vs. Ken

Creaming Ken

Ken has a decent zoning game with Hadoken, but his Hadoken is much more predictable than Ryu’s. The only differences in his are the travel speeds; the recovery on each is rather long, so don’t be afraid to test him with a forward jump.

His mid-range game can be annoying to deal with, especially his standing . You’ll want to block this (he’s -4 on guard) and punish with a four-frame light attack. If you’re out of range for a light attack, you can use this advantage to poke at him with one of your mid-range attacks or advance for pressure.

His Quick Step V-Skill can be troublesome if you’re not ready to punish it. Whenever you see him cancel a normal into Quick Step, be ready to hit him back. At best, he’s -6, which is off of his standing . If you see a standing into Quick Step cancel, you can go for a medium attack punish if you can react fast enough. Some characters have six-frame Crush Counter-capable attacks (like Ken’s crouching ), and you can devastate him with these if you’re on point.

When you have him knocked down and you’re on offense, always be mindful of wakeup Shoryuken. It’s often worth sacrificing meaty pressure for a chance at evading or guarding his Shoryuken so you can punish it with a massive Crush Counter combo.

From long range, Ken has a really easy time transitioning into close range through his HK Tatsumaki Senpukyaku. Treat this as you would a jump-in attack, and deflect it with an appropriate anti-air if you see him go airborne from near full screen. Otherwise, at closer distances, you can dash under it to punish him.