Street Fighter 6/Gauges

Drive Gauge

A meter arguably more important than the health bar, the Drive Gauge is the main mechanic that each fighter has access to, regardless of their other options. Both players start each round with 6 bars of Drive Gauge, which can be spent on various offensive, defensive, and movement techniques. When the gauge is not full, it automatically regenerates over time.

Drive Gauge management is fundamental to the game's strategy; players with better management will have a huge advantage over those who manage it poorly. It allows for playstyles from slow and conservative to reckless gambling, making the Drive system a vehicle for player self-expression.

Note: When reading frame data, 1 Bar = 10,000 Drive meter; in most cases, a simple decimal is used instead (e.g. 1.7 Drive).

Spending meter on Drive moves is not the only way for the gauge to decrease. Blocking attacks will cause some Drive meter to be chipped away. The weakest attacks can chip around 5% of a Drive bar, while some can drain a full bar on their own. This weakens passive, defensive playstyles significantly; defensive-minded players will have to focus more on their positioning, and using techniques like Drive Parry to mitigate this disadvantage. Some attacks like Drive Impact, Super Arts, and any Punish Counter also drain the Drive Gauge when they hit.

Drive System
Drive Move	Drive Gauge Cost
Drive Impact
Drive Parry	(Hold)
Drive Rush (from Parry)
Drive Rush (cancel)
Overdrive Specials
Drive Reversal

It's important to note that any Drive action can be performed, even if only a pixel of the Drive Gauge remains. This is great for securing a KO at the end of a round, since the Burnout penalty does not carry over into the following round.

Increases Drive Gauge	Decreases Drive Gauge
Attacking opponent (Hit/Block)	Blocking attacks
Passive Regen over time	Getting hit by Super, Drive Impact, or Punish Counter (Super cinematic also stops passive regeneration)
Successful Drive Parry (especially useful vs. Supers)	Using Drive actions
Walking Forward (stacks with passive regen)

Burnout

Luke in Burnout

Burnout state happens when the player's Drive gauge becomes fully depleted. Burnout gives the player several negative effects:

All blocked attacks have 4 additional frames of blockstun
- This allows for much stronger pressure sequences; many more attacks become safe on block
- Hitstun is not affected, so combo routes remain unchanged on burned out opponents
Blocking special moves or supers results in Chip Damage
- This is usually 25% of the move's normal damage, with some exceptions (especially on multi-hit moves)
- Can lose the round to a Chip K.O.
Corner Drive Impact wall splat causes Stun on hit or block
Can no longer use any Drive options until gauge is fully replenished

Being in Burnout creates situations that are extremely difficult to escape, like looping corner sequences that are plus on block. If a cornered player is stunned by Drive impact while in Burnout, their Drive Gauge will be fully replenished after recovering from stun. The usual methods of building Drive Gauge also help decrease the Burnout recovery time. While it may be tempting to play passively while in Burnout, it may actually be more effective to mount a strong offense, as you still gain Drive meter from hitting the opponent. Playing an aggressive, offensive style can also make it harder for the opponent to push you back into the corner, where Burnout becomes much more dangerous.

Drive Impact

Luke performs a Drive Impact

Costs 1 Drive Stock. Input + (HP+HK) to perform.

St	Act	Rec	Blk Adv	Dmg
26(27)	2	35	-3	800

Drive Impact (DI) is a forward-lunging strike with 2 hits of armor during the startup and active frames, allowing it to absorb and counter an opponent's attacks. If DI absorbs an attack or hits as a Punish Counter, the opponent will be left in a crumple state on hit. The threat of DI makes it risky to throw out mid-range projectiles or uncancellable pokes in neutral, but this generally requires a prediction rather than a reaction.

Midscreen, Drive Impact has massive pushback on block; this can be used to fight your way out of the corner if the opponent isn't expecting it. This blockstun causes a stagger state that prevents Drive Reversal unless the DI is parried. On a non-crumple midscreen hit, DI causes a regular knockdown; if the opponent is airborne, they instead go into a floaty spinning juggle state that allows plenty of time to set up a juggle.

