Strategy

Long Range

From far away, Zangief doesn’t have anything that directly affects the enemy, so there’s not much to do here. If your opponent is being extremely passive, you can whiff full-screen Screw Pile Driver (or Double Lariat, if they’re throwing the occasional projectile your way) to gain a little EX Gauge. Otherwise, you’ll want Zangief to walk forward, steadily moving inside. Even if your foe responds by moving or jumping backward, maintaining the space between you, they’ll eventually be backed into a corner and unable to backpedal anymore. Don’t feel discouraged if the enemy runs away continuously, since any progress toward a corner can potentially lead to victory. If you achieve close range before pushing them into the corner, it can almost be considered a bonus.

Some characters want to be in close as much as Zangief does, so the problem of closing in will solve itself. Fighters like R. Mika, Karin, Laura, and Cammy might not be as gung-ho as usual about getting into point-blank range while fighting Zangief, but they still have to get close enough for their own attacks to hit to be in danger from him.

F.A.N.G. and Dhalsim may attempt to zone Zangief out entirely, staying at full screen whenever possible and peppering the sky with parabolic projectiles. Dhalsim can get an arcing Yoga Fire going, then protect the space under it with long pokes like standing , , , and . F.A.N.G. can fire off double-hitting Nishikyu projectiles back-to-back while Ryobenda land mines lay before him. Dhalsim’s limbs have huge hurtboxes of their own, so it’s possible to counter-poke him at full screen with crouching , standing , or Double Lariat (the latter two giving Zangief a chance to move forward during Dhalsim’s knockdown). If Dhalsim is hesitant to do predictable things like poke immediately after shooting Yoga Fire, then that means you have a few moments to walk forward freely. His most assertive lateral control is with EX Yoga Fire, which is a slow-moving, two-hit traditional fireball that you can’t destroy with Head Butt. Use Double Lariat to let it pass while also potentially counter-hitting Dhalsim’s poke or teleport cross-up attempt, or simply block. Jumping over Dhalsim’s fireballs in the neutral game will usually lead to getting anti-aired; when you do jump in at Dhalsim, use jumping on the way down to put an attack out in front of Zangief at the max distance possible.

Likewise, F.A.N.G.’s arching Nishikyu can be very annoying, and F.A.N.G. can cancel the end of his Nishikyu animation into his Nikankyaku movement special, transitioning instantly to offense from any distance. But if you Double Lariat in response to his Nishikyu fireballs, his offensive Nikankyaku will just run into the Lariat. He’s more likely to keep zoning from afar, so walk him back to the corner, and then be watchful for his attempts to escape when you’re not looking via HK Nikankyaku through Zangief’s body. A F.A.N.G. who is peppering you with poison bounce balls is sitting on charge, so they’re not moving forward to punish Double Lariat optimally. Therefore, you can use Double Lariat to pass through Nishikyu safely, while gaining a little ground by holding . If F.A.N.G. is willing to give up charge to move forward and potentially punish Double Lariat recovery, you might just be better off blocking Nishikyu when he aims it well. Don’t carelessly eat random Nishikyu hits or get anxious and jump into them in mid-air. They do paltry damage individually, but the poison effect they inflict adds up, which is F.A.N.G.’s whole strategy. You might never have taken a “real” hit from the poison monk (just chased him around and ate an occasional bounce ball), but you then realize that you’re almost K.O.ed. Don’t give up anything for free: the safest play is often to slowly but surely walk forward, ready to snap to blocking when needed.

More traditional projectile characters like Ryu, Ken, and Nash will throw slow-moving versions of their projectiles to control space between you, then watch for Zangief to jump poorly over a projectile, giving them a chance for anti-air damage. You can

simply Head Butt their projectiles to stand ground when they don’t have EX Gauge ready (but don’t do that when Ryu, Laura, or Chun-Li is ready to follow up your Head Butt clash on reaction with their Critical Art into your recovery). You can also use Iron Muscle to absorb projectiles and thwart certain tactics without ceding ground; with Iron Muscle, Zangief can actually absorb both hits of a tactic like Dhalsim poking with standing just as one of his Yoga Fire shots falls on Zangief’s head.

