Street Fighter 6/Zangief/Introduction

Introduction

A colossal wrestler nicknamed the Red Cyclone. Zangief is dedicated to physical improvement and instructing his students.

Strengths

Weaknesses

Absurd Burst Damage: Zangief is infamous for his ability to steal rounds off of a single, well-placed special move. His Screw Piledriver is the best command grab in the game with incredible damage, and the OD version deals more damage than some supers. Opponents must be wary if they are close to Zangief. Incredible Mixups: True to his earlier appearances, Zangief inherits a timeless, devastating strike/throw game. Once he's in, Zangief's opponents gamble with their lives. Natural Counter to Parry: Zangief's grab-based gameplan makes universal defensive mechanics such as Drive Parry or Drive Impact noticeably weaker and more risky against him. Great use of Drive: Drive Rush in all its forms closes the gap and makes Zangief a tremendous threat, while Overdrive Command Grabs deal insane damage. Zangief can Drive Rush after SPD and resume the pressure, or use it to set up absolutely devious tick throw situations. Fear is the Mindkiller: Zangief's large frame combined with the aforementioned pros allow him to leverage a unique "fear-based" gameplan. Opponents must often take risky decisions when dealing with Zangief's offense, and options like Aerial Russian Slam and Borscht Dynamite exist purely to take advantage of mistakes. Consistently leveraging Zangief's fear factor can force opponents to make many poor decisions throughout a match.

Expensive Anti-Airs: Gief's biggest problem is his lack of safe, quick anti-airs. While his 2HP and Lariat have great reward on hit, they leave him incredibly open on whiff and require faster reactions than usual anti-air options to be effective. Slow and Limited in Neutral: In trade for his high health, Zangief is slower than other characters. On top of that, he lacks options to outright punish things like fireballs, instead being forced to navigate around them using Lariat and Drive Parry, or use riskier options like jumping or Siberian Express. Limited Okizeme: Altough Zangief's mixups are very rewarding in term of damage, they also create lots of distance between him and his opponent outside the corner, forcing him to play neutral again if he wants to makes the opponent guess again. Expensive Reversals: Zangief's Level 1 can't be used as a reversal as it only hits airbone opponents, Level 2 works but is very slow. Zangief only gets a good reversal when he has full super meter.