How changes in Street Fighter V: Champion Edition could have a huge impact

With 40 characters, over 200 costumes and 34 stages, Street Fighter V: Champion Edition promises to be the ultimate Street Fighter experience. 

Changes in characters and the addition of new moves, however, might face a mixed reception from the competitive community. As the update arrives ahead of the new edition next year, we rundown some of the changes and give our thoughts on the patches.  

General 

• Stun Adjusted as high as 50 

• Health Adjusted as high as 25 

• Fixed V Reversal no longer possible after going into Critical Art following a projectile block. For example, Akuma’s red fireball into Critical Art. If the opponent blocks Akuma’s red fireball, the opponent can not V Reverse if Akuma went into Critical Art immediately after the first hit of the red fireball.   

• Collision box in the down state has been standardized for all characters

New V-Skill II  

New V Trigger Skills give veteran players a fresh new feel to their already existing main character(s). For new players, this might sound overwhelming but should keep them occupied at least in the Tech Lab.  

The addition of V-Skills II provides more options and depth to the combat system. You can check out the new V-Skills II here.  

Balances and Improvements   

Now down to the nitty gritty of season five. There will be several nerfs and buffs to characters to help players feel more comfortable in certain matchups, along with knowing the advantages and disadvantages. Here are some of the changes that caught my attention.   

Ryu’s medium and heavy Tatsumaki first hit hitbox is expanded, which means Ryu players should be excited from a combo standpoint. Ryu will also be able to Anti-Air Shoryuken into Critical Art like in the Street Fighter IV days.  

This is an excellent change because in previous seasons of Street Fighter V, there was no true execution on how to use Ryu Critical Art for Anti-Air perspective. Will this be enough improvements for Diago The Beast to main Ryu again, or maybe for casuals?   

Chun Li pretty much got more damage added to almost all her attacks. Hyakuretsukyaku, better known as Lightning Legs, now can be linked into Critical Art or other cancels further along into the motion instead of after just the first or second kick. 

I have not seen many main Chun Li in competitive play; she seems to be used more of a counter pick against certain characters. 

Ken's crouching medium punch has reduced pushback on hit, so players can now link crouching medium punch to hadouken for 2 hits.  

Ken can also perform crouching LK into cancel V Trigger Activate and link into a combo. Finally Ken can V Trigger Shinryuken into Critical Art at Level 1 or Level 2 which is a huge plus for Ken mains. 

There's a number of changes in the new update (Picture: Capcom) 

Necalli's standing HP Crush Counter is changed to a crumple Knockdown giving Necalli the capability to execute a combo afterwards. In prior seasons, Necalli was very limited after this Crush Counter.  

Disc's Guidance pushback has been reduced after the second hit, meaning Necalli could potentially have a hard knockdown set up afterwards depending on where the opponent is on the screen. Valiant Rebellion now has a +2 advantage on block which is excellent. I would not be surprised if Necalli mains like Phenom take advantage of this buff.  

Laura can execute a Thunder Clap in the air. Yes, you read that right. 

If opponents thought her Thunder Clap setups were annoying in the previous seasons, I can only imagine the chaos for this season. Merry Christmas Idom.  

I predict rage quitting percentage will increase by 100%. Laura’s Sunset Wheel recovery is reduced by 1 Frame on hit.  

Rashid's medium Spinning Mixer forward movement distance is now reduced, which is a serious nerf because Rashid players could use Spinning Mixer to corner carry their opponents with ease.  

Apparently Rashid’s Crouching Fierce slipped under the radar and did not get nerfed like many other characters because they added 4 frames of recovery on whiff and expanded the hit box.  

Karin's standing MP increased pushback distance on block which is a decent nerf. Karin’s ability to stun their opponent as easily has been nerfed.  

Karin mains like Punk, I feel like they lucked out in this season. I don't see any major changes to Karin that would make main competitor put Karin on the shelf for another character.  

You can check out the full breakdown of character adjustments here. 

Competitive scene predictions  

iDom won the Capcom Cup 2019 (Picture: Capcom) 

Street Fighter V's latest adjustments make Season 5 feel like a brand new game. The new V Skills II alone will certainly shake-up the competitive scene and will probably see many of our favourite competitors switch to new characters. 

It also feels like this will mark a shift toward project set ups. Characters like Necalli, Zeku, Abigail now have projectiles that I feel players will have to respect during matches. 

In the coming season, it looks like competitors will have to try new strategies with potentially new characters if they want to stay top of the leaderboard.  

Street Fighter V: Champion Edition releases on 14 February 2020.