There isn’t a guaranteed easy way forward, and opponents won’t be eager to simply let Zangief waltz forward, either. Siberian Express is fast, but it’s not fast from a half screen away or farther, and using it this way opens you up to big punishment while evincing tactical desperation. Playing successful Zangief involves accepting that the ranged game will often be an uphill battle of slowly but confidently walking foes backward until Zangief achieves close range or arrives at the corner, whichever comes first.

Opponents may jump in from far distances to poke Zangief with well-spaced jump-ins; if you’re ready for this, you can anti-air with standing , which leads to an EX Borscht Dynamite juggle chance on counter-hit. This move isn’t suitable as an anti-air closer in, but it works against long-range jumps because the big boot’s hitbox extends around Zangief’s foot’s hurtbox a little bit on all sides.

Mid Range

Within half-screen distance of the opponent, Zangief’s options begin to present themselves. Here, a good read against a traditional zoner’s fireball toss can lead to a jump-in combo for you (see Combo 4). This is also where you begin to flirt with the edge of LP Screw Pile Driver’s range. LP Screw Pile Driver is the backbone of Zangief’s offense. The mere threat of it forces opponents to approach Zangief differently than any other character. He can threaten with an untechable grab from a range where some characters can’t even reach with a sweep.

From beyond the edge of LP SPD range, Zangief can hop forward repeatedly with Knee Hammer at almost no risk, ready to bust out the command grab when in range. The central, throwable portion of a character’s hurtbox (which also represents their “push” collision box for when walking/jumping against other characters) extends forward a little bit during most pokes, meaning that you can catch some errant attacks from even farther than normal when playing at this range. Depending on your opponent’s habits, Siberian Express begins to have usefulness from this range (within jump-in/poke territory). EX Siberian Express even starts to work as an anti-fireball move on reaction to your foe’s single-hit projectile startup when you’ve scouted out their habits. One great thing about snagging adversaries with Siberian Express is that it keeps Zangief relatively close after the knockdown. But knowing you’ll use it can encourage challengers to use neutral jumps at mid range, safely stalling the match (unless you’re a real wizard with air Borscht Dynamite on short notice) and potentially falling on your overly ambitious Siberian Express attempts with a full combo.

For less risk attacking laterally, use standing , a far-reaching heavy punch that leaves Zangief at -4 when guarded but still relatively safe when connected from max range. Standing also has a charge version, which has a long period of single-hit armor during startup and hits much harder. Charged standing is also safe on block, leaving Zangief at +2 so he retains momentum afterward, perhaps even for an LP SPD grab. If either version of standing strikes as a counter-hit, it’s a V-Gauge-generating Crush Counter, and you can proceed into a combo afterward (see Combo 6). With its period of upper-body armor (from the top of Zangief’s head to the bottom of his chest hair, so he’s still vulnerable to lower-striking attacks) and awkward startup time, charged may be used to absorb and punish the enemy’s jump-ins and high-hitting pokes from mid range; it can also hit opponents neutral jumping at mid range on the way down. As a change-up, you should sometimes use the uncharged, quicker version, which can preemptively tag foes who are eager to act early, thinking they’ll interrupt the charged version. If you hold for a bit but not long enough to trigger the full-on charged version, you’ll get a variable period of armor and a slight delay but still ultimately produce the normal version on release. There is at least some leeway to play with the timing to coax adversaries into reacting poorly, eating counter-hits against standing either early or late. Both uncharged and charged versions of standing fierce are excellent mid-range pokes, but with their lengthy overall execution time, they’re both in danger (when whiffed) of getting Zangief jumped on for full combos. Standing fierce’s recovery, along with Double Lariat’s overall lowered usefulness as a counter-everything special compared to previous games, may embolden challengers to jump in and attack Zangief in his own comfort zone. Therefore, while poking with standing , you’ll also want to be ready to sometimes pretend to punch, perhaps coaxing out a punishable forward jump.

If the opponent jumps in from mid range when you’re really looking for it, you can anti-air it early with “tiger knee” Borscht Dynamite, jumping into an immediate LP version of the air special grab. Being ready to anti-air early this way is similar to watching for chances to anti-air a jump very early with LP Shoryuken in Street Fighter IV. It’s also a bit like the anti-air tactic of preemptively jumping into an aggressor with an early air throw (from Nash, Chun-Li, or Vega). If you’re not ready to anti-air Borscht Dynamite, use crouching if you have enough time to get it out. This is solid but a little slow for an anti-air move, striking in nine frames but remaining active for a long time. As a bonus, it creates a close-range air recovery situation immediately afterward. If Borscht Dynamite and crouching aren’t fast enough for their jump-ins, rely on standing for an anti-air. Standing jab is a “sure thing” fail-safe anti-air, as its first two active frames have terrific anti-air properties, with hitboxes that hit high above and in front of Zangief’s hurtbox. Standing doesn’t actually strike at grounded targets until its third active frame.

