I started at Rookie and made it currently to Diamond 2, so here are my thoughts:
**Rookie**: Just pressing buttons.
**Iron**: Strongest specials/normals, nobody punishes.
**Bronze**: Basic combos.
**Silver**: Basic combos into supers & abuse DI
**Gold**: Anti-airs, punish very unsafe moves & counter DI
**Plat 1-3**: More powerful combos and abusing your character's gimmicks.
**Plat 3-5**: Delay tech and shimmies.
**D 1-2**: Countering character gimmicks and currently I'm stop my bad habits.
Diamond 3 to 5, IMO, is when you finally learn to use your buttons, not as a damage source or a gimmick, but rather as a tool to learn your opponent's habits.
And as a Master, I'm still learning, so I'll see what I can learn.
This is what I’ve been coming to realize as someone who started in rookie and is now in diamond 2. It used to be a game of “medium kick drc into bnb” but now I’m realizing those other buttons sorta have purpose.
Pokes to keep you opponent at a good range, wiff punishers, certain moves might be used to condition your opponent into thinking they know what you’ll do, then using a different button with a different use
I play the game quite frequently, but at the start I choose "I'm new" and placed silver 2. I climbed until gold 1 with only using a few games, and then never touched ranked again. ~350 hours later I finally booted up rank (mainly because I only wanted the drive ticket quest) and ended up grinding it on akuma and hit diamond 3. Skipping all those in between ranks was a really weird transition for me, so learnings a bit wonky. But honestly I was only fighting diamonds and masters in casuals so it doesn't feel too different.
I've had a pretty hard time learning how to get in with seasoned players with akuma, and trying to lose my habits has been a struggle. Spamming HK, ex DP on wakeup when I see a frame of motion (which is usually a jump), and reversal DI.
I literally got my opinion shit on in another recent thread for suggesting Gold as a good starting point for working on anti airs but I think your suggestions are pretty good across the board 
Just got gold finally and I feel like half of the matches our word of the day is "shimmy". Just two jackasses shinnying every wakeup, never learning. I've been having fun.
right, but every single low rank shimmy just does the shimmy then re-approaches to throw again. It's so funny to see them "shimmy" early, only to just put out a throw
I'm D2ish and I still have no idea what delay tech is and my shimmy game is weak lol.
I would add "jump less" and "pay attention to your opponents gauge meter" to somewhere in plat.
Delay Tech might be one of those things your brain registered as common sense but didn't have a name for.
Basically you try to block a little bit and then break a throw at the last possible moment (relative to when you predict you would've been grabbed.)
Ideally you block an attack (and your LPLK input does nothing cause you're in blockstun) OR you break a throw after an awkwardly long "grapple phase".
**Delay**ing the throw **tech**, as it were.
Any chance you can expand on delay tech? I’ve looked it up in a few places and it’s for other games. From what I see it kinda means when you’re in the corner delay your grab to kinda “react” to theirs because their is a bigger window as opposed to spamming grab on wake up?
Whenever you are "waking up" you opponent has a variety of options and is usually at an advantage. Most of the time, they will go for a meaty attack or a throw, So you need to start guessing, but delay tech cover two aggressive options.
To do this you need to:
While waking up you start by pressing backdown to defend yourself.
Then wait little bit (really just a little, maybe 4 frames) and do a throw.
* If your opponent do a meaty you will be in hitstun and the throw won't come out
* If your opponent do a throw you are going to tech the throw
For ultra-aggressive players, you might feel that your defense is exceptional and start to delay tech everything (as a bad habit). However, you will eventually encounter opponents who notice this and start shimming you. Shimming is just baiting a throw or delay tech by walking back.
EDIT: throws, not grabs
Great breakdown.
Except one thing: and this is totally me being an OCD weirdo but they're throws, not grabs.
grabs have a very specific meaning in street fighter (ie command grabs like Zangief that can't be teched and can only be jumped)
Again, I'm just being OCD because I'm sure everyone would know what you meant but I can't help myself. I have to say something.
I'm still plat 2 (except with Bison where I somehow got Plat 4)
and also started at Rookie.
I agree mostly but I'll add.
Bronze: Never needed drive rush
Silver: felt like beginning to use drive rush became a little more important (even if just raw drive rush to continue pressure, especially with my Jamie)
Gold: Actual drive rush cancel combo/pressure absolutely necessary. If you don't do it, your opponent will.
Platinum: Tighten everything way up. Your opponents are making less mistakes so it's important you make less mistakes too (like not doing something that would leave you big time negative. Don't gift punish counter combos for the off chance your opponent might not block the last hit of your rekka for example)
Also somewhere between high gold and platinum is where I felt I really started learning the ranges of buttons better. Spacing, spacing, spacing.
So important to do things at their proper range, at the very edge of their range if possible.
I'm pretty new to the game and currently in Bronze 5 nearing the Silver ranks.
What you describe is exactly my learning curve so far starting to get basic combos down and understanding how footsies work. Consistency seems to be key now. Matchup knowledge and anti airs. Them anti airs are important
I just want to add to this and say that by diamond. I do feel like you need to be working on meaty setups and how to apply pressure safely. I only made it to masters once practice a lot of meaty setups and safe jumps.
You don't really have to learn how to dp, but good list. Also, not a lot of people DI in high Plat because they're afraid to get punished, so you don't actually need to know how to counter it since people throw them out rarely.
Master - optimized combos in all situation, memorizing other characters important frame data, simplify thought process and gameplan for better reaction
I don't really agree on abusing character gimmick though, it could built up some bad habit that is hard to be shedded. Instead of abuse, more like u rely on it while getting better
If your last advice is "stop my bad habits", doesn't that say a lot about the "abusing X" advice?
Your goal should never be to abuse something to reach the next division. It should always be improving, even if that means losing a few games trying to learn something new.
Don't let imaginary numbers dictate how you should play
I feel like I skipped plat 3-5. I plateaued at plat 3 for a while, but burner through every rank until D2 in a matter of 1 afternoon. I feel like now I'm learning what you said are in plat 3 trough D2. Might be that nobody knows how to check Honda tho. Also I'm learning to scout my opponent a bit, at least to the point I can read a reversal on wakeup or in what situations someone would take a throw. For the rest completely agree
There’s no set learning pattern, and the truth is that everyone can be different and get to master differently. Even as a master with high diamonds on the side I’ve never once (and I mean even once) used a drive reversal or a shimmy. Hell, I didn’t even learn to AA people trying to jump out of the corner until very recently… lol. I ranked up purely on combos and delayed normals. Some other person might suck at combos, but they could get to master purely on good defense and pinpoint AA’s. Some get there on a theoretical basis, with knowledge on frame data/traps (which I know nothing about). Everyone has their strengths that carry them through each rank, and it’s not until like the 1600 MR range that I think people learn to put it all together.
