Street Fighter 3: 3rd Strike/Chun-Li/2021/Introduction

Introduction

Chun-Li returns to the third World Warrior tournament, albeit a little different stylistically, both in her appearance and her fighting style. She's still just as quick and agile, but her actions are more fluid. No longer fighting for the sake of revenge, but for the protection of others, she seems more confident in her fighting ability as well.

In her most notorious incarnation, Chun-Li is a defensive beast. She mainly relies on punishing opponents with her high speed and range, solid power and 2nd Super Art which can be combo'd into multiple ways.

Super Arts

SAI (Kikou-Shou)

Kikou-Shou is a relatively high-damage super and comes with a rather short bar, which means you can have this super stocked more often than the Houyoku-Sen. It does more chip damage and is more difficult to parry than the Houyoku-Sen, but the primary drawbacks are the fact that it only comes with one stock which bars liberal use of EXs, and that its range is fairly limited. You cannot cancel a max-ranged c.MK into a Kikou-Shou and expect it to hit. For this reason, SA2 is considered a much more powerful super. However, the SA1 does have its merits as an anti-air.

SAII: (Houyoku-Sen)

Chun-Li's most powerful Super Art is the Houyoku-Sen. It has a healthy stock of two supers, is very damaging, and can be super-cancelled or linked into using many of her attacks. The Houyoku-Sen's final kick can be super-jump cancelled. As the last hit connects, perform a super-jump, and she will leap into the air. The opponent may be juggled following the Houyoku-Sen, and it is another useful tool in her mixup arsenal. It is almost a guaranteed free ride for your opponent into the corner, so you can take that into consideration if it proves advantageous for your position. The Houyoku-Sen is also a 17-hit Super Art, making it a notorious ender of rounds via chip damage. You may also cancel a Kikouken or EX Kikouken into the Houyoku-Sen for the purpose of disrupting the timing for the opponent should they decide to try and parry it.

The Houyoku-Sen also has invincibility frames on startup during her initial rush to the opponent. It can be used to punish fireballs.

SAIII: (Tensei-Ranka)

Tensei-Ranka comes with a much healthier 3-stock limit as opposed to the Kikou-Shou, but it's much more difficult to use successfully. Unless the opponent is very tall or standing, you will not be able to hit them on the way up using the super, which turns the Tensei-Ranka most of the time into an extremely delayed, readable overhead. It is best used as an anti-air or confirmable damage off of an anti-air. Since a common way to punish jumpins with Chun-Li is to either close s.HK or parry into close s.HK, you can super-jump cancel into the Tensei-Ranka after a confirmed hit in order to do more damage than you normally would, at the expense of a reset.

Strengths

Weaknesses

One of the scariest super arts in the game - high damage and stun, a lot of corner carry, mixup options, crazy range and quick startup. Key for her gameplan the best pokes in the game - very hard to punish, while having a lot of range, damage, or options on block or hit. Best kara throw in the game, allowing her to punish effectively with throws and annoy with throw loops from ranges where it may seem easy to walk/block away. Can duck very low, making a lot of move less effectively vs. her. Great walk speed, as well as a solid dash, giving her the mobility to utilize in the footsies game

Underwhelming anti air options, making her more reliant on parrying jump ins on occasions, which is still not an perfectly solid solution. Limited combo options without a full bar of meter, making her reward off of punishes a bit underwhelming in several cases