It’s patch time for Street Fighter 6, which means thousands of players around the world have undoubtedly added new holes to their drywall before rushing to declare their favorite fighters ‘worthless’, ‘broken’, and ‘literally unplayable’. Capcom’s latest December 2 update adds a slew of universal adjustments, a couple of buffs, and some substantial nerfs to certain characters. Ed and Cammy suffer the most in this Street Fighter 6 update, to no one’s surprise.
Though Street Fighter 6‘s roster has been surprisingly balanced for quite a while? Both Ed and Cammy have consistently remained at the top of the SF6 leaderboards. Professional player Punkdagod dominated last summer’s EVO 2024 Championship with Cammy, while Ed was used by two other players in the Top 6. I mained Cammy back in Street Fighter 4, and for a brief period in Street Fighter 6 (I’ve since switched back to Bison). While it sucks to see one of your favorite characters nerfed, these are needed changes for the betterment of the game.
‘street fighter 6’ update puts baby in a corner
The most notable updates in the December 2 patch affect Cammy’s crouching Medium Punch, crouching Heavy Kick, and her ability to side switch with her Overdrive Cannon Spike. The following are only some of the recent changes to Cammy:
- Crouching Medium Punch
- 1. Changed recovery when the attack misses from 14 to 17 frames.
- Expanded the hurtbox forward from frames 10 – 26 only when the attack misses.
- Crouching Heavy Kick
- Reduced pushback on block.
- Overdrive Cannon Spike
- Updated behavior so Cammy does not switch sides with her opponent on hit.
- Active frames on the close range hitbox reduced by 1 frame.
- Added a hitbox that extends forward and downward only during a combo to the attack’s 3rd and 4th active frames.
- Changed damage distribution from 1500 (1100+100*4) to 1500 (600+100×3+600)
- Overdrive Cannon Strike
- When performing the attack during a jump’s ascent, recovery has changed to the following only when the attack hits on the 1st active frame.
On hit: 0 ~ +2 frames to 0 frame advantage
On block: -2 ~ -4 frames to -2 frames
*Recovery will no longer change up to a certain height.
*If the attack hits on the 2nd frame or later, or if it’s performed during the latter half of the jump, the frame difference will be the same as before.
- When performing the attack during a jump’s ascent, recovery has changed to the following only when the attack hits on the 1st active frame.
Without getting too technical, what this boils down to is making one of Cammy’s most useful normals (crouching Medium Punch) a bit more risky to use. Additionally, her ability to slip out of a corner and switch sides with her opponent with OD Cannon Spike is gone, making it a bit more enjoyable to fight against her. In Street Fighter 6, pinning your opponent into a corner can be incredibly advantageous, and Cammy’s ability to quickly escape was too powerful.
Time to hit the bags again
The December 2 updates to Ed aren’t as game-changing as Cammy’s. Instead, they reduce his ability to be overly oppressive while remaining relatively safe. If you’re anything like me, seeing Ed pop up on the ‘new challenger’ screen was always a stressful moment. Sometimes, I found myself wishing I could go Ghostface on him, Mortal Kombat-style (okay, fine, it’s not that deep). Now, we can all collectively fist-bump in celebration after he whiffs his all-too-reliable normals in neutral. Here’s some of the changes made in the newest Street Fighter 6 update:
- Crouching Light Kick
- Recovery changed from 11 to 12 frames.
- Advantage on hit changed from +3 to +2 frames.
- Expanded the hurtbox forward on the 18th frame.
- Standing Medium Kick
- Increased recovery by 2 frames when the attack misses.
- Expanded the hurtbox forward from frames 25-31 when the attack misses.
- Crouching Medium Kick
- Increased recovery by 1 frame when the attack misses.
- Expanded the hurtbox forward from frames 24-25 when the attack misses.
What’s all this frame-speak mean? In essence, it means when Ed uses some of his most viable normal attacks and misses with them, his opponents have slightly more time to respond and punish them with a move of their own. Expanding the “hurtbox” on some of his moves means that the invisible perimeter surrounding Ed’s character model extends slightly further. This allows certain counterattacks to connect and punish Ed when they possibly couldn’t before.
I know, “one frame” doesn’t sound like a lot, but in competitive fighting games, every millisecond and every pixel counts.
in conclusion
The update sees several other characters, like Akuma and M. Bison, receiving minor nerfs, while other characters enjoy surprising but welcome buffs. Rashid and his level 2 super remain relatively unchanged, much like the dirty underwear worn by Rashid players. Hey, I’m just being real.
To discover everything that’s changed, including a more in-depth look at Ed and Cammy, check out the Street Fighter 6 December 2 full update notes here.
The post Ed, Cammy, and Others Gut Punched With Latest ‘Street Fighter 6’ Update appeared first on VICE.
The post Ed, Cammy, and Others Gut Punched With Latest ‘Street Fighter 6’ Update appeared first on VICE.
