Street Fighter V/Ken/Introduction

Introduction

About Ken

Ken needs little introduction. One of the two famous shotos, he's a beginner-friendly character. A bit unlike in the past, his tools are now more directly oriented towards rushdown, and is now more easily seperatable from Ryu in terms of gameplay. He has a slowish fireball and bad pokes, but instead has great corner carry, great mobility, solid damage and some of the better v-meter building in the game. Despite that, one of this most notable weaknesses in his offensive game is that he doesn't gain many + frames on block from his normals, limiting his pressure game. Overall, Ken isn't a bad character at all to start.

Strengths

Weaknesses

Often gets solid oki from his major conversions, without having to sacrifice damage or corner carry.
Notable corner carry from most of his combos, including v-skill and v trigger ones
Has reliable ways to build v-meter with his target combos, which deal great damage and are very versitile
Good midscreen presence with improved fireballs, solid dashes, run v-skill/v-trigger, and low-evading moves with good reach.

Limited pressure ability on block - has no normal that is +3 or more on block, with many moves being minus or punishable.
Conversions sometimes drops or are inconsistent at his normals' max ranges
Some mixup options are telegraphable, rewards good reads
several somewhat stuffy normals

Final Patch

Players to Watch

ChrisT
Kenpi
Momochi