Brawler Arsenal

Grounded Attacks

Neutral Attacks

Neutral Attacks

Ryu quickly jabs the opponent with his non-dominant fist. This swift punch attack, recognizable from the Street Fighter series as a Shoto standing light punch, is a relatively standard neutral attack with the ability to transition into an auto-combo (target combo) on repeated attack inputs. Although it’s his fastest-starting attack, its use in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate differs from its use in the Street Fighter games. Jabs in SF are used as safe and quick hit-confirmable strikes. In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, jabs are normally used as punisher attacks after successfully shielding attacks, rather than as a deliberate form of offense.

Ryu (and Ken) players must take into consideration a limitation in buffering their reprisal attacks. Due to their long-press hold attack commands, buffering a light attack reprisal is much more difficult for the Street Fighter fighters since holding down Attack ultimately results in a slower medium attack.

Neutral Attack Combo (Target Combo)

Ryu’s Street Fighter target combo is a three-hit combo, beginning with a jab and continuing into a right-handed body blow, finally finishing with a heavy left hook that knocks the enemy off their feet. Up close, this “auto-combo” requires four Attack inputs. Ryu begins the combo with two jabs before proceeding into a body blow.

From beyond point-blank range, Ryu only sticks out one jab before going into the body blow and hook finisher. The body-blow attack is cancelable with any special move. For instance, a command sequence such as neutral attack, neutral attack, immediately canceled into + Attack results in a three-hit Street Fighter combo. Note that special cancels don’t have to be performed with command inputs (you can use neutral special instead of + Attack, but for less damage).

Neutral Attack Hold

Ryu delivers a wheel kick roundhouse to the opponent’s face. This is Ryu’s standing hard kick (also known as standing roundhouse) from the Street Fighter II series. It’s a no-nonsense heavy attack that can be used as an angled anti-air or a ground-checking horizontal attack against aggressors. Its lackluster start-up speed can make it difficult to use accurately in fast-paced matches against agile opponents.

Dash Attack

While dashing, Ryu almost instantaneously transitions into a flying kick, driving his foot through the enemy and launching them up and away into the air. The initial hit effect as Ryu extends the attack deals higher damage with a high knock-away effect, while the lingering hit effect deals less damage but launches the enemy directly above, allowing for a potential follow-up combo. If you can space this attack, it makes for a remarkably strong whiff-punish attack from midrange. For instance, if you can bait out a whiffed smash attack, you can dash in with a fast dash attack (non-critical hit), then juggle with a follow-up up air attack canceled into heavy Shoryuken (use the Special command input for even more damage and knockout power).

Defensive Attacks

Tilts

Up Tilt Tap

Ryu swiftly delivers an elbow strike, sending foes airborne. Also known in the Street Fighter series as a close standing jab, this quick close-range attack sets up enemies for combos in most situations, as it causes a slight pop-up effect on hit. At low-damage values, foes are knocked up in place and can be juggled with repeated up tilt taps. Alternatively, you can hit-confirm close standing jab with up special (or a manual input + Attack) Shoryuken.

While neutral attack jabs are quicker, up tilt tap attacks are generally better overall for both harassing and hit-confirming, because of the superior knock-up effect.

Up Tilt Hold / Close Neutral Hold

Ryu’s close standing hard punch attack from the Street Fighter series is a powerful left-handed uppercut that launches his foe into the air, allowing for potential follow-ups. Up tilt hold attack features upper-body intangibility that begins almost immediately upon start-up and lasts until its first few active frames that almost guarantee that you’ll beat out descending aerial attacks.

This up tilt hold attack is typically safer to throw out as an anti-air than Shoryuken (especially against opponents prone to air-dodging).

Upon contact (hit or shielded), you can cancel this hard punch with a special move. On hit, cancel into Shoryuken for a two-hit combo. If the enemy shields your attack, cancel into away+Special (away Tatsumaki Senpukyaku) to retreat to safety. Alternatively, you can cancel into Focus Attack to set up a tricky counterparry setup to punish antsy opponents.

In many scenarios, it may be best to go for up tilt tap as a safer anti-air and hit-confirm attack, unless you can make a hard read on an incoming air attack.

Side Tilt Tap

Ryu delivers a quick, high-priority leg thrust to the enemy’s midsection. This swift mid kick sports intangibility around the extending leg attack. While it’s effective for its niche use of beating out incoming enemy hits, you generally don’t use it too often—the risk-reward ratio may not be worth it, since it requires committing to an uncancelable and uncomboable ground attack.

Close Side Tilt Tap

At point-blank range, Ryu thrusts his right elbow into the opponent. When next to an opponent, inputting a side tilt tap attack results in a special-cancelable thrusting-elbow strike. While you can pull off two-hit special combos starting with this strong elbow strike, it isn’t particularly practical in a fast-paced match against sharp, attentive opponents.

Side Tilt Hold

Ryu’s side tilt hold attack is his signature “overhead” Collarbone Breaker. While Street Fighter-style low and high blocking doesn’t exist in this game, Collarbone Breaker functions similarly. In SF, it’s used to deal damage against low-guarding opponents. In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Collarbone Breaker deals massive damage against shielding enemies, potentially causing an instant shield-break stun! If you can condition enemies into putting up their shields frequently with a barrage of quick attacks, you can mix them up with a well-placed side tilt hold attack to dizzy them, leading into a full-blown Focus Attack into Shoryuken combo.

Down Tilt Tap

Ryu prods the enemy’s foot with his own in this quick foot attack. This attack’s strength lies in its chaining properties rather than its utility in breaking an opponent’s low/high defense. Although low and high shielding aren’t generally relevant in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Ryu’s “crouching short” is situationally more effective than his neutral tap jab in cases where you want to hit-confirm into a special attack. You can go for two down tilt taps followed by a down tilt hold, and on hit, confirm-cancel the three-hit chain into Hadoken. For Street Fighter players, this sequence is crouching light kick, crouching light kick, crouching medium kick, cancel into + Attack.

Down Tilt Hold

Ryu attacks the opponent’s feet with a ranged leg thrust. Street Fighter players may recognize this as “low forward” or “crouching medium kick.” Its hit properties are much different in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. On hit, it pops enemies up into the air, providing simple two-hit special-cancel combos, such as the renowned crouching medium kick into + Attack Hadoken cancel sequence. Generally this isn’t an effective move to throw out as a staple attack unless you can condition your opponent into fighting a ground game.

Smashes

Side Smash

Ryu lunges forward with a high-impact side kick thrust, devastating the enemy and blasting them away. Joudan Sokutou Geri originates from the Street Fighter III series as a new special move unique to Ryu. In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, it’s represented as his side smash attack, making it much different from its original combo-oriented usage. Like most smash attacks, Joudan Sokutou Geri is a high-risk, high-reward attack. Whiffing this attack against attentive opponents can easily cost you, as it leaves you vulnerable to whiff-punishing attacks.

Up Smash

Ryu crouches low and launches a mighty uppercut, devastating enemies above. Ryu’s up smash is his familiar anti-air, renowned for being an “alternative Shoryuken.”

While it functions as a serviceable ground-to-air anti-air, there’s not much reason to use up smash over up tilt hold attack (close standing fierce). Both have some form of upper-body intangibility. But up tilt hold starts up slightly earlier and features full upper-body intangibility (Ryu’s whole upper half is essentially invulnerable), while up smash is only intangible around Ryu’s extended arm.

Down Smash

Ryu delivers a heavy crouching sweep attack in the area in front of him. Ryu’s crouching hard kick extends slightly beyond his crouching medium kick, but is much less safe on whiff and block. It isn’t special-cancelable (none of Ryu’s smash attacks are), nor does it have a rear hitbox as many down smashes do. Since its effective hitbox isn’t particularly useful in an aerial-based game like Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, refrain from using Ryu’s sweep unless you can find a glaring opening.

Grabs

Grabs

Ryu grabs a nearby foe and puts them into a mixed martial arts guard position where he can follow up with one of four throw options. Ryu’s leg-thrust back throw deals the most direct damage out of his grab. You can earn more total damage with down throw. Down throw followed by holding up tilt (close hard punch) canceled into Shoryuken deals a massive amount of damage against 0% opponents. At around 30%+ damage, you can instead follow up with a jumping attack (neutral or forward air attack) combo.

Up throw deals low damage, but allows for potential air-juggling opportunities, forcing the enemy into air-dodging or eating one of your aerial attacks or anti-airs.

Since buffering light attacks can be challenging for Ryu and Ken because of their additional medium hold attacks, it can be difficult to punish certain moves after shielding. Your natural inclination might be to hold Attack in order to respond with a buffered light attack. This results in slower medium attacks. To get around this, you can punish with buffered grabs instead.

Aerial Attacks

Aerials

Neutral Air Attack

Ryu extends a short-range knee while descending on his foe from the air.

Neutral air attack is recognizable as Ryu’s jumping light kick (or “jumping short”) from the Street Fighter II series. This jumping attack is known for its persistent hitbox, remaining extended for an extraordinarily lengthy duration (in some SF games, it remains extended for the entirety of Ryu’s jump!).

In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Ryu’s neutral air is one of his best attacks and should be a staple in your arsenal. It features a quick start-up and decent damage (if you can connect with it during its start-up), and it’s special-cancelable!

Combining neutral air with aggressive jumping Focus Attack, you can dominate air-to-air and air-to-ground duels. An effective attack pattern is to harass a defending enemy with repeated neutral air attacks, and then on successful hits, either go for up tilt tap (close light punch) into Shoryuken, or down air meteor smashes (if your target is just above a ledge). Your priority is to get your opponent into a disadvantageous aerial position, then follow up accordingly.

A powerful attack sequence is jump into immediate neutral air, then at the apex of your hop, fast-fall with your knee attack extended. This gives you a long-lasting while-rising and while-descending hitbox (one that’s special-cancelable). Although neutral air attack offers little reach, it’s an extremely versatile tool.

Forward Air Attack

Ryu delivers his forward jumping hard kick. It boasts farther range than his neutral air attack, but doesn’t start up as quickly, nor does it stay out as long. It’s best used in combos or if you need the extra damage and range.

Back Air Attack

Ryu jumps into the air and performs a rear roundhouse kick, recognized in many of the Street Fighter series as a “jumping neutral roundhouse.” This is Ryu’s highest-damage aerial attack, but it’s a bit more mechanically demanding to use effectively since it’s a back air attack with few active frames.

Up Air Attack

While airborne, Ryu thrusts his fist into the air for a two-hit aerial uppercut, catching enemies above him. This jumping attack is identifiable as his “jumping strong” or “jumping medium punch” in the Street Fighter series. In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, it functions in the same way—an air-to-air anti-air that’s readily hit-confirmable thanks to its double-hitting property. Since much of your offense in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate revolves around juggling airborne descending foes, Ryu’s up air attack is an extremely effective move in your arsenal. On hit, you can simply cancel into up special (or command + Attack) for respectable damage.

Down Air Attack

From the air, Ryu descends on the opponent with a weighty fist spike. This fierce attack is known as a “jumping fierce” from the SF series. It’s primarily used to meteor smash enemies down pits and over ledges, but can also be used in combos, as it causes a great pop-up effect when connected against grounded foes. For instance, charged Focus Attack into jumping fast fall down air, linked into a juggling up tilt hold (close fierce), finally canceled into heavy Shoryuken is one of Ryu’s massive-damage bread-and-butter combos.

Down air attack can be naturally executed from a fast-falling position, giving you quick dive-bomb-type attacks against unsuspecting opponents beneath you.

Special Moves

The strengths of the following attacks depend on how long the Attack button is held upon execution. Hadoken, Tatsumaki Senpukyaku, and Shoryuken each have three levels: weak, medium, and strong. Performing these attacks with the special Street Fighter directional inputs rewards you with higher damage and other beneficial properties. Note that the input strength of Shakunetsu Hadoken only affects its travel speed.

Short hold: Activates quickly and leaves you less vulnerable.

Long hold: Powerful and has a long reach.

Variable Strength Street Fighter Specials

Neutral Special: Hadoken

Ryu conjures and throws a blue fireball from his palms across the battlefield. Executing Hadoken with the Street Fighter-style command motion ( + Attack) rewards you with a bigger fireball (and a bigger area of effect), along with higher damage. You should almost always attempt to use the command version since the motion doesn’t interfere with your movement.

The longer the Attack button is pressed when performing Hadoken, the faster and stronger the projectile becomes. The light version is generally the most desirable to throw out, since a slower on-screen projectile is more annoying to deal with for the opponent. It’s also an excellent edge-guarding tool, placing an obstacle in front of enemies as they struggle to get back from a pit and onto a ledge.

Side Special: Tatsumaki Senpukyaku

Ryu flies forward horizontally through the air with a flurry of spinning kicks. Tatsumaki Senpukyaku, or “hurricane kick,” is a multi-hit, multifunctional gap-closer attack. Tatsumaki Senpukyaku is an excellent mobility option for quickly traveling horizontally, particularly to escape foes or find your way back onto a ledge.

The longer the Attack button is held, the farther you travel and the more damage the kick deals. While the command-input version deals more damage, it can be unwieldy to execute, as it includes inputs, which may impede your natural fighter movement, so it’s recommended that you stick to using the side special command unless you’re confident in nailing the execution.

Up Special: Shoryuken

Ryu flies into the air with a rising uppercut, famously known as Shoryuken (or “Rising Dragon Fist”). Shoryuken can be performed with either up special or + Attack. Although both versions have some degree of intangibility, the command version rewards you with a much longer invulnerability window, allowing you to blow through opposing attacks more easily. It may be challenging to execute on demand, particularly in hit-confirm combos like up tilt tap, up tilt tap, confirm Shoryuken. For most purposes, up special Shoryuken suffices unless you really need to deal more damage or require extra intangibility frames.

Like many up special attacks, Shoryuken leaves you highly vulnerable and unable to attack until your feet touch ground. Although you still have a certain level of air-trajectory control, you can’t air-dodge, double-jump, or attack once you commit to performing a Shoryuken. This is especially important while edge-guarding, as you might have an inclination to nail a foe with Shoryuken near a ledge—if you misjudge your spacing, you can potentially fall to your death!

Other Special Street Fighter Moves

Down Special: Focus Attack

Ryu transitions into a meditative squatting stance, mustering his strength while preparing to absorb and counter incoming attacks. Ryu’s Focus Attack originates from the Street Fighter IV series. It’s a chargeable down special attack with several unique and powerful properties. While charging, Ryu can absorb one hit, essentially ignoring and blowing through enemy attacks.

There are three distinct Focus Attack power levels. The first level (releasing the attack anytime before Ryu flashes white) deals high damage and knocks away foes hit by the body blow. Charging just past the flash point (about one second of charging) powers up the attack to cause a crumple-stun on enemies you hit, leaving them vulnerable to follow-up attacks. The third and final power level not only inflicts crumple-stun, but also breaks through enemy shields. Charging to maximum requires about two full seconds.

While charging, Focus Attack can be dash-canceled by tapping forward, forward () or back, back () quickly on the control stick. This technique gives you an added level of mobility, allowing you to dash away to safety while threatening an unshieldable attack. It also gives you an “air dash,” since you can Focus Attack in the air. If you execute it fast enough, you can squeeze out an extra burst of horizontal movement while airborne.

As many of Ryu’s normal attacks are special-cancelable, Focus Attack makes for an incredible special-cancel tool, adding an extra offensive dimension to your tool kit. Against a shielding foe, you can cancel your jumping and grounded normal attacks with Focus Attack to bait the opponent into counterattacking, then release the Focus Attack when their hit is absorbed.

An effective tactic with both Ken and Ryu is aerial Focus Attack baiting. Much of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is fought through aerial skirmishes, jockeying for position with intelligent short hops and short hop attacks. Since Ryu and Ken can Focus Attack while airborne (something they couldn’t do in Street Fighter IV!), you can take advantage of your jump’s momentum in conjunction with the absorption effect of the Focus Attack, essentially injecting a parry into your aerial aggression. It’s also relatively safe, thanks to being able to dash-cancel out of its charge animation.

Final Smash: Shin Shoryuken / Shinku Hadoken

Ryu unleashes a Shinku Hadoken that penetrates through and across the stage, allowing it to strike multiple foes and deal serious damage. If Ryu is close to an enemy, he uses a Shin Shoryuken uppercut attack instead.