Street Fighter 6/Ryu/Matchups

Click the character's portrait to open their Wiki page.

A.K.I.

Ryu vs. A.K.I. (48.76%/Even)

She seems intimidating, but once you get past the initial strangeness it's pretty even

IMPORTANT NOTE: Poison does do some damage (420 for the full duration), but it's purpose is to extend combos so don't go full marsupial because it's on you.

Quick Summary

A.K.I. is great at snowballing from small hits with her great meterless oki and Toxic Blossom, her unique combo extender on poisoned opponents, leading to huge burst damage. Though her bizarre hit and run playstyle can be disconcerting when you start playing competent A.K.I.s, it's not too bad once you get used to it. She's primarily going to rely on her strong grounded game and unique approach/disengagement tools to try and smother you. Pay attention to the A.K.I.'s habits when at full screen so you don't explode from a slide Dive. 5HP is still the god button but make sure that you are using lower hitting pokes such as 2MP and 2MK to cover her various low profile options that let her either escape or punish you with a combo. She can also punish fireballs in a few ways, but having Denjin stocked makes her have to guess if they will work on reaction.

Neutral

A.K.I.'s neutral is "hit and run." She is able to flow in and out of close, mid, and long range well while presenting a threat.

Her pokes are strong but often don't cancel:
- 5MK controls the midrange well with a solid hitbox and long range
- 2MK and 6HK are +1 and +2 on block respectively and greatly benefit from Drive Rush, 6HK crushes lows so be careful what you check with
- 236LP goes MILES, poisons on hit, and knocks down on Punish Counter and Toxic Blossom, it does beat one hit of fireballs but is a subpar for that purpose
Be aware her approach options too:
- Coward Crouch Dive is an effective anti-fireball tool, she has to commit to Coward Crouch early in order for it to punish making it slightly predictive
- 214K and 214KK are great surprise that are -3 and +2 on block respectively, 214HK doesn't lead you in range for strike throw mix like the other meterless versions, 214KK can be used on prediction to fireballs, both are hard to anti air, you can't DI 214KK by ducking the first few hits like the meterless ones
- Her bubble (214LP) is a very slow fireball in both speed and frame data making it great to Drive Rush behind but vulnerable to jump ins unless she spends an extra 2 bricks on 236KK

She is slippery but you can pin her down as long as you establish that know the answers to her BS. Mix in pokes that can't be low profiled, know what keeps her turn (meterless command jumps are NOT plus), and keep the fear of Denjin in her.

Defense

It is subpar. While she does have a couple unique ways to escape pressure, A.K.I. will mostly be relying on universal tools.

All reversals are flawed in some way
- 236KK is is a side swapping slide that is invulnerable to strikes and projectiles, but deals no damage and loses to throws flat out
- 236236K and 236236P are standard level 1s and 3s respectively, both are 10 frames and can be beaten by a perfectly meaty jab
- Her AA suite is good for neutral but flawed for covering her fireball or other committal options, 236HK isn't air invuln frame one and other options are AA normals

Because her main reversal is beaten by them, A.K.I. is especially vulnerable to throws. Since both supers whiff against meaty jabs so it might be a nice idea to implement a couple if you haven't already. Keep your pressure tight and varied enough to hold respect for the scary stuff.

Offense

A.K.I.'s design is heavily based off snakes and that certainly carries over to her pressure. The various threats she presents are often unconventional in how they are presented.