You can also use Double Lariat as an effective anti-frontal jump-in anti-air, but only for a very specific window. Only the first three active frames are upper body invincible and thus good for snuffing out incoming air attacks, and only on one side. Against jumps that start from the border of close and mid range and potentially lead to cross-ups against Zangief, Double Lariat will not function as an anti-air consistently, unlike in past Street Fighter games. Instead, you’ll have to catch foes on the way up with standing , or simply block the cross-up.

At standing poke/mid-range anti-air distance, you can also mix in standing , a decent poke with about the same reach. It doesn’t lead to the same combo opportunities, but it also isn’t as laggy and vulnerable to jump-ins. If your opponent whiffs their own laggy pokes into this space while you’re fishing with standing and standing , or if you feel they’ll try to move around quickly by dashing, you can floor them with Zangief’s crouching sweep. This is a great quick ticket into close range because Zangief can just walk forward while they’re rising from the sweep knockdown. If your sweep happens to counter-hit, they won’t be able to quick-recover, either, giving you a rare chance to set up a deep cross-up Flying Body Press.

Rashid presents unique problems starting at mid range, with his upward-arcing projectiles and his extreme mobility. A good read on a mid-range fireball throw against Ken, Nash, Chun-Li, or Ryu can result in a jump-in combo for you (and the mere threat of a sudden forward dash or Siberian Express from you makes F.A.N.G. and Dhalsim projectiles less powerful). But here, you’ll just land on Rashid’s rising Whirlwind Shot. And with Rashid’s ability to cancel HK and EX Whirlwind Shot into his Front Flip or Rolling Assault V-Skill movement, it’s impossible for Zangief to cover everything Rashid can do when either zoning him out or setting up his own Eagle Spike rushdown. Bad guesses to punish one thing or another will also have serious consequences upon failure, likely leading to Rashid getting a Spinning Mixer hit and just resetting his anti-grappler, mid-range Whirlwind Shot pressure. You’ll have to rely on solid reads, and make any openings that you do get count.

Close Range

Zangief may earn close-range distance after walking the enemy back into the corner, performing a counter-hit sweep, landing Siberian Express, or having a frontal jump-in or cross-up guarded. This will also apply if the opponent goes for their own unsafe offensive opening and he guards it, earning positive frame advantage.

Your options are based around the five-frame Screw Pile Driver, especially the far-reaching LP version from virtually anywhere in close and the high-damage HP version when Zangief is flush with the enemy. You may earn this position after jump-in or Flying Body Press, cross-up or not. If you only ever go for HP SPD in close-range situations, your opponents will just start holding an upward direction whenever Zangief gets in close, knowing they’ll escape (and maybe get a punish combo off a neutral jump) as he swings for the fences every time. You’ll have to base your up-close offense mostly around Zangief’s crouching and , keeping your adversary honest about staying on the ground. Once they know they have to go from guarding your jump-in high to blocking on the ground at least briefly, you can go back to periodically using a jump-in tick to a point-blank throw, or even an empty jump into throw. When you are up close and ticking your foe, depending on how close Zangief is, you can feed them crouching two or three times, checking their low guard repeatedly and keeping them uncertain about when you might stop poking and go for LP Screw Pile Driver.

Starting your tick attempt with crouching leaves Zangief with a bit more advantage when guarded (+3 vs. +1 for crouching ), meaning smaller gaps for the opponent to mash counter-pokes/reversals through. It also has more vertical and horizontal reach than crouching . Ticking with crouching to crouching has only a one-frame gap on block and has the low hit second, so it’ll cause hitstun (+4 after crouching ) on foes trying to walk/backdash away or jump late. A tick string of crouching to crouching has a three-frame gap on block before the crouching jab but is better at catching enemies who try to jump early. One useful change-up gimmick is to sparingly cancel crouching pokes up close into EX Siberian Express. If your challenger ate the crouching for whatever reason, the brief hitstun will signal to fighting game veteran lizard brain that they need to block and block low, which only helps the quick grab to work. And, the armor of the EX version will protect Zangief if they tried to counter-poke into an anticipated gap in your ticks. Both crouching and crouching are active in four frames, so sadly, Zangief lacks a quick three-frame jab-into-special punish like several characters have.