DI drains the opponent's Drive Gauge:
on Block	on Hit	on Counterhit	on Punish/Crumple
0.5 Bar	1 Bar	1.2 Bars	1.5 Bars

Wall Splat: occurs if Drive Impact connects near the corner on hit or block, allowing a guaranteed followup juggle

While stuck to wall, the opponent is in a free juggle state where followup attacks will also juggle (similar to Force Knockdown state)
- example: Ryu can juggle 2HP xx 623HP, or Luke can juggle 5LP~MP~HP > Super without the opponent falling out
If the DI hits an airborne opponent, the splat occurs higher on the wall; may allow stronger juggle followups
Wall Splat will not occur if performing a true combo or blockstring into DI
- "LOCK" will appear on the screen after a true blockstring into DI; the opponent will bounce away as though it happened midscreen
- If a normal is cancelled into DI, a blockstring gap of 8f or less cannot be escaped by jumping
Combo damage scaling after Wall Splat:
- On Hit: DI acts as 2 hits of the combo (100 -> 80 -> 70 -> 60...)
- On Block: followup has 80% multiplier on standard scaling formula (80 -> 80 -> 64 -> 56 -> 48...)

Stun/Dizzy: occurs when Drive Impact connects on a cornered opponent while in Burnout state. Like Wall Splat, this works on hit or block. The opponent is left vulnerable to a huge punish combo, and may also allow time for actions such as Ryu charging Denjin, Kimberly reloading a spraycan, Juri gaining Fuha stocks, etc.

If the DI itself forces the opponent into Burnout, the Stun will still occur
Does not occur if DI connects in a true combo/blockstring (same as Wall Splat)
Because burned out opponents have no Drive options, their only counter to Drive Impact cancels is usually a reversal Super Art
Combos on dizzy opponents begin at 80% damage scaling, then continue to decrease by 10% per hit as usual
The opponent can be hit for the next 195 frames from the moment they hit the wall; if untouched, they fall over into a Hard Knockdown state

Drive Impact does have a few downsides:

Can be broken by Armor Break moves such as Super Arts or Drive Reversal, or by quick chained attacks
- A common tactic is to use a poke cancelled into Fireball, then cancel into Lv. 3 Super on reaction to beat Drive Impact
Against projectiles, there are 6 frames of armor hit-freeze that slow down your Drive Impact without affect the opponent's recovery
- This makes it difficult or impossible to use on reaction to fireballs unless they have very long recovery
- Multi-hit OD fireballs have hit-freeze on each hit, making it even harder to armor through them
You take recoverable damage when absorbing an attack, which will KO if you don't have enough HP to survive
The opponent can react with their own Drive Impact, which hits as a Punish Counter

If two Drive Impacts clash simultaneously, they will clash with each other and reset to neutral. When this happens, both players are refunded the 1 Drive bar that was spent. If one player enters Burnout in this scenario, they will remain in Burnout while recovering an equivalent amount of their Burnout gauge. Drive Impact startup becomes 1f slower after absorbing an attack. As a result, a clash can occur if a normal connects on the opponent's first DI armor frame, and is then immediately cancelled into DI.

As a side note, Drive moves take priority over special moves (but not Super Arts), so something like Ryu's 236+HP+HK would result in Drive Impact rather than Hadoken.

Drive Reversal

"Perform a counterattack while blocking an opponent’s attack. The damage is low but can help you out of tight situations when you’re being pressured." - Capcom.

Costs 2 Drive Stocks. Press ++ (6HPHK) during blockstun to perform.

St	Act	Rec	Blk Adv	Dmg
20	3	26	-8	500 (Rec)

Note: Chun-Li and Dhalsim have 2-hit Drive Reversals, with active frames 3(10)3 and 3(6)3 respectively.

