The 10 Skills That Separate Top Players From The Rest 

Should be obvious, but the players I chose are mostly because I have experience playing VS them (and a select few I'm just a huge fan of). That's why there aren't Tekken players here for example. It's not that they don't have cracked fundamentals (they do), I just don't know them as well. Anyways LMK if you want to see more vids like this, this vid was super fun to make

Aint no way you chose a dinorex clip of me to show my fundamentals lmao

"This is why evo moment 37 exists, because 37 is the most popular number out of 1-100" is such a giga brained example of the point you were trying to make lmao

"Xiaohai is the only person that can react to short hop" - proceeds to show a clip of the channel owner whooping Xiao's butt 💀

When he broke out the human benchmark my vision went dark. I've been playing FGs for like a decade now and seeing people score like 30-60 ms better than me consistently will never stop feeling like shit

As a spectator I feel like the skill gaps for Reaction and Composure are so eye-opening lol. They're the most mind-blowing in the moment to play against or even watch. Strong reactions give that feeling of like "This person is LITERALLY doing something that should be impossible". Then, composure often legit has this energy of making the gap between u and the opponent look way wider than it truly is. Its like when one person makes a strong opponent look like a noob despite the skill gap between the players not truly being that far in other fields (like rxns, knowledge, etc)

This is honestly great timing since I'm almost in Master in Street Fighter, really liking the game, been very focused on playing "properly", like not trying to gimmick people out, practice the tools my character has, play more reactive, maintain composure on defense, adapt, that sort of thing, just so I don't plateau too hard when I do reach Master, because beyond Master when you're grinding MR, fundamentals are what's going to start mattering a lot more I feel. I also think a big part of that journey is just figuring out what kind of player you are, and accepting that it's OK to not be amazing at everything, but instead let yourself drift more to the skillsets you find the most enjoyable to work on. That's what I think helps you achieve that "uniqueness". You still need to be solid in all areas, but in terms of what you want to excel at I think following your heart isn't necessarily bad.

This is one of the most interesting, well made, thought provoking thing I've seen come out of the FGC youtube scene since I started in '09.

I remember a really cool video on “The 7 Layers of thinking in Fighting Games” can’t find it now, but it was really good at describing each layer of the mindset from beginner to pro. Each layer becoming more aware and more fluent

This is what I love. Helping people step they game up. Good work Diaphone

Until this video I don't think I ever would have considered "randomness" a skill. That's such a wild thing to consider that it has actually changed my view of fighting games.

Phenomenal video. One other thing everyone talks about but not many go in depth in explaining is ALL the universal tech that can be found in fighting games. Things like Delay tech, Fuzzy, Shimmy, Block Strings, Frame Traps/Frame Kills, Safe Jumps and other Setups etc. Having one comprehensive video that explains what they are AND how to formulate it on your own/ practice them would be an incredible boon to the community.

I love these video series Diaphone! I've bounced off a lot of fighting games, usually because of frustrating with input struggles. And its great to have these videos to learn about different aspects of it.

this is the video i needed. i've been seeing myself plateauing and not in a great place. this really gives you a baseline and understand where you want to improve!

Instantly one of my favorite videos on the channel! I love how you provide examples of players and recognize what were their fundamentals that showcased of how they have been strong for a really long time! As someone who has been playing and competing in GGST since the beta, I can confidently say that innovation, labbing, execution, uniqueness, clutch, and randomness are my strongest skills as a player. With the skills I have currently, I'm applying it to any FG I pick up while also improving in other skills in FGs like SF6 and Tekken 8. Even though I could also try to improve in other skills in GGST, I feel like playing other FGs can help me a lot with getting a better understanding of how they work. Amazing video as always Diaphone! ^^

Thanks for setting that displaying that human benchmark score. I will be working towards that. A lot of good items that I can use as templates for getting better. Amazing video man

Love this! As someone who has a lot of time to listen to stuff like audiobooks, I’m always looking for more long form FGC informational content! Looking forward to more!

Thank you for making this. I really needed a video exactly like this.

I think you made a mistake Diaphone... You forgot to include DSP in your talks about Top players... He can pick up a controller anytime and be the best in the world remember?? lol

It's really passion that drives people. These pro players have dedicated their lives to their craft and you'll really see who has years of experience with their plays.

