Urien:
- His stamina is a bit above average.
- He has good reach in his pokes, so he can play footsies somewhat well if needed.
- He has a very fast dash for a character of his size.
- He has good reach with his pokes, which is good when you want to play a mid-range game while building meter for Aegis.
- He has damaging corner juggles, which can be initiated in various ways. Against scrubs, you can catch them with an anti-air fireball and work your magic.
- You can build a good portion of your game around throwing, since he has quite a few ways to be able to land it.
- Aegis Reflector is undoubtedly his best Super for a multitude of reasons:
- It gives Urien actual offensive options to work with and lets him approach the character.
- Get the opponent cornered, and then throw out Aegis. You can score damage with simple high and low mixups, a throw, or just keep them trapped in the corner since it is very difficult for most players to escape.
- Aegis eliminates a lot of delay time in his Fireballs and Tackles. You can use this to make approaches with Tackles safe when blocked, or to help extend his Tackle juggles.
- There are also the NUMEROUS Unblockable setups available to you. You can potentially score 100% damage off of Unblockable setups. They’re not guaranteed to work all the time if the opponent is good at parrying them, but you will at least score really good damage.
- You can also build bar while doing Unblockable setups. Two stocked Aegis Reflectors can let you throw out up to three Aegis Reflectors if you do these unblockables, mixups or setups correctly.
- Overall, Urien is just very fun to play. He sacrifices hitconfirms and guaranteed damage in exchange for a multitude of high-damage situations. He is based on some heavy execution, but the results are very rewarding. He doesn’t really need Unblockables or charge partitioning to win, but his most damaging opportunities come from them. You can also choose to be creative in how you play Urien: RX, Pierre, Senaka, Messatsu Yarou, and Ushi all play their own distinct styles but are very solid. All in all, a solid character who is deserving of being high-mid.
- Urien is very tall. He’s pretty much as tall as Q, which isn’t good because that means his hitbox is also very big. He can also get crossed up pretty easily, which is bad against characters like Ken and Yun.
- His wakeup options are not that great. If the opponent scores a knockdown and is right next to you, you will be pretty limited in what you can do. Headbutt/EX Headbutt is okay, but it can get baited and there’s a wide-enough opening for a counter if the Headbutt whiffs and he lands.
- His pokes are decent as mentioned, but they’re not as great as they could be. Expect trouble against Chun, Twins and Shotos when it comes to footsies.
- All of Urien’s EX moves are either not that good or worthless. EX Fireball will never be used, EX Kneedrop is only okay in surprise situations, EX Tackle is only useful as a juggle extender, and EX Headbutt is only okay as either a juggle extender or a way to set up a throw. Basically, don’t bother with spamming EX moves because YOU NEED TO SAVE UP FOR AEGIS.
- I’ve said this for years, but without Aegis Reflector, Urien is just a better Q with a fireball. Pokes, throws, and the occasional corner juggles are all he has in terms of scoring damage. Be patient, or go apeshit. Either way, you’ll find yourself taking some chances if you’re antsy.
- Urien can be a very technical character who’s based on execution. In the heat of the match, if you miss an Unblockable setup or a corner juggle, that is really going to be demoralizing. A lot of time, effort and patience is required in order to be good with him, and even then you’ll find yourself having trouble against everyone above Akuma. If that doesn’t work, then I’ll end things with a Rockefeller quote when it comes to Urien: “…we should just play Ken.”
