Ken is… pretty good in Street Fighter 6. Regardless of what some Ken players might tell you, the fiery Shoto has some incredible tools in battle and has a lot of stats (both in usage and major tournament wins) that support the assertion that he is a strong character.
Content creator / pro player Broski has released a new video that delves into explaining and analyzing exactly what makes Ken such a powerful character in Street Fighter 6 in hopes that it will further illuminate the situation and hopefully lead to him receiving significant nerfs at some point. However, this video might also unintentionally convince you to start playing Ken instead. You’ve been warned…
Now, before you accuse Broski of doing the opposite of what the Ken players have been doing and up playing the fighter, know that there are some very important statistics that inspired the creation of his video.
As Broski points out, in last year’s Capcom Cup there were a total of 8 Ken players qualified making him the second most represented character in the finals behind Luke’s whopping 10. This year, Ken is the #1 most represented in Capcom Cup with 9 of them qualified for the finals, and there’s a chance that more can still qualify before all of the spots in the event are filled.
He then goes on to more closely analyze several of the tools that make Ken as strong as he is in Street Fighter 6 starting with his standing light kick. This 5 frame normal has amazing reach, can be hit confirmed from crouching light punch at ranges that most other characters can’t, with its only real downside being you can’t get a Drive Rush combo off of it regularly, though you can absolutely do so when it hits as a counter hit.
More egregious, though, is medium kick Jinrai, which Broski demonstrates acts as a true blockstring when cancelled into from a standing heavy punch. The first hit of the Jinrai kick cannot be interrupted after st. HP on block, and the second hit (low) has very little counter play even going so far as Ken being able to retaliate with his own Drive Impact should the opponent try to use one of their own through the blockstring.
You can and should check out Broski’s full breakdown of how strong Ken is in Street Fighter 6 right now, and if you end up switching to the fiery Shoto as a result… don’t blame the messenger.