Drive Reversal (DRev) is similar to Alpha Counter or V-Reversal from previous Street Fighter games, being used to counterattack after blocking an opponent's attack. DRev is fully invincible from frames 1-22, and deals a small amount of recoverable damage on hit. Drive Reversals break armor, so you don't have to worry that the opponent may cancel into Drive Impact as a counter.

All Drive Reversals are punishable at -8 on block, and are slow enough that quick attacks will recover before the Drive Reversal connects. DRev immediately ends the blockstun of the opponent's attack, so inputting it earlier increases the chance of successfully punishing the opponent's move. The blockstun of a successful Parry can also be cancelled with Drive Reversal, and this is the only way to use it against Drive Impact. It is impossible to win a round with the damage from Drive Reversal.

One of the strongest uses for Drive Reversal may be to prevent the opponent's corner escape; if they try to force some offense to push you back, simply knock them back into the corner for 2 Drive bars. It's important to learn which of the opponent's moves recovery quickly enough to block DRev, however, or you may end up getting punished and cornered yourself. DRev can also be used to punish a blocked normal cancelled into Drive Rush; the opponent would have to predict your DRev and use a delayed invincible move to avoid it.

Drive Parry

"Automatically repel an opponent’s attack and replenish Drive when performed successfully. Perform a Perfect Parry by parrying just before an opponent’s attack hits you." - Capcom.

Consumes ~1/2 Drive gauge upon activation, continues draining while held. Hold + (MP+MK) to perform. Becomes a Perfect Parry if it successfully parries an attack within 2 frames of being input.

St	Act	Rec
1	8~ [2]	29 [1]

Note: [] refers to Perfect Parry

Regular Parry:

Parries all strikes and projectiles (high and low) from frame 1
Results in the same frame advantage as blocking the move
Parry blockstun can be cancelled into Drive Reversal
Pushback distance changes compared to normal blockstun:
- Projectile pushback reduced by 1/2
- Drive Impact pushback dramatically reduced (no stagger animation)
- Strike pushback is distributed evenly between each character, rather than just pushing the defender backwards
- If one character is cornered, the non-cornered character will receive all of the pushback
Parry active window lasts 8f when tapped (can be held longer)
Consumes 50 Drive per frame when held (200 frames = 1 additional bar consumed)
After releasing Parry, you can block during the recovery frames
- Must still block highs/lows correctly
Parry is useful for blocking high/low or left/right mixups, but remains vulnerable to throws
Getting thrown during Parry results in a Punish Counter (+70% damage, Hard Knockdown, loses 1 Drive bar)
Cancellable into Drive Rush from 3rd active frame onward
- Fastest DR input method is to tap forward, forward + Parry (6, 6+MP+MK)
Rewards 5000 Drive (1/2 bar) for successfully parrying non-Super projectiles (including multi-hit projectiles)
- Some exceptions exist, like Kimberly double Spraycan (10000 total) or Guile Sonic Break (2000 each)
Rewards 10000 Drive (1 bar) for successfully parrying Normals, Specials (including multi-hit attacks), or Drive Reversal
- Target Combos or Rekka strings count as separate attacks, so parrying them builds 1 bar for each hit
Rewards 20000 Drive (2 bars) for successfully parrying Super Arts or Drive Impact
- This makes it significantly better than blocking, unless the Parry activation would put you into Burnout
The opponent will also gain some Drive meter when their attack is parried, the same as if it was blocked

Perfect Parry:

