In Street Fighter 6, these jack-of-all-trades can adapt to practically any opponent and win.
Every fighting game requires at least one jack-of-all-trades: a character who is competent in most areas but not excellent in any. Scorpion appears in Mortal Kombat, Kyo Kusanagi appears in King of Fighters, and Sol Badguy appears in Guilty Gear.
There are a few characters in Street Fighter 6 who suit this description. This makes them ideal for Street Fighter 6 players who wish to concentrate on good basics, precise footwork, and consistent whiff penalties. Despite their lack of specific skill, these Standard type characters are effective in competition and highly worth knowing, even if only as a backup selection if players’ main is facing a bad matchup.
Lily
Lily is the least typical of the group being the only Street Fighter 6 newbie included in the Standard type. She performs the duties of a hybrid grappler. While hitting her Mexican Typhoon command grab isn’t the most crucial component of Lily’s playstyle, staying close to opponents and pushing them for a strike/throw mixup is. Her one-of-a-kind Windclad power-up system enhances practically all of her special moves, such as making her advancing Condor Spire more faster and safer on block, or increasing the damage of her anti-air Tomahawk Buster.
Windclad may be stacked up to four times, which means Lily can continue to be a threat with improved abilities if given the opportunity to charge them. Her special moves are lackluster without Windclad power-ups. Outside of her Super Arts, she also lacks a truly invincible reversal, as even with Windclad and the utilization of Drive Gauge for an OD version, Tomahawk Buster is not invincible on startup.
Ryu
Ryu, who has maintained his simple but successful playstyle for the past 30 years, is a character who rewards fundamentals. Ryu rarely confronts one-sided matches for or against him, letting him to play the game his own. Ryu’s combat cycle revolves around using Hadoken as a zoning technique, as well as punishing jump-ins with Shoryuken when opponents attempt to predict an impending Hadoken and leap over it. His Tatsumaki Senpukyaku enables him to fly straight through fireballs while covering a big area of the screen. This can be useful for penalizing bad fireball choices, but it leaves Ryu susceptible if the opponent manages to deflect it.
Ryu practitioners should concentrate on prodding their opponents with their Crouching Medium Kick, Crouching Medium Punch, and Forward Heavy Punch. These keep him relatively safe on block and can be canceled into any of his special moves for either damage (Shoryuken, Donkey Kick, Tatsumaki) or protection (Hadoken, Hashogeki). His Denjin Charge improves his Hadoken, Hashogeki, Shinku Hadoken, and Shin Hashogeki, giving him an extra hit on fireballs and more damage on Super Arts.
However, the Denjin stock depletes after using one of these boosted moves, and the charge period is rather long, making it potentially dangerous. This indicates that Ryu players should try to use Denjin Charge only if their opponent is knocked down or a significant distance away. Ryu’s simplicity means he lacks the unanticipated mixups or gimmicks that other characters may employ to gain an advantage. Ryu players must master proper fundamentals or risk losing.
Luke
Luke, who replaces Ryu as the Street Fighter’s beginner-friendly all-rounder character, excels at practically everything. Sand Blast is a solid projectile that launches faster than other fireballs and travels a long distance if the Heavy variant is employed. This allows Luke to stalemate or win fireball battles. To burn through oncoming fireballs and knock opponents down from full screen, combine OD Sandblasts with their two-hit quality.
Flash Knuckle is also one of the most adaptable combo extenders/finishers in Penalty Kick Online, able to combo into itself as well as the majority of his other special techniques when the Light, Medium, or OD versions are employed. Luke may deal massive damage from a single opening if Street Fighter 6 players become adjusted to the timing on his ‘Perfect’ Flash Knuckles – releasing the button within a three-frame timeframe. OD Flash Knuckle and OD Rising Uppercut can be canceled into follow-up extensions for guaranteed damage if players are prepared to spend some more Drive Gauge to achieve a kill or good okizeme.
For consistent damage during neutral, Luke players need hit confirm his Crouching Medium Kick or Crouch Medium Punch into Light Flash Knuckle or Light Sand Blast. For significant damage on situations like a jump-in or post-Drive Impact, go for his dependable Crouching Heavy Punch>Perfect Medium Flash Knuckle>Perfect Light Flash Knuckle>Perfect Heavy Flash Knuckle combo. His Eraser and Pale Rider Super Arts (Levels 2 and 3 respectively) give invincibility on startup, allowing them to be employed as wakeup reversals or to add tremendous damage to combinations.
Guile
Guile, Street Fighter’s resident projectile zoner, returns as strong as ever. Using the threat of fast-moving, fast-recovering Sonic Booms to keep opponents at bay is consistently effective against almost every character. Similarly, if an opponent manages to get a jump on Guile, Street Fighter 6 players will nearly always press down-back to charge both Sonic Boom and Flash Kick at the same time. This signifies that Guile will meet the opponent with a soaring reverse Flash Kick to reset the match in his favor.
Guile’s Sonic Booms can now become even more threatening with numerous strikes thanks to the addition of Sonic Blade as a new special move, without the need to waste Drive Gauge on an OD Sonic Boom. If Guile is facing an opponent who is too comfortable just blocking his projectiles, he can use Drive Rush in neutral to follow his Sonic Booms. He can also cancel into Drive Rush mid-combo to do Sonic Boom loops and deal massive damage. His excellent mid-range pokes also deplete the opponent’s Drive and force him to block far back. Guile, when combined with Sonic Booms and his own Drive Gauge, may quickly put his opponents into Burnout and make their position more scarier.
Street Fighter 6 is currently available for PC, PS4, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S.