FIRE VIDEO! really liked this dive into various fighting game fundamentals and how some players went about achieving them! GL at evo y'all!

I love the way you laid out all the points. Very easy to understand. You should definitely do more videos like this!

i love this kind of content, great presentation skills and insightful for people who are studying to improve beyond the beginner/intermediate level

Amazing video! Thank you so much

Really wide range of sourced clips can tell this wouldve taken a lot of time, thanks! This is real straightforward and helpful in terms of insight

This vid is so well informed, gj Dia, such a great watch

This is really cool dude, thank you!

This was a super fun and educational watch.

I love this type of video and you broke it all down perfectly. Thanks man it definitely inspired me to self analyze to a deeper level

No one else makes introspective content as well as you do Diaphone, thank you for taking the time to continuously make videos like this for us 🙏🏾

I really enjoy discussions on the psychology of fighting games. Keep up the great work!

Your videos are so good!! Congrats for the quality and thanks for the content!

Really great video. Makes me think about my own play and how to emulate the players id like to play more like

I absolutely love the way you explain things bro. Great video!

I have been asking so many people for help with fundamentals recently in battle hub on SF6 and I usually get no response. I thought maybe it’s something you can’t teach. Then this video pops up and breaks down exactly what I’ve been trying to understand. Just thank you so much. Gonna add a similar layout in my notes to track my progress in those categories.

i was just thinking about this and you did a great job sorting everything , what make a pro a pro , how to improve , how to keep evolving , how to control luck , nice video brother .

I was impressed with this video when I was only a minute in. Just finished, great work. Now I wanna see my RPG progress of my skill set!

Great video. Been stuck in low master and gonna try to improve in these areas.

i only using diaphone fundamental when pick up which waifu character i should main.

Some things I thought this video would have included as fundamentals were: Neutral Advantage Disadvantage But I figured they can fall into some of those categories you already brought up. It’s cool to see different perspectives in what people think are fundamentals as well as how one can improve at them!

Thanks for sharing your knowledge. I like your videos! Cheers from Brazil!

as a new player in the fgc, this video was really helpful! thank you diapohne

I honestly thought you were mostly a content creator and not really a competitor, but after seeing your aki in action during the last TNS, gotta say you're a god damn beast man, really hope you show up more, love your video!

always dropping bombs! thanks 🔥

This was a fantastic video man. You have a knack for hitting it right in the head!

Great video like always!

Amazing vid ❤

really great video, would love to see more!

amazing video that came to me just in the right time as i'm learning sf6

You should make a follow-up to this video on how to get better at each one of these. This is very good

I really like how you believe these skills can be improved on or obtained. When trying to approach things this way you gotta think what can I do to get better at this skill compared to asking yourself when will I start doing this skill as if it’s an overnight thing. Gotta give yourself grace and persevere

Thank you for the video.

Excellent video mate.

This video was like a love letter to the FGC and how all these things are still being optimized

Great video as always. Couple of suggestions on naming if you decide to continue using these categories going forward: • Game knowledge → Game insight. The ability to spot what matters to win. For example, Automattock has said for a long time that drive meter management is THE most important skill in SF6. I think he has really high Insight. • Labbing → Integration. Since execution is covered elsewhere, the critical skill is to understand what situations a particular situation or input string applies to and to incorporate the technique or response into your game plan rapidly is a critical skill.