Occurs on the first 2 active frames; Parry cannot be buffered by holding it down, must be timed properly
After successfully Perfect Parrying a strike, the screen freezes and zooms in, giving ample time to react with a punish
- This has only 1f recovery and prevents the opponent from cancelling their attack, allowing for guaranteed punishes
- Fully invincible for 6f after screen freeze, during which time you can cancel into anything except Drive moves
- You can hold a button during screen freeze to auto-time it after the freeze ends
Against projectiles, the screen does not freeze; puts you into 11f of fixed recovery
- The character is Throw invincible during this 11f recovery, and any further strikes will automatically be parried
- Perfect Parrying projectiles allows you to hold the input for up to 13 frames without incurring the standard 29f parry recovery
- Perfect Parrying a strike and projectile combines the effects of both: the screen freeze of a strike occurs, but results in 11f recovery like a projectile
- After Perfect Parrying a projectile, you can buffer Drive Rush, allowing for fireball punishes at mid-range for many characters
In general, Perfect Parry rewards you with the same amount of Drive meter as a regular Parry
- Perfect Parrying one part of a multi-hit attack builds less total Drive meter; the invincibility usually forces the 2nd hit to whiff (e.g. Luke 214[HP])
A 50% damage scaling penalty is applied to any punish after a Perfect Parry (including vs. projectiles), even if you delay your punish
- It may be worth optimizing your punish for corner carry or Drive damage (e.g. Punish Counter Heavy > Drive Impact) rather than damage

Note: tapping Drive Parry for the minimum time technically costs slightly more than 1/2 Drive bar (unless cancelled into immediate Drive Rush); at 10,000 Drive per bar, the usual cost is 5,250. When done from a crouching state, this cost is increased to 5,300 (or 5,600 for Guile, Kimberly, and Luke). This difference is extremely minor, but could potentially be relevant if attempting a parry with exactly 1/2 a Drive bar remaining.

Drive Rush

"Perform a quick rush forward from a Drive Parry or a cancellable normal attack. Drive Rush from a parry costs 1 Drive Stock, while Drive Rush from a normal attack costs 3 Drive Stocks." - Capcom.

Costs 1 Drive Stock (after Parry) or 3 Stocks (after a cancellable normal).
Tap (66) during Parry to perform a Parry Drive Rush.
During a cancellable normal, tap (66) or + (MP+MK) to perform a Drive Rush cancel on hit or block. Light normals will also cancel on whiff.

	St	Act	Rec
DR (Cancel)	9	[~45]	24
DR (Parry)	11	[~46]	23

* Note: Ken's Drive Rush has a shorter active period of 38f (cancel) / 39f (Parry).
* Active frames [] refers to the part of the dash that can be cancelled into a normal for the +4 bonus

Drive Rush (DR or DRush) begins with a green flash of light and a 10-frame screen freeze, followed by a quick dash across the screen. Any Normal or Command Normal used during this dash gains +4 advantage on Hit or Block, making it useful in a variety of offensive situations. They may also have improved juggle properties, allowing for long extended juggle sequences. The DR dash can be cancelled early by any attack while maintaining the forward momentum, allowing the user to stay close for tick throws, blockstrings, and combo extensions.

The initial screen freeze gives the user extra time to confirm the opponent's status and decide on the next action. At the same time, the defender has more time to react to a raw Drive Rush in neutral, or punish a blocked DR cancel with Drive Reversal. During this freeze, the defender's movement inputs will not come out, but attacks will be buffered. If multiple attack buttons are input during the freeze, the one with higher priority will come out (e.g. LP+MP+HP will give HP; 4MP+HP will give 4MP if it exists as a command normal)

When Drive Rush is used mid-combo, an extra 15% damage scaling penalty applies (multiplied by any other existing damage scaling); this only applies once per combo, and does not occur when beginning a combo with a raw Parry Drive Rush. When this scaling occurs, you are locked out of passive Drive Gauge regeneration until the combo ends; however, you can still build some Drive by walking forward mid-combo, and entering the cinematic of a Level 3 Super will restart the Drive regeneration.

It takes 23-24f before a Drive Rush can be cancelled with a directional input like crouch, block, or jump; it is also impossible to use Parry during the run, as MK will come out instead. This makes Drive Rush a somewhat committal offensive tool, as you can't simply defend mid-dash while observing the opponent's response. If you want to input a crouching normal or command normal late in the Drive Rush animation, you must hit the direction and button within a 3f window, otherwise the Drive Rush status will end and the normal will not receive the +4 bonus advantage.

