Street Fighter 6 Tier List: Best Characters, Ranked

Street Fighter 6 boasts an extensive roster from which you can choose your favorite returning and new fighters, but picking the best of the Capcom brawling bunch to take online can be tricky. Of course, each character will have their strengths and weaknesses, with some outshining others, so to help you decide, we’ve put together a tier list of every character in Street Fighter 6.

This SF6 fighter tier list will cover the best characters to choose from if you’re either new to fighting games or a returning fan of the series. Don’t get too worried if you can’t tell your Drive Impacts from your Drive Cancels yet, or if you’re still figuring out what control type to pick, there’s a character here for everyone.

Street Fighter 6 Tier List

Here’s our current Street Fighter 6 tier list:

The Best Street Fighter 6 Characters, Ranked

It’s first important to remember that tier lists can often be arbitrary. What might be your favorite fighter or style of play might wildly differ, which is the beauty of fighting games - if you’re skilled enough or love a certain character's fighting style a lot, you’ll find a way to make them work. 

That being said, there are some characters that have arguably more answers to certain situations mid-match or higher skill ceilings than others to help them stand out from the overall bunch, which is what we’ll consider the most in this tier list.

S Tier Characters, Ranked

• Cammy

• Ryu

• Juri

• Guile

• JP

Here’s our cream of the crop, it’s very nice to have a number of characters take the top S-rank spots, as you could pick up any one of these fighters and take advantage of some great strategies after some time spent with any of them. Cammy boasts an excellent array of mix-up variety both on the ground and mid-air to keep your opponents guessing, while Ryu’s shoto-style has answers for nearly everything that can be thrown your way, with both of them having a high skill ceiling once you learn to mix in cancels and Drive dashes. 

Juri’s hot-footed kicks can efficiently juggle your opponents across the stage and offer plenty of anti-air potential, with Guile following suit with an invincible anti-air that’s hard to react to, with very high projectile pressure and overall damage - if you can master his charge mechanics. Lastly, new character JP’s Psycho Powered cane skills will give you a myriad of zoning options that will frustrate players who need to remain in close range, absolutely on the more technical side, but worth mastery.

A Tier Characters, Ranked

• Chun-Li

• Kimberly

• Ken

• Manon

Not lagging far behind in the slightest, these A-tier characters are absolutely worth your consideration. Chun-Li’s fast and kick-heavy fighting style will overwhelm an unsuspecting or slower opponent, but she requires some highly technical play to get the most out of her. Kimberly’s self-taught Bushinryu Ninja style will offer big mix-up opportunities with albeit a little less damage output, while Manon’s ballet meets Judo-throwing mash-up style has the potential for huge damage, but only if you can ensure you land throws on the opposition to increase her passive counter. 

Lastly, Ken’s a viable pick for Ryu players who don’t want to play Ryu. Jokes aside, he’s got some strong combo potential and retains a lot of his moveset from Street Fighter V, with some high-damage, multi-hitting supers that can turn the tide in a messy fight easily.

B Tier Characters, Ranked

• Marisa

• Luke

• Dhalsim

• Lily

• Blanka

Our B-tier characters are all perfectly viable, which can be said of anyone above and below in this entire list, however, each fighter here has their own intricacies and quirks that might need a little bit more time spent in training mode to fully master. For example, Marisa’s slower, heavier hits are easily taken advantage of, but her button-hold mechanic still makes her a worthy brawler that can confirm some devastating hits. 

The same can be said of Luke and Dhalsim in their ranged options taking a bit more time to understand the full use of in higher levels of play, leaving the casual player wanting. While chaotic seeming at first, Blanka’s moves can be read a bit too easily, and Lily’s damage output can be a bit harder to make work, with consistent combos being pretty much essential.

C Tier Characters, Ranked

• Zangief

• Jamie

• E.Honda

• Dee Jay

While in no way “bad”, our C-tier list of fighter mostly just contain the roster’s bunch of easily exploitable members. In the hands of a master, any one of these characters could wipe their fair share of the floor with most anyone, the issue is that in newer or even intermediate hands, their slower or passive-focused styles (like Jamie’s powerful but hard-to-reach drink levels) can be easily taken advantage of if you’re missing inputs or facing a faster more aggressive opponent. Of course, with enough time and learning the basics and clashing against each character over time, we’re sure anyone could make these guys work.

The Best Street Fighter 6 Character for New Players

The best character you can start with as a new player in Street Fighter 6 is Ryu. He’s the golden boy and face of the series, the true OG wearing a gi. Playing Ryu is perfect for newer players, as his toolkit allows you to practice with both close and mid-ranged fighting styles, with his signature Hadoken projectile able to be charged up (along with other moves) using his simple but powerful Denjin Charge buff. 

The sheer room to learn with Ryu will open the door to success for plenty of players regardless of their initial skill level, with the new Drive Impact and Drive dashing pushing his combo potential as high as it’s ever been. For more Street Fighter 6 guides, check out how to unlock new fighting styles for your in-game avatar or our explainer on every mode available in SF6.