My best character is currently zangief in D4.
Up to platinum it is basically learning to anti air and learn some combos to dish out damage.
Platinum: Learn delay tech, perfect anti airs, optimize combos, react to random DI
Diamond: Learn to shimmy. the game becomes much more of a mind game. Both players become much more strategical.
Seems like every other bison is spamming scissor kicks but I'm in this world to spam Devil's Reverse and Headstomp.
I love full screen devil's reversing people, or timing the OD headstomp to beat their anti air, or locking them into the corner and doing some full blown season 1 honda shit by being like crouch jab x2 into devil's reverse. Oh look, I'm plus. Time to do it again. LOL.
Yea, the scissors kick isn't too bad to check. It corner carries well even when blocked.
The head stomp timing and the devil reverse to steal turns. The slide to catch you walking forward. Bison has enough BS to fill the mental stack,
That's without getting into the depth of the character with the bomb setups and psycho pressure.
He layers in those plus frames well.
It's not that it beats it straight up. It's that when timed correctly it can kind of bait it out. That's why I said "timing it to beat anti airs"
See, the thing is Bison jumps REALLY high. So high that it will make almost every DP in the game whiff if they throw that DP out when he's at maximum height (even Guile's flash kick)
and much like how Honda has throw 3 different versions of butt-slam that have different timings (to make it harder to perfect parry) Bison can not only has 3 different jump angles based on kick strength but can manually decide when to attack.
You could attack on the first possible frame or the last or anything in between.
And depending on what your opponent is doing and where they are positioned this can easily bait out anti airs by hanging in the air a little longer than they expect (even crossing them up in certain situations which makes it even harder for them)
and if you think they're starting to get used to you doing it so late: Bang. You do it early.
Or you devil's reverse instead of the head stomp (choosing whether it's same side or cross up at the last second, or whether you want to commit to the attack or steer yourself far away at the last second)
thus making it very easy to beat anti-airs when done correctly
Yes
Guile literally can’t boom if Bison charges. If you throw a boom while Bison charges you eat a Psycho Crusher almost every time.
The devil rise can mess with charge also if you decide to turtle too much.
Haven’t really labbed normals against him yet but that’s on my agenda for this weekend. Currently ranked is a nightmare for me due to his popularity. Probably payback for everything I’ve put people through as Guile before now.
Edit: landed to labbed
Honestly the few I have fought haven't been too oppressive (in plat) so that's probably why. It's definitely a tougher matchup, but if you don't turtle and press the action I find my buttons winning out as long as I keep mind of his sweep and knockdown. Definitly a matchup you don't want to give the guy medium range space on. Otherwise hill just constantly spam the kick thing
Fighting game glossary:
Trying to defend against being thrown by inputting a throw tech a little late on purpose. Delayed tech (also called "late tech") is an option select; you want to try and block in case they attack, and if they throw, pressing the buttons slightly late means you will still successfully throw tech, since the window for teching throws can be a little bigger.
This is one of the first defensive techniques new players should learn if they are playing a Street Fighter-like game, since it lets them defend against basic attacks and basic throws at the same time. Powerful stuff! It's not foolproof though — once you get into intermediate play, a player can just slightly delay their *own* attack to counter hit your late tech attempt. But when your opponent hesitates like this, that can open up other ways for you to defend too! You'll start to see the mind games of offense and defense when you get good at stuff like this, but start with delayed techs first!
Here you go:
Trying to defend against being thrown by inputting a throw tech a little late on purpose. Delayed tech (also called "late tech") is an option select; you want to try and block in case they attack, and if they throw, pressing the buttons slightly late means you will still successfully throw tech, since the window for teching throws can be a little bigger.
This is one of the first defensive techniques new players should learn if they are playing a Street Fighter-like game, since it lets them defend against basic attacks and basic throws at the same time. Powerful stuff! It's not foolproof though — once you get into intermediate play, a player can just slightly delay their own attack to counter hit your late tech attempt. But when your opponent hesitates like this, that can open up other ways for you to defend too! You'll start to see the mind games of offense and defense when you get good at stuff like this, but start with delayed techs first!
Source: https://glossary.infil.net/?t=Delayed%20Tech
Delayed Tech is a strong defensive decision. With that being said, with shimmy being much easier to accomplish because of drive rush and certain special moves it is also a very risky option in street fighter 6. Delay tech was incredibly good in sf5 because it took more finesse and player skill to pull off a shimmy. I'm sure a lot of players like myself trained very hard to get the muscle memory from delay teching in sf5 out of our system.
Here is a passage that speaks on what delay tech is:
"Trying to defend against being thrown by inputting a throw tech a little late on purpose. Delayed tech (also called "late tech") is an option select; you want to try and block in case they attack, and if they throw, pressing the buttons slightly late means you will still successfully throw tech, since the window for teching throws can be a little bigger.
This is one of the first defensive techniques new players should learn if they are playing a Street Fighter-like game, since it lets them defend against basic attacks and basic throws at the same time. Powerful stuff! It's not foolproof though — once you get into intermediate play, a player can just slightly delay their own attack to counter hit your late tech attempt. But when your opponent hesitates like this, that can open up other ways for you to defend too! You'll start to see the mind games of offense and defense when you get good at stuff like this, but start with delayed techs first!"
Here is a website that you can search for fighting game terms:
https://glossary.infil.net/
Basically when someone is pressuring you with strikes, you input a throw ( LP + LK) at the same time that they are hitting you. This is meant to cover two cases: when they strike you and when they throw you. You will keep blocking if they decide to press buttons, and you will also tech their throws if they decide to try and mix up their offence. You can also call this an option select since it covers two attacks at once.
Whilst it seems powerful, this can be a very bad habit to make it a regular defense since it gets blown up entirely by shimmies. This gets worse in higher ranks since people will consistently be able to punish your attempted delay techs with high damaging combos. At some point, you have to realise that always doing the same defensive technique will not work against people who can adapt, and so you have to sometimes take the throw.