Because a raw Drive Rush begins with a Parry, it cannot be done with under 1/2 a Drive bar, as the initial cost of the Parry drains your gauge immediately and puts you into Burnout. This limitation does not apply to the 3-bar Drive Rush cancels. Because light normals can be DR cancelled even on whiff, you can use this to set up a raw Drive Rush from farther ranges with a nearly empty gauge. This is a high-risk, high-reward strategy that can be useful for securing one final mixup to end the round. The whiffed light normal makes the Drive Rush a bit more reactable and the extra startup time makes it less useful in most oki scenarios, so it is not a pure replacement for Parry Drive Rush.

Drive Rush Distance Comparison
Character	Min. Distance (Immediate Throw)	Min. Distance (Crouch Block)	Max Distance (No Input)
Blanka	0.4756	2.0821	2.8671
Cammy	0.6030	2.0265	2.7956
Chun-Li	1.0437	2.2219	3.1634
Dee Jay	0.7629	2.5347	2.7132
Dhalsim	0.4708	1.7873	2.7000
E. Honda	0.2125	1.7686	3.3748
Guile	0.8053	1.8979	3.4613
Jamie	0.9883	2.0295	3.0019
JP	0.5246	1.8572	3.6282
Juri	0.6407	2.4790	3.9994
Ken	0.7453	2.4492	3.5902
Kimberly	0.8165	2.4790	3.5649
Lily	0.4337	1.8997	3.0437
Luke	0.8167	2.4992	3.4609
Manon	0.5060	1.4170	2.3472
Marisa	0.5437	1.9030	3.0810
Rashid	0.7964	2.2528	2.9978
Ryu	0.5246	1.8776	3.6282
Zangief	0.3272	1.4553	3.0395

* Throw stops all forward DR momentum; using a normal instead will cause the character to continue moving forward during the attack startup
* Maximum distance refers to the distance on the final DR dash frame; however, some characters continue moving forward even after DR is no longer active

Overdrive

Luke performs an Overdrive Sand Blaster

Costs 2 Drive Stocks. Press 2 Punches or 2 Kicks while inputting a special move to perform the Overdrive Art version.
Overdrive (OD) moves are similar to EX Special Moves from previous titles; by spending some Drive Meter, you can get an enhanced move with useful properties. Because OD Specials use the Drive Gauge, they can combo into Super Arts.

OD moves generally have benefits like extra damage, faster startup, lower recovery, and may even have invincibility
OD moves often put the opponent in a juggle state, or have higher juggle potential themselves
OD moves can be performed with less than 2 Drive stocks, but the player is immediately put into Burnout state

Advanced Drive Info

Drive Regeneration

The Drive meter automatically restores itself over time, but the rate it which it regenerates can change based on several factors. Recall that 1 Drive bar is 10,000 units of Drive meter, and that 1 frame equals 1/60 of a second.

The Drive Gauge works the same in Burnout, except that it must be fully restored before it can be used again. Landing your own attacks during Burnout builds some Drive meter, so playing offensively is a good way to reduce your Burnout time. Instead of taking Drive Damage to your meter when blocking, you instead build the same amount of Drive that the opponent builds for connecting their attack. When blocking a Super Art, you will instead build 1/2 the usual Drive Damage amount.

