Leading up to the release of Street Fighter 6, it almost seemed like Ryu was finally ready to break free from the stigma of being a weak character as established throughout Street Fighter 5. Unfortunately, this didn’t really pan out as it’s generally recognized that he’s the weakest of the “Shoto” archetype since Ken and Luke are both so powerful.
Though it can be argued that Ryu is really struggling in the current meta, nobody really scoffs at Ryu’s damage output. It can be difficult for Ryu to get the ideal openings he needs to take advantage of his damage, but he is certainly able to hit hard once he does get that perfect opening.
Over on Twitter, Javits Arias released a clip that features a new combo for Ryu that Javits described as being “Ryu’s true max damage combo,” which was inspired by a combo shown off by EndingWalker back in August. It should be noted that, in another Tweet, Javits would later indicate that he believes that he might be able to push Ryu’s damage even higher.
Regardless, Javits demonstrates the combo against Guile, a character in Street Fighter 6 that has 10,000 stamina. The sequence begins with Ryu performing his Denjin Charge. This ends up being the difference of 7,576 damage and 7,176 damage.
Upon baiting out a Flash Kick from Guile, Ryu initiates this combo with the Joudan Sokutogeri, better known as the “Donkey Kick,” while Guile is still airborne and cornered. This gives Ryu enough time to fully charge his Super Art 2, which deals 3,400 points of damage by itself.
From here, Ryu then spends the remainder of his Drive Gauge to perform a series of Drive Rush cancels to keep Guile in a juggle state. Check it all out in the clip below:
Ryu’s true max damage combo!
7576 damage (7176 without Denjin Charge).@STrangestHail93 @EndingWalker @paladin1019 @SaltyMarv @ChrisHuRocks @SamuraiFGC @NY_Teiga #SF6_Ryu pic.twitter.com/H72cSnvVOq
— Javits Arias (@jav1ts) January 20, 2024
Of course, it should be mentioned that TheSaiyan first demonstrated a variation of this combo about two months ago, though it deals 7,526 damage instead of 7,576 damage.
