Street Fighter 6 just got its biggest update ever, with the addition of Akuma alongside hundreds of other changes and new features that completely shake up the power balance of the game.
Released on May 22, Street Fighter 6 received its final update for the Year One roadmap, adding Akuma as a playable character and closing out the Year One Character Pass DLC with its final fighter. But that’s just the beginning, as Capcom also dropped dozens of new features, like a new raid boss mode in the Battle Hub, and a Battle Adjustments patch that buffs or nerfs the entire roster for the first time since the game launched last June.
Capcom is calling this a “raging new experience” for SF6 by overhauling how each character plays and dropping in new mechanics like a Recovery Drive Reversal. The goal here is to focus on buffs and nerfs that weaken moves that were proving too difficult to deal with or overly oppressive, while still keeping the game’s spirit of risk and reward intact.
This update is so big that the developer listed reasons behind every character’s specific balance adjustments. So, let’s dig into Street Fighter 6’s big May 2024 update and see just what kind of demon Capcom has unleashed.
Street Fighter 6 Akuma patch overview: All content and features for SF6 season 2
What’s new?
- Akuma added as a playable character (available as DLC)
- Akuma Colors three to 10 and Outfits two and three added.
- New Akuma Challenger Screens, stickers, player titles, and more added.
- Akuma added to World Tour as a Master with new missions.
- Akuma story added to Arcade Mode with new commentary lines.
- Akuma avatar gear added.
- Major Battle Adjustment patch released with changes for all characters.
- New Stage, Enma’s Hollow added to the game.
- Costume Three added for Rashid, A.K.I., and Ed.
- Players can now customize background music for characters.
- Bundles are available for different Street Fighter games from Street Fighter II through Street Fighter V.
- More new avatar gear added.
- New limited-time Giant Attack event added to the Battle Hub.
Content changes
- Updated Assisted Combos for Modern Controls.
- Updated Drive Reversal with a wake up and recovery option.
- Training Mode updated with more features.
- Versus walkout scenes can now be skipped.
- Hubs Good Shop will now offer bundles with items the you already own.
- You will now be notified when you have Fighter Coins that are about to expire.
- Intermediate server entry requirements in the Battle Hub have been decreased.
- Ranked Matches update:
- If you have at least one character that has reached Master Rank, you will place no lower than Diamond One when doing placement matches using a different character.
- Matchmaking has been adjusted to better prevent matching up with players with vastly different ranks or master rates.
- Various bug fixes have been applied to the game, specifically in Training and Versus modes.
Street Fighter 6 May 2024 Akuma patch notes: All character buffs, nerfs, and changes
Because the May 2024 patch is so big, making at least a dozen changes to every character outside of the freshly added Ed and Akuma, the patch notes include Capcom’s notes about each fighter. This includes why Capcom made the changes and a link out to the individual update page on Buckler’s Boot Camp—the official online hub for SF6 content and stats.
Luke
Capcom focused on nerfing Luke’s interactions through anti-air and poke moves that would frequently lead to “matches losing momentum and coming to a standstill.” His damage has also been nerfed, while specific combos like Overdrive Flash Knuckle into Heavy Rising Uppercut have been altered to be easier to perform.
Jamie
Jamie now has more ways to raise his drink level and the state has increased benefits, to “show off more of his characteristics.” Overall, most of Jamie’s tools were buffed as Capcom wants to “make him easier to play.”
Manon
Capcom identified Manon’s ability to get close to opponents and follow-up when in range as “lacking” areas of her gameplay. For that reason, she has been buffed to have more ways to land hits with new hitboxes, less pushback, and additional control changes. Her Super Art 3 and Critical Art now deal variable damage based on her Medal level too.
Kimberly
Kimberly has been tweaked to have an expanded neutral game and more utility for certain moves that will help her offensive potential rise even higher, such as tagging players from a distance using Light Vagabond Edge. Some Super Arts and Special Moves have also been adjusted for ease of use, though damage output has also been scaled to match these changes.
Marisa
Marisa will rock you, plain and simple. Her strikes are now more powerful than ever and her charged moves have a greater advantage on contact, though Capcom has reduced the advantage frames granted by specific moves like her Command Throw as she was easily “turning matches completely on their head.” Oh, and her Scutum move can now break Super Armor. Have fun with that.
Lily
Lily’s Crouching Heavy Punch was nerfed hard since it had led to her occasionally becoming a “one-note character.” Other moves that were underused have been improved to compensate, like Overdrive Condor Wind and Sanding Light Kick, which are fast responses to initiate counterattacks.
JP
“JP was designed to be a character that was slow and had trouble chasing down opponents, but would be excellent at keeping them away with his useful normals and unique attacks. However, his long reach and excellent hitboxes made it hard for his opponents to take the risk and get in, and JP was able to throw out attacks without much care if they missed.”
Essentially, Capcom is trying to get back to its vision of JP by making certain options more vulnerable to losing, reducing the overall usefulness of the heavily utilized Lovushka Super Art, and other changes to prevent Interdiction from coming into play after successful hits as frequently.
