Street Fighter 6 - How To Play RYU (Guide, Combos, & Tips)

 

What's going on, my dudes? One Step here with the ultimate beginner's guide to Ryu in Street Fighter 6. I'll be going over some tips and tricks on how to use him, a couple of best strategies for you, and, of course, some fun and easy combos to get you started. [Music]

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As we begin this guide, keep in mind that I'm using modern controls, but you can utilize anything showcased here using classic controls. Ryu is, of course, the staple face of Street Fighter and has been for decades now. He is more of an in-your-face kind of fighter, always wanting to get in there and get dirty because he's so offensive.

The biggest offensive tips I have for you is how to get in there and how to be safe about it. So, I'll tell you one thing right now, a couple of ways to get in are your jump-ins. But your jumping medium kicks can be a great option because they have good reach, they're a great cross-up, and they go into your down medium kick as well. The down medium kick is a low attack, whereas the jumping ones are overhead. So you can go overhead, low, and the low medium kick goes into any special moves or super.

Since you might be jumping in with your medium kick quite often, a big tip for you is to create good spacing. A great setup for a jump-in is Ryu's heavy punch, heavy kick combo. You see where Ryu landed, that's the perfect spacing to jump in. If you jump in and then go into the heavy combo, you can create that mix-up over and over again, keeping your opponent on their toes and not knowing what's coming next.

Now, Ryu's got a really unique attack called "Denjin," where it's down, down, any attack, and you get this powered-up state. You can see how we're electrified here. What this does is it actually enhances your Hadouken, doing more damage and more hits. It also enhances your Shoryuken, which is this move right here. As you can see, it sends our opponent flying, allowing us for a follow-up. Normally, the move doesn't do that, but when we're powered up, it does, allowing you to even get a super off.

The reason I bring that up is because it powers you up, so you want to use it as much as possible. You want to be in Denjin state as much as you can. So what I'd recommend doing is if you knock your opponent back and you don't want to jump in for a follow-up, whatever you want to do, as soon as your opponent goes down, even with a hard knockdown, go into Denjin, get powered up real quick, because it does take a little bit of startup time, so you're kind of open for a counter-attack. But you don't really want to throw it out there because you're going to get countered. But if you push your opponent away from you, use Denjin, then go for something, you just might as well have it on you as much as possible, as often as possible.

Speaking of Hadoken, that is Ryu's staple move. We all know what it is. Even if you're not familiar with Street Fighter, you know what this move is. Now, Ryu is an in-your-face kind of fighter, but the Hadoken is a great projectile. It goes full screen, has decent speed, and it keeps your opponent in check. You kind of control the field. I'm not saying spam, I'm not saying that Ryu is a zoner, but what I am saying is you want to condition your opponent to get used to this. Make them jump over it, and then when they do jump over it, go for your uppercut or Shoryuken and enhance it.

Speaking of conditioning, Ryu has a good overhead, his forward medium punch. It's an overhead, so you see here our opponent, they're blocking low, so we're not getting any low or normal hits in there, but our forward medium punch does. That's great for breaking our opponent's guard. If you see them blocking low a lot, or even as a standard, you can get a hit and throw your forward medium punch in there, break their guard, make them think you're going to do it over and over again. Make them block high, and then go for the low.

Forward medium punch is a good option to break their guard. Now, one thing to note on the forward medium punch is that although you can't link it on a normal hit, you can link it on a counter hit. If you see that, you know the forward medium punch is a counter hit, and it does link into your light punch, allowing you to link into a special as well from there. It's a little bit more advanced, but if you're quick enough and you see the counter hit, go for the combo like so or even like this or even go for the super.

Now, the best strategies that I'm going to give you when playing Ryu, especially as a beginner, is to learn to control the field with Hadoken. Let them condition your opponent to kind of guess what you're going to do, then rush in or when they jump in again, go for the uppercut. Another great option is jump in with medium kick low, and then go for something else if you have the reach. For what you can, medium kick is a great jumping option, especially for a cross-up. But another great jumping option is your heavy punch. It's got some good knockback, meaning the recovery allows you to do whatever you want.

Your heavy move, Hatsu Gecki, this one right here, as you can see, two things. It's pretty slow on startup, but we also get a follow-up if needed via how long our opponents are in the air afterward. So we can actually use it and then go for a kick or enhance the kick for a combo as well.

Now, some fun and easy combos to get you started with Ryu today. As we all know, a Dragon Punch in the corner is a great option, and medium punch following that into a special is a great option for Ryu. If you get some good damage off, or you can go for the simple heavy punch, heavy kick afterward. Even if you don't go for the Dragon Punch, a down medium kick is a great option to enhance Tatsu into an uppercut.

If you're mid-range, the Donkey Kick you got here, this move is great because you get a wall bounce, and then you can just go for a combo afterward. So if you can go through the low medium kick, going into the Donkey Kick, make it a combo, and then just continue it or do a super afterwards.

If you really want to mix it up, go for the jump-in first. I hope this has helped you on your journey to learn Ryu in Street Fighter 6. If it did, make sure to give it a thumbs up. Let me know down below what your thoughts are on Ryu. Take it one step at a time, and I will see you in the next one.