Standing is also a good poke, moving Zangief forward a bit during startup, though it slightly advances his vulnerable hurtbox, too. It isn’t active until the fifth frame, making this move unsuitable for shooting through blockstring gaps. After a hit-check of crouching crouching , you can confirm a hit and end with standing for a low-damage three-hit combo. As a complementary attack, standing is best regarded as an insurance policy against jumps rather than an anti-ground poke. It doesn’t hit standing opponents until the seventh frame, excruciatingly slow for a jab attack. If you do poke grounded targets with standing , you’re at least left at +3 when guarded, ideal for more ticks or a command grab attempt. For a close-range change-up poke, crouching also works. It hits slowly at seven frames but has a solid low-profile hitbox and an advantage of +3 when guarded, which is as advantageous as blocked crouching/standing . Knee Hammer also works in close range for hopping over low counter-pokes and gaining a little ground.

It’s natural for many experienced players to learn to kind of “chicken” guard against your close-range tactics, going from standing guard against Zangief’s jump-in, to brief crouching guard to block a potential follow-up low attack, and then to to either continue guarding a blockstring standing or jump away if there’s a gap or throw attempt. There are two main ways to counter this: one easy with low payoff, and one hard with high payoff. The easy way is to sometimes just end your tick strings with standing , as in crouching crouching standing (not strictly links on block, but you get the idea). The sweeping air-to-ground chop of standing jab will snuff the early ascent of any jump away from close range, putting the foe into air recovery in front of Zangief and basically resetting the close-range situation. The hard way is to sometimes stop your ticking blockstrings by just doing nothing, while focusing like a hawk for a jump. If you see your enemy leave the ground, nail them with a “tiger knee” LP/EX Borscht Dynamite input of (pause)/. As a less risky version of the “poke and wait and see” strategy, just stop your blockstring sometimes and be ready to anti-air their neutral jump. Any variation to your tick tactics that causes your opponent to hesitate on the ground at all (rather than just jumping up/away all the time) creates extra opportunities for you to be successful when you actually do go for close-range SPD.

Rather than jumping away, defensive players (especially veterans of Street Fighter IV) may try relying on backdashes to escape from tick-grab setups. This is made easier by the nine-frame input buffer for dash inputs, which helps players transition directly from blocking or being floored to dashing without a gap. Someone may correctly read that you feel like doing two ticks into LP SPD, so they crouch-guard against your crouching x2 opener, then mash on while in guardstun. Your low shots recover, you whiff an SPD that they backdash directly through, and they gain position and tempo advantage. When you recognize that your opponent is using backdash to dodge your grounded grabs, start poking with standing . This big boot kick will Crush Counter dashing adversaries and will also cleanly counter-hit enemies who poke back late with weaker attacks that overlap with standing . This causes a flipping knockdown you can juggle off of, most notably with an immediate jumping EX Borscht Dynamite. It’s a terrific use of EX Gauge and an enormous deterrent against the enemy feeling confident about ground movement. It will also even catch certain jumping actions, depending on timing. The only disadvantage is that it’ll whiff over the heads of crouching characters, but this is simply a matter of making a decision. If you thought they’d be crouching, then it was time to do SPD instead; standing is for when you feel like they’ll backdash or jump.

Of course, an invincible reversal can cut through all your tick tricks up close, if your opponent is willing to commit. Depending on how skittish they think you might get if you eat a few reversal specials trying to get your offense going, it can absolutely be worth getting “risky” coming back at Zangief. This is another instance of you having to go with your gut. If you think they’ll just sit there, whether out of indecision or waiting to react to a blocked move, then it’s time to go for a throw. If you think they’ll try to preemptively jump away, use standing to end blockstrings. If you think they’ll try to backdash, banking on your throw attempt, then stick out standing . If you expect a big reversal, though, just do nothing and block. If something like Ryu’s MP Shoryuken or Karin’s EX Ressenha does indeed materialize, punish its recovery hard (HP SPD or HK Siberian Express, or see Combo 6).

