It's rare to find great, concise, well-edited guides like this, and of one of my favorite Street Fighter characters of all time, no less. Thanks so much for this! You earned my sub!
Dang man, this is a GREAT beginners guide. Just the right length, plenty of info but not enough to be overwhelming. Does a good job showing what makes the character fun too!
Also fun tip. While in burnout Tundra storm is actually useful against 7 characters drive impacts and can counter them. Dee Jay, Kimberly, Manson, Juri, Blanka, Chun Li, and Cammy can have their drive impacts countered by Tundra Storm.
I find it adequate that you put on Armor Clad Faith because that hitbox is somehow even worse than Strive's Heavenly. If these devs don't want us grabby boys to jump, just say so, yeesh
The first zangief guide for the game, great. Your tech for throw loops Is priceless. I would like to add two things, combo into OD Lariat pressing forward leaves you in +39 so you can clóse space with the knee and stay in +5. And for carry to the córner the farest i can get Is with crumble DI >DR Knee>3mp>OD Lariat pressing forward. And that leaves you in +51 so you can clóse space any way you like (jump forward leaves in +5).
There are only two phases in a Zangeif's plan Walk -> BUST There are only parries, lariets, and THROWS. NO DEFENSE, ONLY YOU, CLOSING THE DISTANCE FROM THE OPPONENT, AND CLOSING THEIR FACE'S DISTANCE TO THE FLOOR
it's really hard to do against most of my friends because they're hella better than me, but I really love that his siberian grab sometimes goes through after setting up some of the forward regular grabs? It's really hard to pull off in general, but I really love seeing the animation go off after trying to get them to be worried about my other moves. thank you for another great guide. :)
I'm glad to see an elaborate guide for Zangief! I've been having fun with him, and it's nice to learn more things about him I didn't already know about. I've been loving the Russian Supplex setup into DR 6MK, but I should remember to try more Siberian Express. If I may, I sometimes like to end my midscreen combos with EX Lariat against a grounded foe, because I can then frame kill with 6MK and be +4 near the opponent even if they backroll.
@Frankentank I tried a new tech but wanted to see what you thought. Back throw and it leaves the opponent in close oki range then stand jab to stuff any wake up normals (not the invincible ones or if they back roll) then drive rush into any SPD. Been catching all online. Unless they walk back after the throw or they expect it with DI
While I haven't exhaustively tested it, Lvl1 Super can be used to punish lots of other supers on reaction. You will whiff and jump over them, giving you a free punish. Good example is threatening with DR and they react with super you can countersuper to jump over them. Even if you can't punish it sure beats eating a super.
Great guide. Played with him up to Platinum 2 and never once I thought that his grapples had different ranges (I should've but I didn't). This will help me iimplement his command grabs a lot more in my matches.
Frankentank continues to be a baller in every sense of the word. I have no doubts you'll SPD with the greats. Always love your stuff man, super informative.
pretty good guide tbh, wish i had this a month ago when i picked up the game ☠ only thing i didn't see mentioned was that you can sometimes chase back recovery with 6mk, i see snake eyez do that in some of his vods
Many moons ago, during the stone age of SF Champion Edition/Turbo, I hated Gief as a younger player. Didn't know how to SPD without a big empty jump. Didn't understand zoning or pokes or anything. I just wanted ot land the big grab and make the bar go down. A few decades, multiple SF titles and even some Guilty Gear later - ...and I got into Gief, main'd Hakan for about 4 years and I love grapplers nowadays. I am barely above amateur myself, but winning and losing mean so little compared to the absolute pants-browning FEAR you can induce as a big bodied combat-hug dispenser. It's worth the effort IMO when you mentally softlock a foe and/or completely crush their momentum because you got the one guess you needed or smothered their options *just right*. Also big grab still make hp bar go down. Happy grappler, hur hur more glue yum yum!
2:58, YES, Aerial Slam special is so freaking 50-50. It feels like having a 97% hit chance on XCOM. It looks like it would hit, but overall it always misses. Never use it, it can't be used to poke nor punish, it only catches the oponent if the game feels like it should hit or not. It's better to just borshdt dynamite when you notice the enemy jumping at you constantly. This will both put him on the ground, the hit chance is way bigger, and the overall punish is stronger, specially using OD.
I laughed SO HARD at the Armor-Clad in Faith music played over 2:54 on Aerial Russian Slam. I just picked up Zangief and everytime I miss that move, it feels like the same as when Potemkin misses his Anti Air super.
I lol'd irl at the part with the failed aerial russian slam! *I'm a fool! I know nothing!* Very good guide! I haven't been using the normal throws enough. What do you think about Siberian Express? To me, it looks like it's only a jumpscare. Sometimes, I armor through a hit with it, but they still recover in time to jump and punish it.
Thank you for this video. As a beginner to fighting game this helps me a lot. I'm wondering if there's an optimal way of 360ing? As in which direction to start and end the 360? As a beginner I end up unintentionally jumping if my buffer move is not long enough. I'm aware that in the defense section it's mentioned that against throw loop there's an option to end in 7/8, but I wonder if it's the case for "normal" 360 as well.
Ya. His level one is kinda eh. Kinda dumb how he just ignores people if they're on the way down from jumping. Also 5:32 I am going to practice the hell out of that haha. Really make people think twice before doing throw loops on THE grappler.
Great video. I wish the game was more realistic though. Luke’s neck should have been snapped and his skull completed crushed and brain included. He should have died or seizured until he died. Zangief rules❤
I’m interested in your thoughts on his drive reversal (holding forward and pressing the drive parry buttons when you block an opponents attacks) , i watched the whole vid and didn’t see it mentioned in the defense section , maybe I missed it though my child interrupted me several times while viewing. Great video though super helpful for getting me back in a zangeif mindset.
I just got gifted Street Fighter 6 for my birthday and me and my friends had lots of fun trying our first matches without looking at the controls to then try and learn the actual moves That said I wanted to get better at it and Zangief is definitely my choice so thank you very much for the informative video! Things may have changed in patches and stuff but It still helped me a lot to think of new strategies and ways to approach for example, so it is still really useful!
So far, all metrics (excluding Snake Eyez going apeshit in a group tourney) seem to indicate he's low-bottom tier, unfortunately. He's got tools though - mostly just needs some weird shit fixed with 'em (like the trash garbage hitbox on Super 1 showcased in this vid)
Excellent guide, I do second a combo section though, as sometimes you just need to end the round off a random conversion. Also maybe stuff like options after getting DI / wallsplat and or punish combos.
So I need to work on tick throws and Borcht Dynamite got it! Also Aerial Russian Slam isn't about being optimal. Its about sending a message! (and receiving a dopamine hit)
Great video I’m new to SF, trying out Gief after some time with Blanka. And having a blast, it is so nice to catch opponents and throw them, I was not expecting that it will feel THAT good😂 Thank you for the video man Subscribed🙂
Resets are basically when you take guaranteed damage and trade it for potential damaged by resetting your combo/pressure and going for a new attack. For instance, if I hit 5LK and Drive Rush it, I could get a full combo into a knockdown. However, I could go for a reset and instead of finishing my combo, I could do a 360 instead.