That is maybe my favorite video you made up to this point. Reactions: Yeah, Punk is on another level for hitconfirms, but it is somewhat connected to hit mental stack being among the biggest in the FGC, these two skills are relatively interconnected. That is basically all I have for criticism, but I will later on add something. Now to fanboy. For adaption, I recommend watching Daigo vs Infiltration FT10 in SF4. I was not yet playing, so with a grain of salt, but from my understanding Infiltration was considered one of the most consistent players at the time and Infiltration played Akuma while Daigo played Ryu, a 6-4, maybe 5.5-4.5 at best, matchup for Akuma. So Daigo was at the disadvantage, played Infiltration while he was at the peak of his power and Daigo had basically lost every single set he had against Infiltration in tournament settings. Just to summarize: Losing matchup, most dominant player and historically lost against him (almost?) every time. What happens in that FT10 is pure magic. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-HGfC4CFBAns.html I recommend watching it and then this video which interviews Daigo who talks about the set. Daigo was truly Batman irl. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-dARsb8ATQ-s.html I have read somewhere that this was the match that inspired Tokido to stop going for cheap stuff for quicks win and actually focussing on how to keep winning. The set it goated and a great watch. Maybe one of the most important sets of all time. For grit, I want to talk about Alex Valle. Alex Valle is one of the OGs and probably the first actual real best Street Fighter player in NA. He loves fighting games, and Chen summarized it well: He was the guy who passed his mantle to Justin Wong. Alex Valle vs Bonchan is a certified classic, because Valle played a hard losing matchup with Hugo into Sagat, but Valle absolutely destroyed Bonchan. It is some of the highest level Street Fighter I have ever seen, but very onesided. A masterclass of conditioning, patience and understanding of options against one of the top players at the time as Bonchan was having his meteoric rise at the time. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-4r6Ev7FvwtI.html This set is also a certified classic. And I remember one comment I read, and it stuck with me. Alex Valle seemingly streamed/played this matchup before and when people told him to switch characters, because it was unplayable, Valle said that losing is how you learn the matchup. Very basic, but he put so much weight behind these words when he won that set. For Clutch and MenaRD I want to reference the mindset of a champion. MenaRD is a monster if it comes to just competing. The man plays a tournament like I would play a casual against a newbie who just learned the controls. He is confident in his play and is confident because of his grind. Chris Tatarian had an interview with him, and it showcases how calm and rational he is, because he finds solutions. The guy has no ego which is not backed by his achievements, is always willing to listen to someone who could make him improve. His Reddit post he made before CPT (which he won) is legendary for me, because he asked for potential ways to improve on a subreddit, on which most people were worse, just to make sure that he maximizes every chance to win. www.reddit.com/r/StreetFighter/comments/790lsj/my_biggest_weakness/ For uniqueness, I recommend watching this: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-2WMBwFO65J4.html It talks about how Amsa reached the unprecedented level of his Yoshi. To quote him from one interview before his legendary win: "I still don't think Yoshi is a mid-tier character. Yoshi should be a high tier character, like top 10. I'll prove it, just myself. Thank you, guys." One of the sweetest guys around btw. Like Amsa is too pure for the world. Now for the stuff that I consider "missing" is actual love for fighting games. No, I am not joking. Love as in always willing to go another round and just loving to play fighting games. That is something some of the greatest pros have. Daigo in his book: Upon returning to gaming after my hiatus, I realized that games are something I love, and not everyone has a calling like that. I will be eternally grateful for that joy. I am a different person when I play games, animated and glowing with life. AngryBird: My nickname is AngryBird, I have been playing Street Fighter professionally since 2018, but I have been playing the game since 2012. So 2012 until now. So 11 years. That's a long time of playing Street Fighter. I love this game. Tokido: Fighting games are something so great. AlexValle: FGs are my RPGs. I can pick a char class: Zoner, brawler, grappler, etc. I fight minions/creatures online in ranked to gain experience points. Boss fights at tournaments & win money. I can repeat the process w/ other chars too. Share the exp online. Never ending RPG. You see, you may grind hard and like winning. But you have to understand that these guys are not working the same way you and me are. The work of the determined pales before the determination of the loving. Ryan Hart: There is no quote to summarize that guy. His Wikipedia article is probably still much too short to do him justice. Well, some thoughts, I cut the comment somewhat short, because it kept getting longer.

Great video. I also think it’s important to be able to know your limitations and maybe pump some extra bits into the others. My reactions are fine, but not amazing, I keep myself fit, but I usually play tired, unfortunately there’s nothing I can do about that, between work, family etc it’s that or not at all. So I try and be extra good in the rest of them to make up for it

Ah, all the aspects I dont have in one neat and understandable video. Nice!

Duuude, keep these videos coming, please! This is amazing content. ONLY thing I would love to see you work on is to look at the camera lens when talking, but it's a nitpick...

Great video. Additional info: Reaction time is not constant. Studies show that reaction time slows down by the number of options (log curve). Best players anticipate 1-2 options are react to them, which is much faster than reacting to big set of options. To be successful in this, you need intuitive level game knowledge and good reads, and good spatial awareness (anticipate footsies, etc). Reacting to certain moves or movement patterns requires lots of repetition. You have to play a lot against good players. Hit confirm is the same. Lots of repetition is needed. Some people of course are physically a bit better at reacting and this plays a role too, but training can’t be undervalued.

