used. If Sean's cancel-able Anti-air gets parried, cancel into the Tackle and it will be safe.

Zenten

Defensively, Zenten can be effective when in close proximity of the opponent. It can save you from throw/zone/kunai set-ups and like the tackle, if you cancel into it off a parried Anti-air, its safe. Parry then roll up close has a good chance of avoiding what the opponent puts out on the screen, even supers.

Tornado

If a cancel-able normal as an AA gets parried, cancel into the Short Tornado (LK) to send them flying. If near the corner, a Hadou Burst will hit them before they fall.