Blocking a few moments before teching a grab when someone is in your face on wake-up so you don’t get meaty hit and grabbed with one option. Calling it out with a jump or just delaying your meaty will blow them up for attempting it
Blanka seems like a scrub killer 😆 he is very annoying to deal with when I play mirrors. I got Ryu to Gold then dropped the game for a while, learned Blanka just for fun and got placed in Plat 5, really jarring difference in skill for my opponents after messing around up to gold. I have since dropped down to Plat 2 with Blanka and I'm still trying to learn the game
I thought the world was good until I faced a Blanka-Chan. I knew none of his moves and he had a seemingly janky hitbox.
Most unfun match ever (until I got Bison looped).
I can't tell anything against Blanka because in the last month that I came back to the game don't remember fought anyome with this character after reaching Gold with 4 characters and Platinum with Marisa.
Even I fought some Dhalsim and Rashid players, but no presence of the green fella.
The wisdom that took me from Rookie to 1600 MR.
To climb from Rookie to Gold, you need to understand the game.
To get through Platinum, you need to understand your character.
To get through Diamond, you need to understand the opponent’s character.
In Master and above, you’re trying to understand the player.
Stop jumping all the time, stop randomly pressing DI, counter and punish DIs, anti-air.
It doesn't matter where you start learning this, if you can consistently do these 4 basic things and know basic combos, light pressure and oki you can get Masters.
I always hate the per-rank training regimen line of thinking. Lower ranks are lower ranks often because they have incomplete skillsets, or incomplete mastery of individual skills, but who is weaker in what areas will vary dramatically depending on who you fight. The climb comes from being able to deal with what your opponents are good at doing and being able to execute on what they aren't, and that will never be a specific thing per rank
You should learn everything at all ranks.
I'm master and have competed in over 100 LAN events. You don't stop learning and developing - ever.
Pick one thing each week and concentrate on that. Eventually it will all come togetherfor example - if I lost to a Ryu throwing fireballs in tournament, that's what I worked on until the next weekly.
Then, next tournament I lose to bison frame traps - I spend that week learning blocking and counter bison frame traps.
After awhile you will learn a ton and you rank naturally goes up.
Don't think about ranks as "I need to know this at bronze.". Because you will still need to learn and develop at silver gold and plat.
I like this idea of learning one thing per week. I just picked up SF6 again after a 12 year hiatus, and it can be overwhelming with how much things there are too learn. I try to learn everything at once and thus end up learning nothing at all.
Trying to stick with 1 thing at a time is the key, but thats much easier said than done - especially when the opponents you play aren't really using the one thing you've been trying to practice for.
In my personal opinion from rookie to gold all your character moves and when use them also now what other characters do. In platinum 1 -2 you need learn how to use the drive system and platinum 3 - 5 learn how to combo.
I went from platinum 1 to master.
My experience is by platinum 3-5, most players have a good grasp of game mechanics and can do punishing combos. They are not making glaring mistakes but they may have some weaknesses that can be exploited, like not teching throws or habitually hitting buttons on wake-up.
By diamond 4, players have a tighter defence and better match-up knowledge. They are focusing on their opponent, observing their play style and developing a counter play. Gimmicks may work a few times and the opponent will learn from their mistake. This is also where you start seeing a good combination of consistent anti-airs, whiff punishing, efficiency in combos, strong spacing, unpredictable mixups, gauge management etc though not necessarily all in the same player
For me, I can almost pinpoint exactly what took me out of each rank.
Rookie: What my moves are and what buttons make them come out .
Iron: Pick five moves, looks at what your opponent is doing, and use the move you've decided to use in that case.
Bronze: Special cancels.
Silver: Anti-airs and easy mix-ups.
Gold: Not out of that yet. Focusing on learning to react to DI and improve all the other things.
Anti-airs in silver ? I'm plat/diamond depending on characters and still can't anti-air reliably (although most opponents never care to try, so that helps).
Yeah these dudes are fucking tripping talking about combos. I couldn’t use drc until d2. Just got there by anti airing and canceling. Didn’t know a cash out FOREVER and it was fine.
Went from rookie 1 to diamond 3 since release
I can't remember WTF I was doing in rookie, just trying to land hits I guess
In iron I tried to at least get my target combos right
Bronze same
In silver I learned basic combos into specials
Around gold I could do basic combos into specials & super with lots of drops still
In platinum, very rare drops, learned safe jumps, meaties
In diamond I've started incorporating shimmies, trying to mix up stuff to the point of scrambling the opponents brain, I might miss some tools to hit master but I will definitely hit it before they release another character I wanna play
Kimberly, idk how many hours I have since I sold the game on Playstation & got it on pc, I'll have to check on my console but certainly have around 200h
Masters - That you didnt pay good money to block
Platinum to Diamond - Drive combos, setups, oki, parrying
Iron to gold - Footsies / consistent supers
Rookie - To block
I'm stuck ranking up to plat 3 star and ranking back down to play 2 star over and over lol can't get a foothold in plat 3 I'm sure it would be easier if I left the match after the first time I win and not give the other person the runback but I feel like I would be depriving myself of learning experiences
In the FGC, there’s an unspoken honour code of rematching, regardless of if you win or lose.
You are right in learning experiences, if you "one-and-done" somebody, you won’t learn nearly as much on how to counter them or what to do, just to do gimmicks and hope.
You should play to learn, not rank-up.
Since you’re stuck, try casuals (or customs): infinite rematches and people of all skill levels.
I do a lot of casual matches when I'm tired of ranking down or when I need to warm up before ranked and paradoxically I seem to do better against higher ranked people than I do against lower ranked people idk why tho I think it's because I can't predict what a low rank player will do because they don't even know what they are going to do lol
Here are some common mistakes:
Spamming: DI, buttons, Invincible reversal, SA, DR, etc.
Not mixing-up options.
Unsafe, unplanned blockstrings.
Suboptimal combos, you should have an optimal: [a DP] pc combo (meterless and cash-out), a wallsplat combo (meterless and cash-out), a DI combo, a stun combo, etc.
Poor drive gauge management.
Not parrying or mixing block heights.
Not delay teching.
Who are you stuck with?
I’d be happy to watch some of your matches and provide an outside perspective :)
In high platinum and diamond is where I really started learning counter hit combos. This was huge for me in my climb. So often you catch someone pressing buttons and you’ll need some more optimal punishes on that. I rarely see counter hit on posts like these so that’s my vote.
People already said but i want to add ta on master you need to re learn everything and really "master" your character every one on 1600+ know your tricks.
