He also discusses where the strongest regions are for Street Fighter 5
One of the biggest surprises towards the end of Street Fighter 5’s run as the main game on the Capcom Pro Tour has been the emergence of EndingWalker’s Ed, who qualified for Capcom Cup 9 back in December. This is the second part of our interview series for Capcom Cup 9, you can check out the first part with Derek “iDom” Ruffin, where he covers his top SF5 characters and training tactics.
In this piece, EndingWalker lists his top 10 characters in the game, along with offering a regional breakdown of where he feels the strongest players are from in this long reaching interview. He also shares some tips for how he leveled up so quickly.
Catalyst: Where do you rank Ed in Street Fighter 5 in terms of his tiers in placement?
EndingWalker: Everyone in the European Union right now is putting him around top four-ish, but I still can’t see it. I would have him top six right now, he’s definitely a very strong character. The top 10 of Street Fighter 5 right now should just be called tournament viable and very strong. There’s not a huge difference in that apart from maybe with the top three. Ed is definitely in the tournament category.
Catalyst: Who are your top 10 characters in Street Fighter 5?
EndingWalker: In no particular order: Dhalsim, Luke, Poison, Cody, Ed, Falke, Rashid, Balrog, M. Bison and Karin, who I think is still pretty strong.
Catalyst: You have Ed pretty far up in the tiers, what do you think he does well as a character?
EndingWalker: He does everything well, except whiff punishing. He has probably the second strongest corner game in Street Fighter 5, very strong frame traps, stupidly high damage, two of the best V-Triggers; arguably the best three bar V-Trigger. Basically a tool for everything.
Even though his EX-Reversal is slow, it beats a lot of other things and can be used as a delay because it’s a one button attack. Best anti-air normal in the game with standing medium kick, a very strong forward and backdash, a confirmable low, a long range heavy kick, one of the best 4 frame lights in the game, and obviously, Flicker.
Catalyst: How about Ed’s weaknesses, what do you think they are?
EndingWalker: Whiff punishing and maybe challenging certain things that only have a 3 frame gap, because his 3 frame normal is quite weak.
Catalyst: You also play Cody a bit, why do you switch between Ed and Cody?
EndingWalker: Cody is broken and he can whiff punish. Characters with big hurtboxes, Ed can’t whiff punish, because his conversions will whiff. So for those match ups, like against Falke and Birdie, I’m going to use Cody, because Cody is just better. He does the same damage, he’s very similar to Ed in that regard, but the only difference is he’s got better whiff punishes, but worse pressure.
Catalyst: When did you start playing competitively?
EndingWalker: I think my first tournament was 2019, so maybe a year after that.
Catalyst: Did you start playing casually at first, or did you start right away trying to be competitive?
EndingWalker: I just played this game a lot, and eventually got good at it without meaning to.
Catalyst: Has it been a shock to see yourself rise up through the ranks so quickly at a young age?
EndingWalker: Yes, I did not ever expect to be someone who would qualify for Capcom Cup, not in a million years. If you told me I would do this three years ago, I would have laughed at you.
Catalyst: How do you think the European scene stacks up with other competitive Street Fighter scenes around the globe?
EndingWalker: Maybe I am slightly biased, but I think the European Union is the best or second best region in the world right now. It’s hard to tell, because Japan’s got maybe a higher quantity of ridiculously strong players, but if you look at the top 5 in Europe versus the top 5 in Japan, I think it’s very even. The U.S. would be third.
Catalyst: What do you think of Falke as a character?
EndingWalker: I think Falke’s broken, that’s not just because she destroys the character that I main. Playing against her with other characters does not feel fun, and if you look at her tools objectively she’s got probably got the best air game. Very strong buffers, one of the best standing heavy punches in the game, and a laser beam for no apparent reason.
A one button reversal and an anti-air DP that’s two buttons that you can’t empty jump and can hit cross ups, two very strong V-Triggers, high damage. The only thing that she may be lacking is movement speed, so it can be hard for her to make stuff whiff, but because of how far range her pokes are, that don’t have recovery, that’s not too much of an issue because you’re never in range to press anything, anyway.
Catalyst: How do you think that you became so good, so quickly?
EndingWalker: I played a lot of battle lounge with one person (-Novachrono-) who plays a lot of characters. I basically never touched ranked mode initially. I feel like people who play ranked straight from the get-go get very bad habits and then will have to get rid of them, which takes longer. If you have a training partner, which is my friend, just play them a lot. And if you both play lots of characters, you tend to learn that way.
Catalyst: Do you plan on playing Street Fighter 6 competitively? If so which characters are looking good to you right now?
EndingWalker: I’m definitely gonna play the game, cause it’s really fun. I’ll see if i can play it at a competitive level, but I’m mainly just going to be playing it for fun and see what happens. I won’t play competitively if I don’t find it fun.
Catalyst: Who do you feel your top 5 biggest threats are going into Capcom Cup? (Note, this was asked before seeding was decided.)
EndingWalker: The4philzz, Hitbox|Kawano, Bandits|MenaRD, MisterCrimson and 00|Phenom.
Catalyst: How confident are you going into Capcom Cup? Do you feel like you can win it, or do you feel you’re just there to do your best?
EndingWalker: A bit of both, the only person I don’t want to lose to is The4philzz. I want to lose to someone who’s not from the European Union.
You can follow EndingWalker on his Twitter page. He’ll be participating in the upcoming Capcom Cup 9 tournament, taking place from Feb 12 through Feb 19, 2023. You’ll be able to find full coverage of Capcom Cup 9 throughout the week here on EventHubs.
