Introduction

Doctrine Dark, in his original appearance, was a very Arika twist on the Shotokan archetype. This isn’t anything new: Fighting Games need compatibility characters to ease players into a new battle system. But dig a little deeper, and it starts to get interesting. With D. Dark, it’s gimmicks all the way down.

Gameplan

Instead of fireballs, D. Dark can toss a fiber wire across the screen-- Because he’s crazy. It’ll clash with projectiles, and the strength of the button determines distance. On hit, the wire stuns your opponent for follow ups. Dark can send a spark of electricity down the conductive wire, or pull his foes in close.

Dark leans towards being a zoner, “keepaway” style of character. Much of his gameplan revolves around landing wire, pulling, and utterly erasing his opponent. He chucks bombs too, and the fuse time differs based on the button strength. Only the thrower knows when they’ll go off, and D. Dark is immune to his own explosions. Explosives detonate on block for simple pressure, and take up space on the screen like nothing else in Street Fighter.

Optimal D. Dark play is winning neutral once, then looping unblockable bomb setups until the venue closes.