Rookie: Find your best button, and BLOCK for the love of god. Don't need combos, don't need special moves, don't need supers. You need to not let your health hit zero. You have 99 seconds and a whole ass life bar to play with. Don't sit there thinking your opponent needs to be dead off one hit in the first 10 seconds.
Iron: Block jump-ins. Don't need to learn to anti-air necessarily, but learn when you need to stand or crouch block. Getting opened up by the occasional overhead is no big deal for now. Your opponents don't know how to capitalize off that shit anyways.
Bronze: Block cross-ups. That's all. Continue refining the other things. You can literally still poke people to death with whatever your best button is. If you wanna do something cool, either learn a really basic combo off your best button, or some cancel you can do off it. Don't fall for how cool raw supers and DIs are. Play lame win game.
Silver: Start mixing in a special move or two. Preferably ones that won't cause you to instantly explode on block. Continue doing the other stuff. Maybe start practicing whatever your easiest anti-air is. When you can comfortably look for a jump-in, then you can go for DPs or whatever the hell. For now, probably just stick to 2HP or whatever is your character's easiest anti-air button to hit.
Gold: Throw people, and occasionally wake up super to scam people. Don't do it all the time, but also don't do it NEVER.
Platinum: Go learn like ONE combo. If it doesn't work in every screen position, then either learn a different combo that does, or learn a second combo for the corner. Bonus points if it can end in a super. Minus points if you only learn a combo that starts with a jump-in, and you can't convert off any grounded normals.
Diamond: Pay attention to what your opponents are doing and learn to perfect parry some stuff.
Master: That you suck shit at the game, but so does most everybody else. Learn how much you still have to learn, then pick one thing out at a time and start learning and incorporating it.
the biggest learnings for me in iron has been proper defense + punishing and rolling out of knockdowns. got great advice on the sub the other day too about not rushing my own buttons; be patient, block, punish. learn timing for DI counters and don't spam DIs from neutral.
Master ranks = Neutral Refining. Learning when to shimmy. How to get out tight blockstrings. Learning to adapt to the type of player you’re facing quickly (pattern recognization). And a slew of other things but I can’t think of anything else right now.
Classic players are just learning inputs until they reach Plat, so I'd say anything below Plat is about cultivating a powerful learning habit that allows you to recognise and improve upon your constant mistakes over time.
I'd also recommend learning about fighting game fundamentals purely so your brain is looking for various concepts that will come into play later, even if you're unable to execute yet. For example, just the ability to identify your opponent's wake-up options and how they are more likely to choose an option in context of ther health and conditioning is important to have in the back of your mind from the beginning. The ability to actively notice what your opponent is doing can be trained before you understand why they're doing it. Just notice it, then try to figure it out.
Rookie: how to hit people
bronze: how to block
silver: how to move
gold: how to drive impact
platinum: that there is a parry button
diamond: how to drive rush
master: how to play the game
If you play super offensively, learn defense. If you play hyper defensively, learn offense. You need both, and a lot of people I run into put all their skill points in defense and never looked back. Easy dubs most of the time.
You can reach any rank with any mode.
There are many Master level players who use Modern. Modern is easier to react but less options.
Classic is harder to react but more options.
Pick what feels best. Neither option stops you from learning spacing and reactions and (usually) optimal combos.
Some questions and a statement before I try to help.
Did you grind up to Plat or get placed in Plat?
Highest ranked player? Do you play anybody else?
Estimated hours? In anything but World Tour.
How do you practice? What combos do you know?
Do you watch content creators or try to learn from other online content?
I have grinded to Gold V as Ryu from Bronze.
I got placed as a Plat JP and have never gone up or down despite 100s of matches as him.
I just got placed as a Plat II Akuma and seem to have the same problem with him.
That is to say, the game can sometimes place you in a range where you never go up or down despite not being by 50/50 as you gain slightly more than you lose. You can also grind up to this range.
This range is dangerous but might be where you "deserve" to be.
Sometimes, it can be a simple mistake you make which rank sticks you. Maybe you DI on wake-up or can’t delay tech.
What’s your username? I’ll look at some of your matches and see if I can help or see a problem, an outside view is usually helpful.
Rookie to master here. When I first got started people told me to just hold down back, hit anti-airs, and have a punish combo.
* Rookie: Learn the buttons and learn not to freak out and mash all the time.
* Iron: Just hold down-back and anti-air.
* Bronze: Just hold down-back and anti-air.
* Silver: Just hold down-back and anti-air.
* Gold: Get stuck because I think "surely I'm out of the stage where holding down-back and anti-airing is the optimal strategy. I'll try to mix things up and incorporate DI and DR." Show some replays to higher level players, they tell me "Just hold down-back and anti-air." I take their advice and rip off a huge streak to Platinum.
* Platinum: Okay wtf people also block here and even hit anti-airs sometimes. Start incorporating system mechanics like DP and DR, and learn punishes. Stop going into burnout so much. Slowly grind to Diamond.
* Diamond: Learn the actual matchups, which moves you can punish and how.
* Master: Just got here! Still just trying to learn the ins-and-outs of each matchup.
If you're below Plat1...do I really have to say it? Just hold down-back and anti-air.
Idk about each rank but learning to use parry properly, anti air, your bnb combos with super, punish combos, your safe on block moves, and for the love of god don’t press DI, what a bad habit to develop even if low ranks just perma press unsafe buttons
Rookie: leg sweep is such a good move, and I love hadoukens
Iron: Jumping attacks are amazing, I feel like batman swooping in from the night. Also throws are so strong. Heavy punch into DP all day long
Silver: anti-air anti-air anti-air. Also drive rush from everything and just hit them hard
Gold: Resource management, also I have a brain now
Platinum: Here's what I want to do, and I gotta remember that they can do this
Higher: literal gods
One thing you need to learn for any rank is humility. I have multiple characters in masters and my biggest weakness is my ego. I’ll actively be salty while getting my ass kicked and I’m not learning anything I’m just thinking about how much they suck doing the stupid option they did and how I’m so much better then I lose. I also get cocky after smoking them in the first round and I’ll lose the whole set cause I stop respecting them.
Haha, this is exactly how I feel.
Earlier I lost to someone and was so annoyed that I lost a single round to a Silver V player but didn’t consider why.
Introspection is a valuable tool.
Realistically, I don't think there's one specific thing you NEED to learn at each rank- I got to Master from Plat 2 in ~3 months of on/off play by just fixing issues that people pointed out to me from replays and building on my knowledge, what helped is that every session I tried to focus on one thing that I struggled with (like anti airs, specific matchup tech, conversions, etc.) and even if I ended at a point defecit I'd feel satisfied if I was able to complete my goal that session.