Great vid !!!!

My favorite video you've ever made

I think Uniqueness is a trait that is something you cannot practice to develop, but rather something is slowly defined as you continue to play. But like you said, its what differentiates one person playing a character from another person playing the same character.

Brian_F has talked about how he had problems with tilting back in sf4 and maybe a bit in sf5. Now he has flipped and seemingly has close to unbreakable mentality. I respect that.

Good job breaking down catagories of skills. I don't have much interest in top players (except seeing what they do with my main). As an average player, with less-than-average time I can play (weekends I can visit my brother)- I try to work on all those. Got some grit from 35+ years experience, but reactions may be bit off at age 50. I wonder how much I improve during a game's lifetime. And what I'd rate on the graph you had at the end. Not sure what to do for labbing unless it has situational training, like Rising & SF6. Or I see tech vids of content creators. Fun vid.

Great video. There is one thing I would like to add and that is the ability to not get conditioned and I think Kazunoko is a great example of that. I'm not sure where it would fall in those categories, either mental or composure or maybe somewhere on it's own. The thing about this skill is that it's somewhat counter to adaptability. Someone who is trying to condition you, is trying to make you adapt to what they are doing so that they can punish your adaptation. Someone who is good at not being conditioned, does not let the opponent dissuade them. This can of course, be a good thing and a bad thing.

Thanks 🎉😊

MKLeo is given a more Spanish pronunciation (At least from what I usually hear I might be wrong)

we all know leffen is the premier player for his composure, truly amazing

4:08 goddamn man, this Ken Flowchart killed me so hard, i don't even play ken but i laugh HARD at this because of how accurate this can be lmao

one thing you forget about on this video is readness this is another thing that i feel really important but really nice video

This is one of the best FGC videos ever

GREAT VID

I think a lot of these are characteristics rather than skills. Enjoyable video either way!

Goated vid. I can picture a pro player with a jojo stand stat chart for fundamentals. Imagine if liquipedia had that.

Free knowledge, W video, best FGC content creator

Great vid, 10/10 My randomness is probably off the chart...after all, if I don't know wtf I'm doing how can my opponent know? XD

Thanks!

One of the examples for PR Rog that I could think of is when he did the red focus against Diago while playing SF4 in Capcom Cup. Ironically it was James Chen "spoiler alert" shouting out of the top of his lungs, " he did the red focus! He did the red focus! He did the red focus! During the match.

Gimme more!

I appreciate this video. Also what’s the GGXX Bridget cover that started playing around the 7:30 mark of the vid?

Point 2 being "randomness" is really funny. As someone who plays FGs with no interest of going comp (and I do not like touching ranked), I have friends significantly better than me sometimes get caved in by whatever I'm picking to do. One friend in particular has a bit where whenever he's tired, he just asks to run sets in a fighting game because it's so different to whatever he's used to that it actually takes enough energy out of them to go to sleep, lol Reaction time was truly eye-opening though, I know I have bad reaction timing (medical things teehee), but seeing just how far down it is is kind of surprising to me

I can't believe that Capcom Cup between Diago and PR Rog was almost 10 years ago!

Hey Diaphone, love the vod. The stat chart that you're thinking of is called a radar chart (also doable in excel!). Would love to hear your take on some breakdowns of some of these players and their respective scores as well.

For adaptation I'm surprised Knee wasn't mentioned considering his claim to fame is how he adjusts everything from his character picks to his button options and his patterns, strangling the opponent's option over the set.

19:43 This is a great way to climb lower ranks in a lot of fighting games. Firstly just focus on anti airs Secondly focus on not jumping. Learning the ground game purely will get you out of the low to mid tier ranks pretty fast.

Excited to watch this and not improve because I don’t work hard enough to improve! (yet)

Dropping a combo can be an effective mind game.

Good video

13:44 whats that song?

On uniqueness, Daigo once said that the first time you play again Punk you will lose. In SF6 I think NoahTheProdigy is a good example, he plays Luke sooo differently from every other top Luke player or player in general. Also I'd say working on something you're already good at is actually still worth your time (while not neglecting other areas ofc). Hitting a new summit on any skill helps you realize what it feels like to be really good at something. That experience, of being REALLY good, is actually valuable imo. If you want to win, you want to be REALLY good, not just decent at everything. Besides which, having sharp strong suits is something that differentiates you from other players, which over time is how you turn into a one-man matchup. Also, doing something you're good at is fun. The part of the game you're best at is also probably the part you enjoy the most. And letting yourself invest time in what you find fun helps keep the spark alive.

