During Capcom Cup X, players were able to try out Ed prior to his release on February 27, 2024. It turned out to be quite the surprise to find that a few of the fighters had some balance tuning applied to them.
Earlier today, Capcom confirmed that the update that’s launching tomorrow will introduce some adjustments to a handful of characters. This adjustments are likely coming since the tenth season of the Capcom Pro Tour series has wrapped up.
We can assume that the balance adjustments that will be dropping tomorrow will be the same as the changes spotted at Capcom Cup X. Due to this, we already have a good idea of what type of changes to expect.
JP ended up receiving a couple of notable nerfs to his Overdrive Amnesia, which is very often referred to as the strongest reversal in Street Fighter 6. From the clips, it appears that Overdrive Amnesia has a shorter window in which the counter properties can be triggered.
Additionally, Overdrive Amnesia now applies significant combo scaling while the projectiles are active. This will dramatically reduce the amount of damage that JP is able to dish out from a defensive position.
For Ken, it would appear that his throw loop has been targeted. However, it appears that Ken’s throw loop, while not as effective as before, is still possible to perform by walking rather than dashing.
Ryu is seeing buffs to the light and heavy versions of his Hashogeki special. Light Hashogeki was observed to be safer on block, making it so that he couldn’t be punished by jabs that come out in 4 frames. As for his heavy Hashogeki, Ryu will now be left in throw range of the opponent after the special is blocked, permitting better pressure applications.
Jamie’s forward throw will now have a follow up that allows him to use The Devil Inside, raising his Drink Level. Doing so will make it so that Jamie will forfeit any pressure he could otherwise get, but he’ll always be able to safely raise his Drink Level after a forward throw through this method.
Speaking of Jamie’s Drink Level, the build at Capcom Cup X also buffed Jamie’s level 2 Super Art. Rather than resetting Jamie’s Drink Level back to 0, it will now revert to the Drink Level the player was at before activating.
Finally, Zangief can now cancel the first hit of his Overdrive Lariat into his level 3 Super Art and have it act as a combo. The damage of Zangief’s level 3 Super Art will be scaled by doing this, but it’s a nice option regardless.
Capcom also revealed that this batch of changes isn’t the Season 2 update. There will be an even bigger balance patch later, likely along with or after Akuma is released.
Either way, we’ll be keeping an eye out for patch notes that should theoretically drop prior to the scheduled server maintenance period that will also make Ed available as a playable character for those that purchase his DLC.
Coming with the Ed update on February 27 is some balance tuning to a handful of characters. The major balance update that affects all characters is still planned for a later time.
— Street Fighter (@StreetFighter) February 26, 2024