I might not be the best to talk about this because my main is low MR(1500 to 1600)
Gold and below can be beaten by spamming your characters busted moves/gimmicks, for example Juri drive rush and standing mp or Akuma demon flip and air fireball
Platinum and diamond you just need anti airs and you need to know your characters meaties, this takes a few seconds to figure out and you can practice them while you wait for a match.
Knowing how to stop other people from abusing their character's strengths is also key above platinum, but you can learn that while playing, just try different answers instead of mashing jab every time after you get hit the headbutt, Blanka ball, knee press or demon flip.
Some gimmicks are meant to be strong and you can't punish them, and you have to be ok with it, just learn how to stop it instead of blocking it.
Welp. I did a lot backwards and I’m paying for it currently lol. Thank you for this post because I was just thinking of where to look specifically that talks about the different rank goals on average. I’m taking a lot of notes to get better because I stopped playing ranked as much but I still want to progress.
Happy to help :)
Remember that the boundaries of ranks are fluid and you should focus on your weaknesses, not everybody else’s.
I’ll watch some relays if you want :)
I started in Gold and this is the first Street Fighter I’ve played more than casually, though not my first fighting game.
Gold was all about anti-airing and reacting to DI, and punishing accordingly. Pretty much the entire “wait and react” pillar of neutral.
Platinum was establishing offense. In Gold, wakeup DP/DI/mash was the case almost every time I knocked an opponent down. In Plat I still had games where I could wait for the jump/OD reversal/poorly thought out DI and punish, but I also had to get in and pressure/mix up my opponent. Working out safe, loopable, confirmable offense took me from hitting a little bit of a wall at Plat 1 to breezing through the rest of the rank. Starting to use drive rush felt like a new world. I did have some minor refinements like checking drive rush and delay teching that helped out as well.
Diamond was quick for me, but my greatest successes came from shimmying, the occasional whiff punish, and converting my stray hits, even if it was 1 in 3. Mash on jinrai low and get counter hit? We’ll convert that with a s.lk link into H DP for a knockdown. Throw out a big button predictably? A little walk back, punish counter s.HK into run DP, knockdown. I started to use DP instead of cr. HP for my anti airs, and incorporating more complex setups like spacing traps and meaty DI on wakeup in the corner. I used more optimal punishes and parried more often. I stopped going for button > DRC when my meter was low, and just sitting back and playing neutral/footsies. I developed good burnout pressure and DP/reversal baits. I think overall I also just got better at reading opponents, knowing their options in any given situation, what they are looking for in a matchup, and how they would likely achieve it. The wave of new Akuma players liberally using s. HK and air fireball at half/full screen also helped tremendously since I could punish those pretty reliably from day one of his release.
I’m still not incredible and have some holes in my play, but my neutral is greatly improving and I’m working on cashing out (something some platinum players know how to do, even if they burn out immediately on a hit without killing), which I have maybe done twice in the whole time I’ve played the game.
Happy to help :)
I just got ranked Plat 2 with Akuma and feel like I can’t hold it.
Practice in casuals, customs and training.
If you tell me your username I’ll watch some of your rematches :)
New Challenger: Rank doesn't matter
Learn what you need to work on at the time. To start with you should work on understanding system mechanics and responding to common low-level situations.
You should eventually work out how to lab to learn information about your character's options in different stages of the game (is this mix real?, what are the risks and rewards associated with (thing) in (situation)?).
While learning how to lab and learn things yourself, also work to iron out execution for the things you've learned, be it combos, hit confirms, anti airs etc.
Once you've mastered labbing and have learned more-or-less the ins and outs of your character and the mirror match, you may begin learning matchups properly.
Continue to iron out execution and constantly learn new things with your time playing and you will see a steady improvement. Whether you make it through each step or not is completely up to you, some play more casually than others, and you might not want to learn certain things over just playing and that's absolutely fine !!!
If you're always learning and improving, however you will maximise your potential as a player.
It's also worth noting that while the lab is your best friend for improvement, you'll still need to play matches and display your techniques in order to properly learn them, and you'll need to repeat things eventually to strengthen the memory. It may also be wise to connect with the community to achieve more personal things, such as avoiding tilt, learning new tech you haven't found in the lab etc etc. While improvement is largely personal study, we need other people to make the most of it with us
Biggest game changer are these 3 things starting from rookie.
1. Simple anit-air
2. Learn what you can do after successful blocks.
3. Learn Max damage combos and when you can use them. Then actually use them.
Rookie - Silver: Learn to beat the gimmicks and do a single bnb combo which you can use to punish.
Gold: Anti-airs
Platinum: Delay Tech and more optimal combos.
Diamond: whiff punishing.
Master+: now you need to start learning your characters strengths and weaknesses. Strong fundies will no longer carry you
My only contribution to this is that I’m a 4-star Plat with Akuma and i’m always too focused on trying to play whatever game I want to (press the buttons that I want, do the moves that I want, without regard to my opponent) instead of adapting to my opponent 70% of the time. 😢
EDIT: also wanted to add that I’m currently learning more setup stuff rather than just general, huge-damage combo stuff. I have a handful of combos I can default to in most situations, but now I’m trying to learn how to put myself in situations (where I can use those combos) more often — Akuma’s l.tatsu into sweep being the most basic of these.
I mean the rocketship of win streak bonuses drops you off at platinum if you know your basics. After that I think you need to study matchups and learn a good grounded neutral game.
Rookie to Gold: Learn either the intricacies of your character OR the Drive system (aka universal mechanics)
Platinum and beyond: Learn and master the intricacies of your character AND the Drive system.
I like this. Definitely true, I’m in gold rank and players seem to either have great fundamentals OR they know 1 or 2 reliable big damage combos that they spam. It gives me hope bc I’m in the “solid fundys” crowd… hopefully once I master the intricacies of my character I can make it to plat or beyond.
Rookie: Anti airs
Iron: Anti airs
Bronze: Anti airs
Silver: Anti airs
Gold: Anti airs
Platinum: Anti airs
Diamond: Anti airs
Master: Anti airs and fireball -> drive rush
I started at Rookie and made it currently to Diamond 2, so here are my thoughts: **Rookie**: Just pressing buttons. **Iron**: Strongest specials/normals, nobody punishes. **Bronze**: Basic combos. **Silver**: Basic combos into supers & abuse DI **Gold**: Anti-airs, punish very unsafe moves & counter DI **Plat 1-3**: More powerful combos and abusing your character's gimmicks. **Plat 3-5**: Delay tech and shimmies. **D 1-2**: Countering character gimmicks and currently I'm stop my bad habits.
