It has been just about a week since Street Fighter 6’s Season 2 balance update launched, and a slew of changes have been added to everyone on the current roster. On top of this the latest DLC fighter, Akuma, was also released, giving the game a much needed shake up.
Now that one of the most powerful characters in all of Street Fighter (traditionally) has been added to the cast and many characters saw buffs and nerfs, players everywhere are wondering who the best of the best might be. Two-time Capcom Cup and first-time Evo Japan champion Bandits|MenaRD recently shared who he believes are the top 5 characters in the game right now, and he’s left out one fighter that has people fairly surprised.
It goes without saying (but I’m going to say it anyway) that it is VERY early for a top five characters list. It’s hard to nail down who will be the top tiers this season with only a week under our belt, but considering Mena’s vast ability and knowledge in the game, his foresight is definitely something that warrants our attention.
This whole thing began when Sajam prompted fans on Twitter to share who they think is the current top five in Street Fighter 6 Season 2.
“Feels so hard to tell the power level of the cast right now in SF6, so let’s do some early guesses,” Sajam began. “Who’s your top 5 right now? I’ll come back in a few months and see how we’re feeling again.”
As Sajam noted, Mena’s response is an early guess and not a definitive tier list of any sort. However, when a player as strong as Mena has an inclination of who might be strong and who isn’t, those are probably characters you should be paying attention to.
Mena’s top five Street Fighter 6 Season 2 characters list right now is as follows:
• Akuma
• Juri
• Guile
• Rashid
• AKI
Akuma
Juri
Guile
Rashid
AKI— Bandits MenaRD(最強) (@_MenaRD__) May 28, 2024
Analyzing this top five a little more closely, we see some picks that do make a lot of sense. Akuma being a top tier and potentially one of the best characters in the entire game was a safe bet before he launched, and now that we’ve all had some time with him a lot of his tools definitely feel strong and top tier material (though the jury is very much still out on him).
Juri, Guile, and Rashid were all considered top tier in Season 1, and they got some solid buffs this time around that could very well make them climb the ranks into the top five. This, coupled with some of the best characters of last season (Luke, JP, Ken, and Dee Jay) being scaled down here in Season 2 could organically place one, two, or all three of these fighters safely in the top five.
As far as the A.K.I. pick goes, this one might seem entirely insane to those who haven’t been paying attention. We noted in a recent episode of Talk and Block (which you can view below) that we felt A.K.I. was easily one of the biggest winners of the Season 2 update, and a lot of folks in the community feel similarly.
A.K.I. has a lot of hype behind her right now as she received a laundry list of buffs in Season 2 and was given several of the things A.K.I. players wanted to see for her. It’s still early, but the DLC fighter is definitely looking like a potential contender for top tier.
What’s surprising about Mena’s list, though, is that he does not have Luke — his main — in the top five at all. This has some people very perplexed as Luke was easily considered the #1 character in Season 1 and he didn’t get too much in the way of harsh nerfs this time around — though the crouching medium punch nerf is definitely real.
However, Mena has flat out stated that he does not believe that Luke is a top five character in Street Fighter 6 Season 2 right now. He also shared some thoughts on Blanka, his other main, saying he feels the character is essentially dead now after his Season 2 nerfs.
What do you think of MenaRD’s early Street Fighter 6 Season 2 top five characters list? What does your own top five list look like?
Be sure to let us know in the comments.