They are weird but it's still based in foundational Street Fighter pressure
- 2MK and 6HK are still great, natural plus frames are powerful especially if they lead to a combo on hit, again be careful around the low crush of 6HK
- 5HK is a safe poke with lots of cancel options to frame trap or stay safe
- Coward Crouch Kicks and Grab is a mixup from 5HK, Kicks frametraps while Grab beats blocking Kicks, delay jab stuffs the fastest cancels though she can delay kicks to Kicks is -3 on block and leaves her point blank for a mixup
- 236LK is a weird shimmy move that lets her disengage using cancellable normals while dodging some higher pokes
- A common pressure ender is 214HP, -4 ob but with high pushback, frametraps from lights

Watch out for cheeky resets with her Grab and 6HK, she wants plus frames to enforce her bullshit as a fair amount of her pressure enders leave her at a disadvantageous position for a mixup

Miscellaneous

DON'T BURNOUT AGAINST HER! Like Ryu A.K.I. has a demonic burnout loop, she can reset the spacing so she doesn't have to spend drive with 236LK or Coward Crouch Kicks, while risky taking the jab can push you out of the 5MP's range and thus out of the loop
Her level 2 is not a great fireball punish, it does initially hit you but has no projectile invincibility of any kind meaning she'll get hit out of it unless the first couple hits kill you
214LP is -10 point blank and the followup is -16, don't let this go unpunished
Learn how to crouch the first hits of her meterless command jumps and DI the second two, letting that rock chips out a decent amount of Drive even though she is -3

What should YOU do?

Throw Fireballs: Hadoken is a much better poke than her fireball and you have Denjin to make her second guess anti-fireball options
Use lower hitting pokes: 5HP is a great poke but it can be low profiled, 2MK and 2MP cannot be and are great in their own right
Counter her bullshit: Her weird options can end up making her a tough MU to learn irrespective of the actual difficulty of it, keep her honest
Jump (Responsibly): While they are good AAs, they specifically aren't great at covering her fireball, jumping even as a reaction to these options at closer distances can be especially hard for her to deal with
Throw: No throw invuln on 236KK means that throw is heavily weighted against her, teching and other anti-throw options are something to watch out for

Akuma

Ryu vs. Akuma (47.29%/Even)

He's a real asshole and has a ton of powerful gimmicks that make this one a toughie to learn but your neutral and hard hits make this a more even MU than you might think

IMPORTANT NOTE_again: Winrates online are imperfect ways of judging MUs as ones with weird tools and/or a large pool of players who aren't at the top can sway them, this is why you will see differences online winrates and theoretical MUs

Quick Summary

Neutral

Defense

Offense

Miscellaneous

What should YOU do?

Blanka

Ryu vs. Blanka (48.42%)

Quick Summary

Neutral

Defense

Offense

Miscellaneous

What should YOU do?

Cammy

Ryu vs. Cammy (45.93%)

Quick Summary

Neutral

Defense

Offense

Miscellaneous

What should YOU do?

Chun-Li

Ryu vs. Chun-Li (46.19%)

Quick Summary

Neutral

Defense

Offense

Miscellaneous

Serenity Stream stance will low-profile the following moves:

5LP, 5HP, j.MP, 236P (all), 214LK, 214HK (1st hit), SA1

What should YOU do?

Dee Jay

Ryu vs. DeeJay (48.10%)

Quick Summary

Neutral

Defense

Offense

Miscellaneous

What should YOU do?

Dhalsim

Ryu vs. Dhalsim (49.59%)

Quick Summary

Neutral

Defense

Offense

Miscellaneous

What should YOU do?

Ed

Ryu vs. Ed (43.80%)

Quick Summary

Neutral

Defense

Offense

Miscellaneous

What should YOU do?

E.Honda

Ryu vs. E.Honda (51.13%)

Quick Summary

Neutral

Defense

Offense

Miscellaneous

What should YOU do?

Guile

Ryu vs. Guile (43.79%)

Quick Summary

Neutral

Defense

Offense

Miscellaneous

What should YOU do?

Jamie

Ryu vs. Jamie (51.79%)

Quick Summary

Neutral

Defense

Offense

Miscellaneous

What should YOU do?

JP

Ryu vs. JP (46.89%)

Quick Summary

Neutral

Defense

Offense

Miscellaneous

OD Amnesia Bombs:

After blocking/parrying the first bomb, instant j.MP/j.MK makes the second bomb whiff
Be careful if JP is nearby, as he can hit you during your prejump frames for a combo