Diamond 3 to 5, IMO, is when you finally learn to use your buttons, not as a damage source or a gimmick, but rather as a tool to learn your opponent's habits. And as a Master, I'm still learning, so I'll see what I can learn.
This is what I’ve been coming to realize as someone who started in rookie and is now in diamond 2. It used to be a game of “medium kick drc into bnb” but now I’m realizing those other buttons sorta have purpose.
Could you break this down for me? Other buttons sorta have purpose?
Pokes to keep you opponent at a good range, wiff punishers, certain moves might be used to condition your opponent into thinking they know what you’ll do, then using a different button with a different use
Exactly this. I need to expand the toolset and better understand the full kit - before I could get away with a pretty 1 dimension gameplan.
I play the game quite frequently, but at the start I choose "I'm new" and placed silver 2. I climbed until gold 1 with only using a few games, and then never touched ranked again. ~350 hours later I finally booted up rank (mainly because I only wanted the drive ticket quest) and ended up grinding it on akuma and hit diamond 3. Skipping all those in between ranks was a really weird transition for me, so learnings a bit wonky. But honestly I was only fighting diamonds and masters in casuals so it doesn't feel too different. I've had a pretty hard time learning how to get in with seasoned players with akuma, and trying to lose my habits has been a struggle. Spamming HK, ex DP on wakeup when I see a frame of motion (which is usually a jump), and reversal DI.
Stuck on diamond 1/2 for those reasons.
same bro... And the Elden Ring DLC break is not helping
Splitting the two is making me worse at Street Fighter *and* worse at Elden Ring!
Right there with you, brother haha
I literally got my opinion shit on in another recent thread for suggesting Gold as a good starting point for working on anti airs but I think your suggestions are pretty good across the board 
Literally, you say? 💩
Just got gold finally and I feel like half of the matches our word of the day is "shimmy". Just two jackasses shinnying every wakeup, never learning. I've been having fun.
> Delay tech and shimmies As someone stuck in low plat seeing shimmies is hilarious because 100% of time they're going to grab
that just means it would work then right? Shimmy beats throw tech.
right, but every single low rank shimmy just does the shimmy then re-approaches to throw again. It's so funny to see them "shimmy" early, only to just put out a throw
You're 100% right on diamond 1-2, unlearning my habit of jump ins like 60% of a round and trying to lower it to like 30% or less
I'm D2ish and I still have no idea what delay tech is and my shimmy game is weak lol. I would add "jump less" and "pay attention to your opponents gauge meter" to somewhere in plat.
It’ll help your defense a lot. There are tons of YouTube videos on it.
There's a preset in the training mode that teaches you it. Takes like 2 minutes.
Delay tech is a total game changer you have to learn that, pretty easy to do. Very strong option select
Delay Tech might be one of those things your brain registered as common sense but didn't have a name for. Basically you try to block a little bit and then break a throw at the last possible moment (relative to when you predict you would've been grabbed.) Ideally you block an attack (and your LPLK input does nothing cause you're in blockstun) OR you break a throw after an awkwardly long "grapple phase". **Delay**ing the throw **tech**, as it were.
Any chance you can expand on delay tech? I’ve looked it up in a few places and it’s for other games. From what I see it kinda means when you’re in the corner delay your grab to kinda “react” to theirs because their is a bigger window as opposed to spamming grab on wake up?
Whenever you are "waking up" you opponent has a variety of options and is usually at an advantage. Most of the time, they will go for a meaty attack or a throw, So you need to start guessing, but delay tech cover two aggressive options. To do this you need to: While waking up you start by pressing backdown to defend yourself. Then wait little bit (really just a little, maybe 4 frames) and do a throw. * If your opponent do a meaty you will be in hitstun and the throw won't come out * If your opponent do a throw you are going to tech the throw For ultra-aggressive players, you might feel that your defense is exceptional and start to delay tech everything (as a bad habit). However, you will eventually encounter opponents who notice this and start shimming you. Shimming is just baiting a throw or delay tech by walking back. EDIT: throws, not grabs
You’re the fucking man, thanks for that. Was having trouble and you explained it perfectly. 👍
No problem! I learned it from this [video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8LYoF0S-Lo) from Chris\_F
Chris_F has some fucking great tutorials. No bullshit, tech explained, how to practice explained, end. Love it.
Shimmying also covers invincible reversals
Great breakdown. Except one thing: and this is totally me being an OCD weirdo but they're throws, not grabs. grabs have a very specific meaning in street fighter (ie command grabs like Zangief that can't be teched and can only be jumped) Again, I'm just being OCD because I'm sure everyone would know what you meant but I can't help myself. I have to say something.
I think this is a very insightful write up. Good job!
I'm still plat 2 (except with Bison where I somehow got Plat 4) and also started at Rookie. I agree mostly but I'll add. Bronze: Never needed drive rush Silver: felt like beginning to use drive rush became a little more important (even if just raw drive rush to continue pressure, especially with my Jamie) Gold: Actual drive rush cancel combo/pressure absolutely necessary. If you don't do it, your opponent will. Platinum: Tighten everything way up. Your opponents are making less mistakes so it's important you make less mistakes too (like not doing something that would leave you big time negative. Don't gift punish counter combos for the off chance your opponent might not block the last hit of your rekka for example) Also somewhere between high gold and platinum is where I felt I really started learning the ranges of buttons better. Spacing, spacing, spacing. So important to do things at their proper range, at the very edge of their range if possible.
A wonderful question, answered like a BJJ instructional guide.
I learned one Drive Rush combo at Bronze and it brought me almost all the way through Silver.
I'm pretty new to the game and currently in Bronze 5 nearing the Silver ranks. What you describe is exactly my learning curve so far starting to get basic combos down and understanding how footsies work. Consistency seems to be key now. Matchup knowledge and anti airs. Them anti airs are important
I just want to add to this and say that by diamond. I do feel like you need to be working on meaty setups and how to apply pressure safely. I only made it to masters once practice a lot of meaty setups and safe jumps.
At Master rank One thing I am learning that backdashing is sometimes better than jumping to avoid the throw.
Ok but what if you just anti air in bronze
shhimmy?
