Hiya!

Can you believe Street Fighter 6 has been out for almost 2 years now? Capcom‘s latest fighter has been out for quite a while and, when another year closes, a new year’s worth of content opens up! Fans have a lot to look forward to with a whole new set of DLC characters scheduled for release. However, we do have to wait for these new World Warriors. What’s up on the horizon is actually more important: balance changes.

Capcom has said they aren’t going to go hog-wild on balance changes but you can be sure that, with a new season, a new host of character buffs and nerfs will be placed in the game. I’m sure they’ve already planned this out and have done a lot of tweaking to the characters. They’ve done some adjustments to things like how much plus or minus some moves are now or how much pushblock occurs when someone is hit. Sometimes, it’s just the little things that can make a character much more viable.

That’s all fine and dandy. However, for someone like me who is more of a newbie, I do want to see more bombastic changes, especially to the top tiers and the bottom tiers in Street Fighter 6’s roster. I want to see big changes to how some moves work to make the really good moves less oppressive and enhance some of the other attacks to make them much more useable! So, while I know it’s probably too late as Capcom has things all ready for launch in a few days, here are 3 buffs and 3 nerfs I would want to see in Street Fighter 6 in the future.

Buff: Give Lily a strike invincible version of her Tomahawk Buster

Despite El Chakotay showing Lily can still win tournaments, even he will have to acknowledge it takes much more work to do than the top tiers. She does have some good tools, like her crouching heavy punch being a great all-around attack and the Overdrive version of her Condor Spire is great, especially when she has a Windclad Stock.

As a semi-grappler, while her mixup potential is great, thanks to a powerful command grab in her Mexican Typhoon, she also suffers one from the grappler’s big weakness: getting out of corner pressure. Right now, the only ways for Lily to escape corner pressure is by using a Drive Reversal or any of her Supers. My big buff suggestion for Lily is to make the Overdrive version of her Tomahawk Buster strike invincible but only if she has a Windclad Stock available.

This way, Lily does have a way to escape corner pressure but it’s going to cost her a lot of resources. She’ll have to use up Drive Meter as well as a Windclad Stock. There’s still also a risk as it’s not totally invincible as it will still lose to projectiles and throws. This means meaty throws and projectiles will still beat it. This does mean the Lily player will still have to guess but, if they guess right, then it’s all good.

Nerf: JP‘s Amnesia orbs disappear if he gets hit

There has been a big drop off of JP players in Street Fighter 6 as of late but that doesn’t mean he’s still not overpowered. Capcom designed him to be one of the best keepaway fighters and it can be a pain to navigate through all of his projectiles, portals and ground spikes.

Still, when you do get close and you think you’ll finally get to smack him in the face, JP will do his Amnesia counter and this just stops all of your offense as you’re now waiting for it to be safe until this mine explodes. Meanwhile, JP is back to chilling and getting into position to toss out all those psycho powered projectiles at you!

This is why I do want to nerf JP’s Amnesia to align with the other attacks of this nature. Much like M. Bison‘s Psycho Mine and even JP’s own Lovushka Super Art Level 2, the Amnesia mines should vanish if you get a clean hit on JP while it’s active. The time it’s active doesn’t change, however. As JP recovers way before the opponent if Amnesia is active, there’s still a lot of risk on JP’s opponent to even try to get a clean hit while the mine is there. So, there is a lot of risk but a huge reward if you do get to sneak a clean hit in.

Buff: Give Manon different Overdrive versions of her Degage special attack

When I first started playing Street Fighter 6, I thought I would be maining Manon. She was billed as a much more agile grappler who only gets stronger with each successful command throw. After a few rounds with her, I just gave up. She is indeed quicker than, say, Zangief, Street Fighter’s most prominent grappler. However, it does take a lot of work to get the command throws in and, while her other special attacks are useful, they all seem rather counterintuitive as they push Manon’s opponent away on hit, making it harder than it should to threaten with a command gram in the first place.

There is one special move which does allow Manon to skip neutral somewhat and go in for a command throw. That would be the Overdrive version of her Degage. It’s a quick overhead which can catch an opponent off-guard if they’re not looking for it. What’s weird is how Manon only has one version for the Overdrive version of Degage. It’s strange because, if you look at Juri, she has Overdrive versions for all of her quarter-circle forward kick special attacks. Why not give Manon the same priviledge?