When Zangief is in close because you’ve successfully cornered the enemy, you can actually back off a bit and just leverage his good normals to keep them boxed into the corner. If they have an option like F.A.N.G.’s Nikankyaku slip-through move or Dhalsim’s Yoga Teleport, you’ll want to retreat slightly just so you’re ready to step back and punish on reaction to their attempt at a “get out of jail free” move. If you over-commit to pressuring a cornered opponent by mad-dogging them immediately, you’ll actually make it a bit easier for them to escape. Box them back with the tips of crouching , crouching , and standing , and anti-air their pressured attempts to jump out with standing and crouching . If they attempt to use some special shenanigans to get out, Zangief can walk back and punish the end of it with SPD. When they’re hesitant enough to crouch-block in the corner, hoping you’ll over-commit to offense, then you can go right in for a tick-throw, Head Butt, and charged pressure. Err toward using normal throws over SPD or Siberian Express when Zangief’s actually truly flush with the corner, where the attacker will almost certainly try to neutral jump long before they’re worried about grounded tech throws. If they jump up from a normal throw whiff, you can anti-air them and keep your position advantage.

On defense up close, when foes use pressure tactics with gaps of three frames or fewer, you’ll just have to block. Zangief’s fastest normals are four frames, and he has no invincible reversal without EX Gauge ready. Whenever you can squeeze out a four-frame crouching defensively, you’ve briefly turned a pressured situation into a positive one (+3 on block, +5 on hit) and can return to close-range offensive options. Grounded offensive gaps of five frames or longer can and should be met with LP SPD. The best anti-air for jump-ins directly above Zangief (if you have time to squeeze it out) is actually standing , thanks to the initial downward-slapping hitboxes on frames 5-6 that almost reach the ceiling.

With Cyclone Lariat Active

Cyclone Lariat’s use can be quite variable, depending on the situation. You can simply activate it when ready, then advance on the opponent with two or three solid suction mix-ups. If you have V-Gauge filled and the adversary hands you a huge opening, you can combo into it. From a confirm like jump-in crouching , such as a perfectly read jump-in over a mid-range fireball throw, just V-Trigger cancel into holding down . You can also confirm from counter-hit standing by reacting to the Crush Counter animation and system message, linking Cyclone Lariat; this is great for reversal counter-hit punishes (as in Combo 8). You can also whiff standing directly in front of the foe, slapping ; if they dash or stick out an attack that gets counter-hit by standing , you can actually press and hold to combo Cyclone Lariat’s spin. Against the enemy’s mid-range movement, you can use Cyclone Lariat suctions to fish against their attempts to poke or dash. If they’re already doing those things when you activate the suction within 40 percent of the screen’s distance, they can’t also be blocking, and they’ll get sucked into the spinning hits. This can feel sort of like a slower version of Street Fighter Alpha 2’s ultra-fast Custom Combos, states that power up so quickly that they can “grab” foes who’ve committed to ground movement.

When the suction pulls an enemy in blocking, you can place them into a point-blank 50/50, with escalating stakes depending on how much EX Gauge you’re willing to invest. For the thermonuclear option, you can activate Cyclone Lariat suction, then immediately perform Bolshoi Russian Suplex when the attacker is pulled into close range. If your opponent did anything besides preemptively jump in this situation, they’re about to have a bad day; if they were caught in hitstun or briefly staggered from the suction, the Critical Art will actually combo. With the fear of a near-guaranteed grab instilled upon them, you can now expect foes being pulled in by V-Trigger suction to be ready to either jump or mash out invincible moves of their own. Now begins the guessing game of going for grab, waiting to punish a reversal or backdash, or being ready to shoot down a jump. One built-in counter is to sometimes just let the Cyclone Lariat attack activate, even though you expect that they’ll probably block; someone trying to jump or attack erroneously in this situation may just eat the spinning hits clean. Otherwise, treat the suction as a free shot at a close-range mix-up and act accordingly, as described in the Close Range section.

Some players may be worried that Zangief lost mobility by losing Banishing Flat (the “green hand”), but he’s now able to pull people into his mix-ups instead of rushing toward them. The game-changing potential of Cyclone Lariat means that you should generally reserve V-Gauge for this instead of using any on Muscle Explosion V-Reversals. Using close-range to mid-range standing and standing pokes is enhanced in value because of the V-Gauge built on counter-hit, leading to Cyclone Lariat sooner in rounds.