You don't really have to learn how to dp, but good list. Also, not a lot of people DI in high Plat because they're afraid to get punished, so you don't actually need to know how to counter it since people throw them out rarely.
Thanks for this, i onw to outta bronze this week
Master - optimized combos in all situation, memorizing other characters important frame data, simplify thought process and gameplan for better reaction I don't really agree on abusing character gimmick though, it could built up some bad habit that is hard to be shedded. Instead of abuse, more like u rely on it while getting better
If your last advice is "stop my bad habits", doesn't that say a lot about the "abusing X" advice? Your goal should never be to abuse something to reach the next division. It should always be improving, even if that means losing a few games trying to learn something new. Don't let imaginary numbers dictate how you should play
I feel like I skipped plat 3-5. I plateaued at plat 3 for a while, but burner through every rank until D2 in a matter of 1 afternoon. I feel like now I'm learning what you said are in plat 3 trough D2. Might be that nobody knows how to check Honda tho. Also I'm learning to scout my opponent a bit, at least to the point I can read a reversal on wakeup or in what situations someone would take a throw. For the rest completely agree
Footsies is diamond 3/4. I beat masters very regularly so im definitely above my diamond 3 rank.
There’s no set learning pattern, and the truth is that everyone can be different and get to master differently. Even as a master with high diamonds on the side I’ve never once (and I mean even once) used a drive reversal or a shimmy. Hell, I didn’t even learn to AA people trying to jump out of the corner until very recently… lol. I ranked up purely on combos and delayed normals. Some other person might suck at combos, but they could get to master purely on good defense and pinpoint AA’s. Some get there on a theoretical basis, with knowledge on frame data/traps (which I know nothing about). Everyone has their strengths that carry them through each rank, and it’s not until like the 1600 MR range that I think people learn to put it all together.
My best character is currently zangief in D4. Up to platinum it is basically learning to anti air and learn some combos to dish out damage. Platinum: Learn delay tech, perfect anti airs, optimize combos, react to random DI Diamond: Learn to shimmy. the game becomes much more of a mind game. Both players become much more strategical.
Bison.
Scissors kick repeatedly until they stop it. Even if they stop it throw it out there to assert dominance.
That made me laugh out loud
Bison is like EHonda Season 1 if his moves were actually good. May be the most braindead path to master right now and I’m not sure it’s close.
If I get scissor kicked again I will snap, mf be on 20 game win streaks because he just came out and I’m not spending coins on this vagabond.
Seems like every other bison is spamming scissor kicks but I'm in this world to spam Devil's Reverse and Headstomp. I love full screen devil's reversing people, or timing the OD headstomp to beat their anti air, or locking them into the corner and doing some full blown season 1 honda shit by being like crouch jab x2 into devil's reverse. Oh look, I'm plus. Time to do it again. LOL.
Yea, the scissors kick isn't too bad to check. It corner carries well even when blocked. The head stomp timing and the devil reverse to steal turns. The slide to catch you walking forward. Bison has enough BS to fill the mental stack, That's without getting into the depth of the character with the bomb setups and psycho pressure. He layers in those plus frames well.
OD headstomp beats anti-air? Why is Bison ignoring the rules of the game
It's not that it beats it straight up. It's that when timed correctly it can kind of bait it out. That's why I said "timing it to beat anti airs" See, the thing is Bison jumps REALLY high. So high that it will make almost every DP in the game whiff if they throw that DP out when he's at maximum height (even Guile's flash kick) and much like how Honda has throw 3 different versions of butt-slam that have different timings (to make it harder to perfect parry) Bison can not only has 3 different jump angles based on kick strength but can manually decide when to attack. You could attack on the first possible frame or the last or anything in between. And depending on what your opponent is doing and where they are positioned this can easily bait out anti airs by hanging in the air a little longer than they expect (even crossing them up in certain situations which makes it even harder for them) and if you think they're starting to get used to you doing it so late: Bang. You do it early. Or you devil's reverse instead of the head stomp (choosing whether it's same side or cross up at the last second, or whether you want to commit to the attack or steer yourself far away at the last second) thus making it very easy to beat anti-airs when done correctly
Hahah
As a Guile main I hate Bison rn fr
coming from literally every other main: good
Seconded, playing vs Guile is like chewing glass really slowly
Coming from a Guile main…this is music to our ears. 
Repent
I flash kick your ‘repent’ 
Does he wreck the booms?
Yes Guile literally can’t boom if Bison charges. If you throw a boom while Bison charges you eat a Psycho Crusher almost every time. The devil rise can mess with charge also if you decide to turtle too much. Haven’t really labbed normals against him yet but that’s on my agenda for this weekend. Currently ranked is a nightmare for me due to his popularity. Probably payback for everything I’ve put people through as Guile before now. Edit: landed to labbed
Honestly the few I have fought haven't been too oppressive (in plat) so that's probably why. It's definitely a tougher matchup, but if you don't turtle and press the action I find my buttons winning out as long as I keep mind of his sweep and knockdown. Definitly a matchup you don't want to give the guy medium range space on. Otherwise hill just constantly spam the kick thing
Wise words on the sweep and the range
You came here to fight a madman, and instead you found a GOD?
As a Bison co-main since Sf4 I have hated Guile for over 10 years. Feelsgoodman
I get it Guile needs some bad match ups for balance purposes. But man does it feel un-winnable fr
Relevant at all ranks is the just frame alt+f4
The LTG combo
In plat you learn delayed tech, in diamond you learn how to stop spamming it
What is delayed tech?
Fighting game glossary: Trying to defend against being thrown by inputting a throw tech a little late on purpose. Delayed tech (also called "late tech") is an option select; you want to try and block in case they attack, and if they throw, pressing the buttons slightly late means you will still successfully throw tech, since the window for teching throws can be a little bigger. This is one of the first defensive techniques new players should learn if they are playing a Street Fighter-like game, since it lets them defend against basic attacks and basic throws at the same time. Powerful stuff! It's not foolproof though — once you get into intermediate play, a player can just slightly delay their *own* attack to counter hit your late tech attempt. But when your opponent hesitates like this, that can open up other ways for you to defend too! You'll start to see the mind games of offense and defense when you get good at stuff like this, but start with delayed techs first!