Drive Gauge Regeneration - [ ] = Burnout
	Regen/Frame %Bar/Sec	Notes
Standard Drive Regen	40 / 24% [50 / 30%]	In Burnout, blocking adds to Drive Gauge rather than depleting it
In Hitstun	20 / 12% [25 / 15%]	Applies to any hitstun, including grounded hits, knockdowns, air resets, air juggles, throws, etc. After being knocked down, the Normal Rise and Back Rise animations go back to the Standard Drive Regen rate
Jumping	20 / 12%	Includes airborne frames of attacks, such as Chun-Li or Kimberly 6HK Jumping during Burnout is especially detrimental to the Drive Regen rate
Walking Forward	+20 / +12%	Stacks with Passive Regeneration (60/frame); works even during Drive Regen Cooldown Meter build starts on frame 2, so a 2-frame microwalk can enable otherwise impossible combos (e.g. Drive Rush Cancel x3) Applies even during Burnout, so an offensive playstyle can help to recover more quickly
Note: if no difference is specified for Burnout, it follows the standard rules

Drive Regeneration Cooldown

Certain actions will stop the automatic regeneration of Drive meter for a certain period of time:

Drive Gauge Regen - Cooldown Timer
	Cooldown Time (Frames)	Notes
Blocking Attacks	90	Timer counts down from the start of Blockstun Multi-hit attacks reset the cooldown timer to 90 on each hit Does not apply during Burnout
Being Hit by Super	90	Timer counts down from the end of Super Hitstun Cinematic Supers are considered to be in Hitstun until the animation has fully ended This greatly extends the Drive cooldown time of Supers
OD Special D.Impact D.Reversal	120	After using any of these moves, the timer counts down starting from the end of move's recovery
Drive Rush (Cancel)	120	Timer counts down from the end of move's recovery DR Cancel also prevents additional Drive regen until combo ends (except Forward Walk) Entering a Lv.3 Super cinematic allows passive Drive Regen to resume
Parry (whiff)	240	Timer counts down from the moment Parry recovery ends Also applies to Parry Drive Rush, since it starts by whiffing a Parry For Chun-Li only (as of Beta 2), this time is 120f instead (may be a bug)
Parry (success)	60	After parry freeze/blockstun; applies to both Regular and Perfect parries

Super Gauge

The Super Gauge is only used to perform Super Arts. Characters gain Super meter when an attack connects on hit or block; unlike in many previous games, no meter is built for whiffing an attack. Both players start the match with an empty Super Gauge, and can build up to 3 bars total. The Super meter carries over between rounds, so there is more to consider when deciding whether or not to spend meter to finish a round.

As a general rule, Super Gauge build on hit/block works as follows:

	on Hit	on Block
Attacker	(Base)	50%
Defender	70%	25%

The amount of Super Gauge built from an attack is not affected by Counterhit or Punish Counter status, and is also not subject to combo scaling. Drive Impact, Drive Reversal, and Super Arts do not build additional Super Gauge for the attacker or defender, although any followup combo can still build meter.

Super Art

A Super Art is essentially a more powerful type of Special move, requiring Super meter and a more complex input. In addition to damage, Supers often have improved properties like armor break, invincibility, juggle potential. Some Level 2 Super Arts are not attacks, but a powerup like Juri's Feng Shui Engine; this is known as an "install" Super. Install Supers turn the meter into a timer that ticks down until empty, at which point the character returns to normal. When a character is under 25% health, their Level 3 Super turns into a "Critical Art", which deals a bit more damage and may change the knockdown advantage/spacing afterwards.

Cancelling an attack into a Super Art works differently than other moves:

Lv. 1 Super can be cancelled from Normals only.
Lv. 2 Super can be cancelled from Normals and OD Specials.
Lv. 3 Super/CA can be cancelled from Normals and Specials.
- Not all Normals and Specials are cancellable into Super Arts; refer to the "cancel" column in the move's frame data.

Super Arts are an important tool for Drive Gauge management; they can drain the opponent's Drive Gauge and prevent passive regeneration, while using the time to allow your own gauge to passively recover. You can stall for time to prevent Burnout, or ensure the opponent enters Burnout after they overextend in their Drive Gauge usage. During Burnout, invincible Supers are the primary way to avoid being stunned by corner Drive Impact blockstrings, which would otherwise be unavoidable after blocking a cancellable heavy normal.