Diaphone communicating the knowledge 👌

whats the infiltration‘s playing style？

W vid more like this for sure

I haven’t really found a good video to ask this on and this feels like the best one. My biggest issue is trying to transfer my paint sniffing grappler brain into a different style of character. Makes every game feel extremely limiting to me when it comes to character selection. I have trouble understanding how to open someone up without a command grab and the titanic normals most slow grapplers of pseudo grapplers have. I’m focused mainly on SF6 and I want to branch out but for as long as I’ve been playing fighting games somewhat seriously I’ve never been able to break out of the grappler mindset. If anyone has any tips I’d love to hear them. Even the smallest tips would be appreciated!! Fantastic video btw! A lot of really good insight into the mind of a pro player.

I'm king of the random skill in my group of friends and they'll often remind me. To my knowledge they say its because playing against me feels more like a mix of fundamentals, mashing, and risk/reward.

I also feel like a lot of them are interconnected. Game knowledge for example can improve your reactions. If you know what might happen it's easier to react to than if you think anything could happen.

There is really only 3 fundamental skills, Reaction, Execution and Knowledge. And they lead to different sub skills. Reaction, which allows one to do things like whiff punish, hit confirms, anti air, parry, counter DI and super punish etc. and do them consistently. This is the most important skills that separate the best players from the top players, because this is a physical ability. Yes you can train, but some people are born to have better reactions. Execution, which you need to things like basic combos, instant drive rush, lights into supers, faster anti airs and 1f timing etc. Depending on the game, SF6 is an easy execution game while SF4 is much harder. MvC2 for example, the fastfly, unfly and especially the refly combos are exceptionally hard. In SF6, everyone can basically do the same combo and moves rather easily there is not much skill gap in the execution arena. Whereas in older fighting games, even after so many years, there are players that are separated by their execution skills, i.e Sako in SF4 and Khaos in MvC2. Knowledge, doesn't require training unlike the previous two skills and it can be learnt. Also, unlike the previous two skills which can be transferable, knowledge isn't as transferable and requires relearning when ever you play a new game. Knowledge include knowing things like frame data, hit/hurtbox, oki setups, damage calculation, meter management and option selects etc. Because this skillset doesn't require training, it can be easily acquired given today's easy access to online platform. It doesn't separate the best players from the top players. However, it does separate top players from average players and new players. Because top players would invest in the time to learn the game data and knowledge while average players don't. IMO randomness is not a skill, i don't care what people say about it. It's just guessing, period. If you guess right, people call it a read, if you guess wrong, you simply just made a bad read or guess. Yes, there are some calculations and knowledge involved, like reading your opponent's habits and poker players would say that is a skill as you need to calculate your opponent's hands and you make the bluff base on his habits. But this is unlike reaction, if you punish a fireball with an anti fireball move or super on reaction, you can do it consistently and the success depends on you and you alone. If you are doing it as a "read", it depends on your opponent making the wrong move, and you can never do it consistently. This is why you hear pros say take the throw, but sometimes see someone get thrown like 5 times in a row and the same person would say he should have tech the throw lol. Everything else like composure, grit, adaptation etc.. are more like qualities than skills. Modern games these days seek to lower the skill gap of reaction, execution and even knowledge to make it easy for newer and lesser skilled players to play. For players who want to train fundamental skills, i recommend playing older games like SF4 and MvC2. SF4 is probably a dead game already and you can't find online players. But do try MvC2, its still alive on fightcade and other emulators with online matchmaking. On top of that, MvC2 is going to be released as a Marvel collection with online play. Its by far, the game with the highest skill ceiling for execution, reaction and knowledge that i know of. Unlike SF6, where you can take anywhere from a day to a week to master, depending if you are experienced or if you have a coach, for MvC2, i guarantee you that even after a month of playing, you are still no where near learning everything about the game.

For the last two points I was kinda shocked that you didn't mention the dude who's nickname is ClutcH Box and the fact that Daigo wrote a whole book called "The Will to Keep Winning

I just started playing SF6 again and is it just me or do you have to slightly delay your next button after a DR attack?