SFV Character Guide #1 – Ken | しょげイベ情報局

Original post: 【キャラ基礎攻略第1回】ケン – しょげイベ情報局っ！

Hello and welcome to the SFV character guide series, (originally written by Shogepi) I will be discussing the basics for the character Ken. While you may not ever consider maining these characters, knowing how they work can give you the edge you need to fight them! Knowlege is power!

Ken’s strengths

Ken’s strength in this game is that he can do attack loops and his pressure in the corner is really strong.

Most of his combos allow for okizeme, and has good corner carry. However, the okizeme is difficult to pull off, due to timing.
In this guide I’ll give you some combos and the oki setups that come after them, as well as some attack patterns in the corner.

Combos and Okizeme

(1) cr.MP -> b.MP -> HP (Target Combo) -> Heavy Tatsumaki
　　- Target combo bnb
– You have to be close or the second hit will not connect.
– If you think your range is far you can start the combo with b.MP
– After the heavy tatsumaki (All hits) you can dash and do combo (1) or (3), or throw.
(2) cr.MK -> Light Tatsumaki (1 hit)
– Hit confirm combo
– After landing the light tatsu you can end the combo with EX Shoryuken
– After light tatsu (1 hit) you can dash twice and do combo (1), (3) or throw
(3) st.LP -> cr.LP -> st.LK -> Medium Tatsumaki (2 hits)
– If M.Tatsu hits 3 times you can connect with EX Shoryuken (DP).
– If you use light tatsu and it hits 1 time you can follow up with 2 dashes into oki
(4) f.HK(hold) -> (see if opponent is crouching or during counter hit)Light tatsu -> H.DP
– Overhead attack
– This is part of Ken’s high low throw mixup
– Ken can feint the f.HK then go for throw, or a low (combo (5))
– After Heavy DP Ken can b.V-skill to combo (5) or throw
(5) cr.LK -> st.LK -> Heavy DP
– the low mixup mentioned in combo (4)
– After Heavy DP Ken can b.V-skill to combo (5) or throw
(6) st.MP -> Heavy Tatsumaki
– This is tricky as you should be buffering the H.Tatsu.
– Because st.MP’s reach is long, it makes a great poke tool.
– The H.Tatsu gives great damage and oki, so aim for that in neutral
(7) (VT1 activated) st.HP -> L.Tatsu -> M.DP
– A powerful combo in V-Trigger
– You could end the combo with H.DP but if you use M.DP and immediately do a L.Tatsu and the opponent does a quickrise, you can do a left-right mixup. Watch how your opponent gets up and use combo (1) and get okizeme.

The timing for throws will change if they do quick rise or back quick rise so its a bit tricky and requires practice.
By the way, while you can do any combo in the midscreen and do cr.MP on wakeup, if the opponent has a 3F normal, that will beat you. If your opponent does not realise this, abuse it as much as possible.

Corner Pressure

The corner is where Ken shines. His pressure is terrifying as Ken can essentially combo loop the opponent to death as long as they are stuck in the corner.

(8) (Corner Only) cr.MP -> b.MP -> HP(TC) -> V-Skill(hold) -> H.DP
– Allows you to build valuable V-guage. Use proactively when in the corner.
(9) (Corner Only, VT1 active) cr.MP -> b.MP -> HP(TC) -> V-Skill(hold) -> L.DP -> H.DP
– VT1 allows you to connect Light Shoryuken
– After the combo you can do a light tatsu straight after causing a left-right mixup on opponent’s quickrise, and do a cr.MP on wakeup to start a combo again.
– Again this loses to 3Fs
If you get a throw in the corner, you can do a small walkup to throw again or start pressure (with combo (8)). This is really powerful in the corner so try aim for this.

Closing remarks

There are other components to playing Ken such as playing footsies and V-Trigger activation methods, but for now the best thing you can do is learn the above combos and setups. The technique you will need is fast inputs or else your atacks will not come out meaty. You will most likely not get the timing, so practice that first.

Though if you find it way too difficult, you can always just do this: