Critical Art

Hoyokusen

Startup	5
Active	2
Recovery	35
Guard Level	HL
On Hit	D
On Guard	-20
VSX Hit	—
VSX Guard	—
Cancel	—
Damage	340
Stun	0
Meter Gain	-900

Hoyokusen: A versatile Critical Art designed for blowing through projectiles from long range as well as adding a significant amount of damage to combos. Hoyokusen is completely invincible for the first six frames, enough to easily plow through projectiles. Like in SFIII Third Strike, its command is (instead of having to charge, as in SFII and SFIV), so it’s executable on demand in most situations. Its travel range before its first active hitbox is just within half-screen distance, so you won’t be able to punish a fireball from any farther than that.

In combos, you’ll usually want to cancel it from a preceding Hyakuretsukyaku (see the Combos section for usage) or off of crouching or as high-damage whiff-punishes.

Since you can chip K.O. with Critical Arts, Hoyokusen is one of the best moves to chip out an opponent. It deals roughly 80 points of damage against blocking adversaries with over 50 percent stamina and about 60 points when they’re under 50 percent (thus comparable to a successful heavy attack hit).