Capcom Cup X is taking place on February 21 through February 25, 2024, and based on what Capcom has said previously about Street Fighter 6 and balance changes, there’s a very good chance we’ll be seeing the game’s first major balance update take place around the time that the big event ends.
With that in mind, right now is a great time to start talking about what kinds of changes would be good to make in order to improve the game for Season 2. Today, let’s discuss what changes Capcom should make to Lily in Street Fighter 6 Season 2.
In Street Fighter 6, Lily is described as an “easy to play” grappler character who takes heavy inspiration from classic Street Fighter 2 world warrior, T. Hawk. The general consensus on Lily right now is that she is among the worst characters in the game, often being placed in the bottom five on prominent tier lists.
As some of you may know, I have been a Lily main since day 1 (though I’ve gotten several other characters to Master as well). At the time of writing this, I have spent the most time playing as Lily and studying what all she can (and can’t) do.
One of Lily’s biggest weaknesses is her poor defensive options. While she is a grappler character and grapplers are designed to struggle more on that front due to their high offensive capabilities, right now it does not feel like the balance between bad defense and strong offense is correct.
Lily has a unique wind stock mechanic that essentially unlocks the real utility for her main special moves. She begins every round with zero stocks and has to build them up throughout the match in order to gain access to the move properties that make her most effective.
She has to jump through several hoops before she can really hit her stride and get her offense going, and while that’s not a problem in and of itself, having that kind of requirement on top of getting steamrolled when the opponent goes on the offensive makes her gameplan feel uneven and contributes a lot to her being considered on the weaker end of things.
One of the first things that those who tried out Lily after Street Fighter 6 launched found and were confused by was the lack of a fully invincible Overdrive Tomahawk Buster. This special move was ripped right from T. Hawk, and it acts similar to a traditional Dragon Punch in its anti-air capabilities.
Historically speaking, T. Hawk’s Tomahawk Buster (the EX version in Street Fighter 4) came equipped with full invincibility and acted as a true wake up reversal option. Yet, here in Street Fighter 6, Lily’s Overdrive Tomahawk Buster only retains throw invincibility, meaning that if she is being pressured by normal attacks, projectiles, or anything else other than throws, she is going to get completely stuffed, countered, and punished hard.
The lack of full invincibility on this move is especially strange considering Lily’s wind stock mechanic. One would think that since using Tomahawk Buster while having a wind stock will spend that wind stock, that Capcom would give her full invincibility on the OD version of the DP when she has a stock — since wind stocks buff the special move.
Lily performs her Overdrive Tomahawk Buster against Cammy.
But nope. She doesn’t have that right now, and not having such a reversal leaves her at the mercy of constant offensive pressure. There are things like Drive Reversal and parry that can help her escape bad situations, but the lack of a solid wake up reversal really hurts Lily’s gameplan.
Proposed balance change: I feel that a reasonable change for Lily would be to give her full invincibility on Overdrive Tomahawk Buster, but only when she uses the windclad version. She still has to work to get it, and she still has to give up very valuable resources (two bars of Drive Gauge and a wind stock) to use it, but having that option would make it so that, if the Lily player is smart with it, she can get out of some of her worst situations more often and stay in the fight more consistently.
Continuing with her poor defense, Lily’s level 1 super is one of her best wake up reversal options — and it’s not good. This super happens to have the slowest start up of any level 1 in the game, even beating out fellow grappler characters like Zangief and Manon.
Lily’s Breezing Hawk starts up in a whopping 13 frames. For comparison’s sake, better characters in the game with supers that function similarly have their start up for level 1 super in the 6f – 8f range.
What slow start up for this super means is that pretty much any character you face has the ability to bait this reversal out with a meaty light attack. Some characters, like Ken, can even bait it out with medium buttons, meaning that even if you think you’ve made the correct read and actually got your punish, the opponent still has time to block or parry and make you pay.
As a result, if Lily wants to better secure an actual reversal to escape pressure, she has to commit to spending either two bars of super or opt to bet it all and attempt a level 3 — which is a major ask. If she’s spending a super bar to try for an escape, which is an extremely valuable resource, then it should actually function as a solid reversal and give her the proper pay off for the cost when she uses it correctly.
Below you will find an example of Lily’s level 1 super being baited by Chun-Li’s standing light punch, even when the super was activated before the jab was even in play.
If you don’t quite understand what “privilege” is in #SF6, here’s a great example of not having it. #SF6_Lily Inb4 all the Ken and JP players tell me it’s a skill issue pic.twitter.com/W7Mlw2OHtM
— Steven “Dream King” Chavez (@TheKingOfDremes) August 19, 2023
Proposed balance change: Capcom should reduce the start up on Lily’s level 1 super to be more in line with other characters that have similar attacks. At the very least, Breezing Hawk’s start up should be below 10 frames as 13 frames is just too much and has proven to be a hindrance to the character.
This change would also allow her to convert into level 1 super more consistently in juggle combos and have more opportunities to score damage without having to cash out on most of her resources in one go.
Street Fighter 6 has been criticized actively for its inputs and how they register. Since launch, numerous players (including myself) have reported tons of accidental inputs and things simply not coming out when they should.
Capcom has taken several steps to fix some of these issues — and have done a great job in doing so — however, Lily is still a character that is highly affected by overlapping inputs that cause serious issues for her in battle.
Specifically, performing her Condor Wind maneuver (quarter-circle-back + punch) can sometimes result in her getting a Mexican Typhoon command grab instead. This can be a big problem when you’re trying to stock up from further away from the opponent, but instead of building wind stocks, you completely whiff a command throw and leave yourself totally open to a jump in combo.
Lily’s Condor Wind earns her a wind stock that she can use to buff certain special moves.
Obviously, having cleaner execution helps in this situation, but sometimes things like this are unavoidable as you’re constantly moving around the stage and this accidental input can happen from something as simple as walking forward then going for a windclad stock or cutting a Drive Rush short with Condor Wind.
Proposed balance change: A potential fix for this could be changing the input for Condor Wind to a kick button instead of a punch as command throws are performed with punch buttons. This change would be much more of a quality of life change, but it would also help Lily be more consistent in what she wants to do in any given match.
This is a change that I’ve seen other people ask for, but I’m not 100% sure on just yet. As she stands right now, Lily starts every round with zero wind stocks and she can build up to three at a time.
There is an argument that definitely could be made that she should either start the round with wind stocks or see them roll over in between rounds, like a Blanka or Manon do with Blanka-chan dolls and medals, respectively. While I do see the merit of making changes to this aspect of the character, I can also see how it could end up being too strong if it isn’t handled correctly.
As a Lily main, I’d welcome a buff to her windclad stocks all day, every day. However, in the interest of the bigger picture (which is what I’m aiming for here), I am hesitant to encourage Capcom to make changes there unless they’re very well thought out.
Lily is a grappler-style character who needs to play incredibly patiently to out maneuver her opponents and place herself into positions where she wants to be. She needs to manage her resources well, and doesn’t have access to her best tools without first stocking those resources, then spending them.
With proper match up knowledge and experience, Lily can find openings and dish out great damage (as long as the resources and situation allow for it), but she suffers heavily on the defensive side.
As a means of not going too far with her — as that’s a common fear when it comes to properly balancing grapplers — I believe Capcom should start by buffing her OD Tomahawk Buster when its windclad and reduce the start up of her level 1 super so that both can give her better chances of surviving and staying in the fight when the opponent is going heavily on offense.
Capcom might also consider taking a closer look at how she banks and retains windclad stocks, but they’ll need to be careful in buffing this aspect of her game as it could end up being too strong of a change.