V-System

V-Skill

Iron Muscle

Iron Muscle (walk) Hold and release

Iron Muscle: This move is a throwback to Zangief’s Iron Body Hyper Armor modes from the “Vs.” crossover games, where he can absorb anything thrown at him without getting put into hitstun. If you tap for activation, Zangief’s briefly flushes with the intensity of his sheer strength, turning a deep red and steaming. If you just tap and release medium buttons, he’ll steam briefly and then return to normal. This functions as a two-hit parry because Zangief will absorb up to two incoming hits while red. Against moderately laggy attacks, it’s possible to tap Iron Muscle to parry against an incoming poke or jump-in, then retaliate with LP Screw Pile Driver. Hold the medium buttons, and Zangief flushes and stays red. Hold forward while steaming to lumber forward slowly. Once you’ve committed to holding Iron Muscle, Zangief will complete the motion whenever you release by flexing so hard that it functions as a strike. While walking forward during Iron Muscle, Zangief retains the two hits of armor until they’re used up, then will be interrupted by hitstun on the third incoming hit. Armor also disappears when Iron Muscle is released and the flexing follow-up commences. The flexing follow-up leaves Zangief with +2 advantage on hit or -2 on guard, and it also builds a little bit of V-Gauge. The hit itself can also be V-Trigger-canceled for a full sequence involving two hits of armor while lumbering forward, into a relatively safe punch attack, into V-Trigger suction (which will combo on initial activation from a V-Skill hit).

During V-Trigger, Iron Muscle’s armor potential while charging/walking increases from 2 to 100.

V-Reversal

Muscle Explosion while guarding

Muscle Explosion: Zangief explodes out of blockstun by standing rigidly at attention and thrusting his pelvis, thwacking his attacker with the whole front of his body. This grants a tiny bit of advantage on hit, but not enough to convert it into anything concrete. Cyclone Lariat is such a strong tool that you won’t want to make Muscle Explosion a regular part of your defensive arsenal, but you may feel compelled to use it to escape pressure when someone is bum-rushing Zangief and he’s on the edge of being dizzied. Wasting a little V-Gauge in those situations is better than getting stunned and then eating a round-ending combo. Zangief’s only other true reversal is his Critical Art, none of his specials is truly invincible, and Double Lariat is a tad slow to work as a reversal under nearly airtight pressure.

V-Trigger

Cyclone Lariat

Cyclone Lariat Attack Hold

Cyclone Lariat Max Attack Hold

Cyclone Lariat: Upon activation, Zangief spins in an angled clothesline, like a Double Lariat ramped down toward the opponent’s feet. His spin creates a suction that pulls nearby enemies in from up to 40 percent of the screen away, working a lot like Seth’s Tanden Engine in SFIV. Like Seth’s suction move, if a foe is already in a position to block and holding back when the suction starts, they’ll be able to block instantly when they’re pulled up next to Zangief. However, if they’re not already blocking, they’ll stagger forward and be briefly vulnerable. This suction activates automatically when you pop V-Trigger, and then you have a choice. For just the suction, simply release the buttons. Zangief pulls nearby attackers in, and you can immediately put them into a command grab mix-up. When you’re loaded with both EX Gauge and V-Gauge, popping V-Trigger for the suction and then immediately activating Critical Art as the foe nears is a nasty game. Players who’ve seen you do this will basically be guaranteed to weld their controllers to either up-back the next time you suck them in, or you know they’ll be furiously mashing an invincible reversal of their own. After they’re a little conditioned, you can suction in, but then hesitate and look to punish accordingly.

Activating V-Trigger creates a suction attempt and starts a 30-second timer. While the V-timer depletes, Iron Muscle’s hit absorption potential leaps from 2 to 100, becoming functionally infinite. You can stand next to a Chun-Li waking up with EX Spinning Bird Kick, absorb the whole thing with Iron Muscle, then punish her (as just one possible example among many). Tapping again during the V-Trigger timer will activate the Cyclone Lariat suction again and deduct 8.3 seconds from the timer. Potentially, if you activate them more or less back-to-back, you can squeeze four suction attempts (including the one on initial activation) into a single V-Trigger timer, but just barely.

If you hold heavy buttons down during any Cyclone Lariat activation, Zangief spins to produce the initial suction, then keeps spinning to proceed into his actual Cyclone Lariat attack. He spins repeatedly as long as you hold the buttons, striking with his fists on both sides, down and in front of his body and above and behind his head. (This can catch foes who happen to jump over Zangief’s head at some time, like with a Rashid V-Skill flip, Dhalsim teleport, or Nash V-Trigger.) Hold or to direct Zangief’s movement during the spin, like during Double Lariat. Also like Double Lariat, Zangief is completely immune to projectiles during Cyclone Lariat spins. Holding an attack spin consumes V-Trigger timer quickly. If you begin hitting an opponent but then release inputs prematurely, or begin hitting them with Cyclone Lariat spin without much timer left, they’ll eat a few spinning hits and fall to the ground. If you catch someone with the Cyclone Lariat spin and then hold it down to spin to the fullest, Zangief will expend the rest of his V-Timer in an extended cyclone combo that launches them high upward with the final hit, where you can juggle them. EX Borscht Dynamite is best here, but you can also juggle with a heavy hit like standing or or Flying Body Press. Or, step forward and juggle them with Knee Hammer to set up a meaty grab attempt as they land on their feet.

Cyclone Lariat attack spin will also combo when you cancel into V-Trigger from certain normals, like standing/crouching and counter-hit standing , and from Zangief’s V-Skill flex attack.