They would all have different properties. The heavy version, which is the one Manon currently has, will remain the same blistering fast overhead attack. For the “light” and “medium” version of her Overdrive Degage, they would both still be punishable on block but not by much. What I would do is make them super useful if they hit. Make them knock down much closer than their regular versions and make it so Manon can still be slightly advantage if she tries to Drive Rush in. That does make it expensive as the entire sequence would cost 3 Drive Meter pips. Still, it may be worth spending that Drive Meter if it allows you to close out the match.

Nerf: Rashid‘s Ysaar vanishes if he’s hit clean

A while back, I wrote a post about The 3 Best and Worst Super Arts in Street Fighter 6 (So Far). I had to wrack my brain with some of the entries but, when it came to who had the best Level 2 Super Art, it was no contest. Rashid’s Ysaar is just an incredibly powered Level 2 Super Art. It’s essentially a huge projectile you cannot jump over and it buffs Rashid’s movement speed and his special attacks if he goes through it.

I do think it’s insane how, unlike how JP’s Lovushka, another very oppressive Level 2 Super Art, Rashid’s Ysaar doesn’t vanish if he’s hit while it’s active. It is possible to hit Rashid while the Ysaar is there as most Rashid players will slip in front of the tornado to push the offense. Still, for something that’s virtually indestructible and gives the user buffs, this seems a little too much.

So, my suggestion is the Ysaar will disappear only if Rashid’s opponent gets a clean hit. I’m not talking a Drive Reversal. I mean a good, clean strike or throw! That’s harder than it sounds because, well, I mentioned all the buffs Rashid gets, right? As a consolation, if Rashid does lose the tornado, the whisper of the tornado will still be there, meaning he can still get the buff potential until that disappears.

Buff: Give Jamie an automatic drink level if he loses a round

If there is one character in Street Fighter 6 who is very difficult to buff because of his central gimmick, it’s Jamie. Jamie has to find ways in the match to safely get a drink in as each successful swig makes him hit harder and gives him more special moves. However, this does mean Jamie players are at a disadvantage at the start as his drink level drops back to zero at the start of each round. It’s also very difficult to just give him access to all of his moves as he was designed this way and one small mistake with tweaking Jamie’s drink mechanic could make his a top tier monster.

So, what to do with Jamie’s drink gimmick? I say leave it as is but just add to it. Have Jamie have 1 drink level at the start of the 2nd round if he loses the first. This should alleviate the pain of trying to get a drink when you’re already one round down. Now, I’m debating if Jamie should lose the drink level if he wins the 2nd round but, for now, I think he should keep it. I mean, it’s not going to be good strategy to intentionally lose a round just to get a drink at the start of the subsequent rounds, is it?

Nerf: Perfect Parrying Mai‘s charged up Kachousen will cause it to vanish

A betting man would think I would want to nerf Ed‘s Psycho Cannon Level 2 Super Art the same way I went after Rashid’s Ysaar by having it vanish if he’s hit. You’d lose that bet because, while Psycho Cannon is notorious for corner-to-corner combos via the Shin Dream Combo, it’s really hard to do and you have to practice long enough to do it. Besides, it doesn’t give Ed any buffs and it’s not like Ed players throw it out unless it’s to do the Shin Dream Combo. So, when are you going to get to hit Ed while you’re getting bounced around to the corner with his punches anyway?

No, I’d rather go after Mai’s charged up Kachousen projectile. I have no problem dealing with her regular Kachousen. It’s the fact that the charged up version causes it to bounce upwards! This essentially locks you into place and allows Mai to Drive Rush in for a mixup. I just feel it’s too rewarding of a setup and there’s not much you can do against it.

I don’t want it to be nerfed directly. Rather, I want the opposing player a chance to get out of the lockdown. This is why I suggest a Perfect Parry would destroy a charged up Kachousen projectile. There’s still some risk involved as you really have to be good with your Perfect Parry skills for it to work. I do have to mention my Perfect Parry suggestion will not destroy a charged up Kachousen if Mai has a Flame Stock. It only works for the regular charged up version.

Byee!

What buffs and nerfs do you hope to see when Street Fighter 6’s Year 3 balance changes come in a few days? Let me know in the comments section below!