Juri
Most of Juri’s changes are focused on “revising attacks that didn’t see much action” along with changes to her combo routes. This will make strings like Ankensatsu into Standing Light Kick possible and open up new chains even without Fuha available.
Dee Jay
Capcom is nerfing Dee Jay’s damage output and adjusting “factors that proved hard to deal with for opponents” when it comes to the character’s purposefully fluid and flustering movements and range. Jackknife Maximum has also been changed to be less useful as an overall anti-air and counterattack tool. To balance that, new combo strings have been enabled through the use of Face Breaker and The Greatest Sobat changes.
Cammy
Cammy had one of the biggest list of changes, with Capcom updating combo routes, placement after attacks, and more. Cannon Strike’s hurtbox has been updated so it is less likely to lose interactions with low attacks and her forward throw now puts more distance between the thrown opponent.
Ryu
Capcom is trying to make Ryu stand out a bit more by giving him increased damage and gauge gain, allowing his focus on single strikes with great impact to rival “flurry-based offense” options with more reward upon landing them. His Hadoken has also been buffed to compete better with other attacks as a zoning tool.
E. Honda
With Perfect Parries being altered slightly in this update, Capcom had some trouble balancing E. Honda’s staple Sumo Headbutt and Sumo Smash moves in a way that would not give him more advantage while still keeping the options viable—striking a balance between buff and nerf. Meanwhile, other moves have been buffed to open new combos for Honda and ways for him to get Sumo Spirit.
Blanka
RIP to the Blanka Ball—at least in some variations. Specifically, the Overdrive Aerial Rolling Attack that made him so hard to deal with in select situations has increased landing recovery and won’t hit the back of enemies. To trade off, Blanka’s combo routes and reliability for certain strings have been improved.
Guile
No longer will Guile control the stage with Sonic Booms as he did before, instead, his normal Sonic Booms are now easier to counter with jump attacks or wide-range moves. His special Sonic Booms, however, will now chip away at the opponent’s Drive Gauge, along with other move adjustments.
Ken
Corner-pressure Ken has been hit with some nerfs here, though Capcom has exchanged that for more neutral game and combo options. Heavy Jinrai Kick has been buffed to be better at a distance for tapping and the hurtbox on his Hadoken has been decreased slightly. Quick Dash Shoryuken will also hit more reliably.
Chun-Li
Capcom was worried about Chun-Li’s ability to sit and wait with some of these new changes, so multiple adjustments have been made to try and incentivize Chun players to stop playing the waiting game and make proactive moves more often. For example, Standing Heavy Punch and Swift Thrust have been adjusted to be more reliable options on confirm.
Zangief
More pressure, improved neutral options, more ways to “pile on the damage” once he gets in, and better position on blocked attacks. All this means Zangief will be more reliable while trying to find openings for heavy individual attacks. Gauge usage and opponent Gauge drain have also been adjusted when it comes to his moves.
Dhalsim
Capcom is making zoning easier with Dhalsim through several, smaller changes that reduce his overall disadvantages through improved start-up times and better positions for the character when he has attacks like Standing Medium Kick blocked.
Rashid
As we get into the DLC fighters, Capcom is being more deliberate with their changes and focusing down on specific areas of weakness. For Rashid, this means trying to expand the way his Super Arts are used and improving the reliability and utility of attacks like Super Rashid Kick.
A.K.I.
A.K.I.’s changes center mostly on improving the ways she can use her Toxic Blossom options, and here is how Capcom justifies this approach:
“The unique Toxic Blossom system, and the firepower it brings, is a large part of her A.K.I.’s charm, but the groundwork of first poisoning an opponent and then managing to hit them with a Toxic Blossom triggering move has meant that A.K.I. had to work harder than other characters to really take chunks out of an opponent.
Even though the characteristics of Toxic Blossom could lead to some explosive damage in the right circumstances, it also required A.K.I. to make offensive pushes on a poisoned opponent to unleash that potential, and with a limited number of moves available for triggering it, it became easy for wary opponents to be on the lookout for those moves and deal with them appropriately. This left an impression of instability in A.K.I.’s damage potential.
With that in mind, this update brings a bunch of tweaks to improve on A.K.I. across the board. In particular, her poison inflicting attacks have been made easier to use, increasing A.K.I.’s opportunities to use Toxic Blossom to its full potential.”
Ed
Because Ed is the newest addition outside of Akuma, his changes were the most minimal. Capcom focused mostly on improving his combo options and a few weak points.
Universal changes
- Input Recognition adjustments for specific commands.
- Command Input adjustments for certain moves, characters, and settings.
- Hurtbox adjustments for certain characters.
- Stun Timing adjustments.
- Drive Parry adjusted with a larger throw hurtbox when in use, frame data changes.
- Perfect Parry adjustments, including a 50 percent reduction to Gauge changes after a counterattack.
- Drive Rush adjustment to expand attack and throw hurtboxes for Parry Drive Rush.
- Drive Impact adjustments.
- Drive Reversal adjustments, including making pushback distance at close-range being nearly equal for all characters on block.
- Recovery Drive Reversal adjustment to allow for Drive Reversal to be used when recovering from knockdown.
- Light Attack adjustments.
