I know it’s too early to say really but on the event hubs tier list Ken is placed really low, even below ryu.
Just based off of first impressions do you guys think that’s where he belongs or is he better than most people are giving him credit for?
Personally I’d say he’s mid tier, maybe even high mid tier at best. But who knows.
What do you guys think?
Well we have to factor in a couple things, what is the popular “meta” going to shift to and can Ken adapt to it, can Ken properly take advantage of his tools and the systems within the game, how does he fight against the rest of the cast, does he have any weaknesses you just can’t overlook?
Tons of questions and situations come into play when asking about how good a character ACTUALLY is. Playerbase also comes into it slightly, in Ultra a lot of people were saying Viper/Ibuki were top 5 due to their changes but because the general playerbase for those characters is on the low side, we never saw them shine. If we have people like Momochi developing the character and attending tournaments people are bound to pay attention to Ken more closely than say, Laura. It’s also just subjective, you’ll never objectively have a #1 character unless they have an outstanding everything or something broken they can abuse.
My personal opinion is that Ken is mid-table currently, B+ tier. BUT ALTHOUGH I SAY THAT, I think he could be a hidden top 5 when he’s developed further and we start seeing pro players make usage of his new style.
Yeah I can’t wait to see how the meta evolves tbh. I feel like Ken’s only problem so far is the lack of really good normals. A lot of characters outrange him or have a lot of safer stuff to throw out that give Ken a tough time.
Kens godlike
as our lord and saviour Lupe Fiasco has shown us, he is clearly top sss+ tier
He seems mid to lower-mid to me.
He’s bottom 5, IMHO.
Low mid imo
Yeah,this is my feeling as well.If he had something like Ryu’s st.MK he would’ve been top tier.
Low-Mid tier is my feeling as well.
although not as abusable, st.rh sort of acts like ryus st.mk.
In beta 3 and 4 I exclusively played ryu to get a feel for the game in general and I see myself using rh in the same situations I would have used ryus st.mk
You can also confirm your VTC from st.hk delay cancels if you have good enough reactions, and it threatens CC run OS every time you throw it and it’s unpunishable unless you throw it out literally in their face…in which case why are you doing that.
I honestly think it’s less of the stubby normals issue and more of the fact that he requires some insanely good reactions to play effectively, because his footsie game is fine; it’s just not traditional. TC1/TC2/cr.lk x cr.lp/st.hk VTC/cross up tatsu > b.mp/cr.mk xx super all require you to be mentally aware in an instant. I think it makes Ken one of the hardest characters to play in the game.
Since my reactions are lousy i probably should switch characters xD b…but i like ken 
Now that you mention it, I do notice Ken requires extremely fast reflexes once you notice your hit confirms. I just thought that’s how Street fighter v was in general but that might only be a thing exclusive to Ken and a couple other characters.
I always have a tough time confirming into CA and so I either have to really buffer the motions or just commit to doing it and hope that it hits.
Yeah, I think Ken is mid tier, with a few tweaks will be top 5. He requires slightly above average execution, but fast reaction, which sucks because I’m not that good at reacting and hit confirming. Still I love him too much to put the work in for other characters. Will alt either Ryu or Guile and hope those cover my bad matchups.
3 Kens in Top 8 at Winter Brawl.
Just saying.
Fastest dash
Fastest V-Reversal
Easy damage
Great crush counter
Retarded corner carry
True DP and 3 frame reversals
High tier at minimum.
Yeah I was about to say a Ken took 2nd place for that I figured that’d garner Ken more attention
A Laura also won the Cannes tournament and she’s been considered pretty weak by most players. I still think it’s too early to use tournament results as tier deciders as I still think a lot of players don’t fully understand match-ups/the game itself fully yet, but all of those points you made are very strong in Ken’s favour for sure. He has shortcomings as well as those positives though, you also have to judge his ability to fight the roster which is still sketchy this early in the games lifespan.
Lots of uneasiness when it comes to deciding if he’s high tier, at face value(Quite like SF4/3S) he doesn’t look that deadly, but give it 3/4 months and yeah I think he’s going to be a contender for top 5/top 3.
Reason I stick by mid is because Kens run pressure on blocked normals is not safe. There’s no way to make it safe, and unless you are going to DP sometimes opponents are going to mash jab. That Nash adjusted to Julio very quickly and completely owned the last set. Even if he is higher than mid, I don’t think the average good player can unlock his potential. We need at least one safe on block run setup IMO, dunno if it would be broken or not, but the way Julio played Ken looks like it is harmony with Kens designs. But if you can blow up that with just jabbing when you see Ken run, especially for those with a 3 frame one, I just don’t see how he will not have a bunch of hard matchups.
No this really true. I’ve been thinking about spacing the run so that you just cancel into block so that you at least close the distance.
Otherwise, without the run I feel like Ken just devolves into Ryu. Or worse.
Run cancels were the least of Julio’s concerns. Even when Joe started adapting, he still managed to fall for them from time to time.
Joe had Julio beat on pure fundamentals. Spacing, poking, frame traps, everything.