Here you go: Trying to defend against being thrown by inputting a throw tech a little late on purpose. Delayed tech (also called "late tech") is an option select; you want to try and block in case they attack, and if they throw, pressing the buttons slightly late means you will still successfully throw tech, since the window for teching throws can be a little bigger. This is one of the first defensive techniques new players should learn if they are playing a Street Fighter-like game, since it lets them defend against basic attacks and basic throws at the same time. Powerful stuff! It's not foolproof though — once you get into intermediate play, a player can just slightly delay their own attack to counter hit your late tech attempt. But when your opponent hesitates like this, that can open up other ways for you to defend too! You'll start to see the mind games of offense and defense when you get good at stuff like this, but start with delayed techs first! Source: https://glossary.infil.net/?t=Delayed%20Tech
Delayed Tech is a strong defensive decision. With that being said, with shimmy being much easier to accomplish because of drive rush and certain special moves it is also a very risky option in street fighter 6. Delay tech was incredibly good in sf5 because it took more finesse and player skill to pull off a shimmy. I'm sure a lot of players like myself trained very hard to get the muscle memory from delay teching in sf5 out of our system. Here is a passage that speaks on what delay tech is: "Trying to defend against being thrown by inputting a throw tech a little late on purpose. Delayed tech (also called "late tech") is an option select; you want to try and block in case they attack, and if they throw, pressing the buttons slightly late means you will still successfully throw tech, since the window for teching throws can be a little bigger. This is one of the first defensive techniques new players should learn if they are playing a Street Fighter-like game, since it lets them defend against basic attacks and basic throws at the same time. Powerful stuff! It's not foolproof though — once you get into intermediate play, a player can just slightly delay their own attack to counter hit your late tech attempt. But when your opponent hesitates like this, that can open up other ways for you to defend too! You'll start to see the mind games of offense and defense when you get good at stuff like this, but start with delayed techs first!" Here is a website that you can search for fighting game terms: https://glossary.infil.net/
Basically when someone is pressuring you with strikes, you input a throw ( LP + LK) at the same time that they are hitting you. This is meant to cover two cases: when they strike you and when they throw you. You will keep blocking if they decide to press buttons, and you will also tech their throws if they decide to try and mix up their offence. You can also call this an option select since it covers two attacks at once. Whilst it seems powerful, this can be a very bad habit to make it a regular defense since it gets blown up entirely by shimmies. This gets worse in higher ranks since people will consistently be able to punish your attempted delay techs with high damaging combos. At some point, you have to realise that always doing the same defensive technique will not work against people who can adapt, and so you have to sometimes take the throw.
Blocking a few moments before teching a grab when someone is in your face on wake-up so you don’t get meaty hit and grabbed with one option. Calling it out with a jump or just delaying your meaty will blow them up for attempting it
It’s so satisfying when you can start finally shimmying people
I got so addicted to shimmying people in diamond that once I was against good players, I was almost never pressuring on their wakeup
If you play a character that moves quick its addicting. I have the same bad habit, i don't meaty/throw enough at round beginning for conditioning.
I forget to delay tech 2/3 of the times and apparently that's a decent ratio and randomness for forgetting to do it
Can't get shmixed if even you don't know what you're gonna do. Invincible defense.
Can confirm I'm in Diamond and I cannot stop spamming it ^please ^help ^me
Just jab. 
I still delay tech all the time in Diamond 5. People don't reliably shimmy until Master.
Depends on play style and character. Some characters have to rely on shimmy to be effective.
Idk, I just delay tech regardless of character. Just keep doing it until the opponent shows that they can counter it.
Making me miss sfv
Bitch pls. I have a couple characters in master and I get blown up cause of delay techs all the time.
Is spamming grab while blocking a type of delay tech or something else entirely?
It is if you delay it by a few frames.
Between Rookie and Platinum I learned that Blanka players don't exist.
Blanka seems like a scrub killer 😆 he is very annoying to deal with when I play mirrors. I got Ryu to Gold then dropped the game for a while, learned Blanka just for fun and got placed in Plat 5, really jarring difference in skill for my opponents after messing around up to gold. I have since dropped down to Plat 2 with Blanka and I'm still trying to learn the game
I thought the world was good until I faced a Blanka-Chan. I knew none of his moves and he had a seemingly janky hitbox. Most unfun match ever (until I got Bison looped).
I can't tell anything against Blanka because in the last month that I came back to the game don't remember fought anyome with this character after reaching Gold with 4 characters and Platinum with Marisa. Even I fought some Dhalsim and Rashid players, but no presence of the green fella.
I think he has the lowest pick rate, cheeky green don.
He’s everywhere at Diamond+
Wake-up OD DP
This is one of the things that got me to high Gold but also stuck me there.
The wisdom that took me from Rookie to 1600 MR. To climb from Rookie to Gold, you need to understand the game. To get through Platinum, you need to understand your character. To get through Diamond, you need to understand the opponent’s character. In Master and above, you’re trying to understand the player.
👍 Underrated comment. 🍻
Stop jumping all the time, stop randomly pressing DI, counter and punish DIs, anti-air. It doesn't matter where you start learning this, if you can consistently do these 4 basic things and know basic combos, light pressure and oki you can get Masters.
Missed knowing how to block, walking forward and blocking, and knowing when to stop blocking so you can take your turn back if they try to steal it.
This.
I always hate the per-rank training regimen line of thinking. Lower ranks are lower ranks often because they have incomplete skillsets, or incomplete mastery of individual skills, but who is weaker in what areas will vary dramatically depending on who you fight. The climb comes from being able to deal with what your opponents are good at doing and being able to execute on what they aren't, and that will never be a specific thing per rank
This. You can be an invincible wake-up God or a mix-up genius but if you can’t react to anything you deserve to be low rank.
Hit the other guy more than they hit you
You should learn everything at all ranks. I'm master and have competed in over 100 LAN events. You don't stop learning and developing - ever. Pick one thing each week and concentrate on that. Eventually it will all come togetherfor example - if I lost to a Ryu throwing fireballs in tournament, that's what I worked on until the next weekly. Then, next tournament I lose to bison frame traps - I spend that week learning blocking and counter bison frame traps. After awhile you will learn a ton and you rank naturally goes up. Don't think about ranks as "I need to know this at bronze.". Because you will still need to learn and develop at silver gold and plat.
Agreed and great advice. Especially don't stop learning and developing.
I like this idea of learning one thing per week. I just picked up SF6 again after a 12 year hiatus, and it can be overwhelming with how much things there are too learn. I try to learn everything at once and thus end up learning nothing at all. Trying to stick with 1 thing at a time is the key, but thats much easier said than done - especially when the opponents you play aren't really using the one thing you've been trying to practice for.
In my personal opinion from rookie to gold all your character moves and when use them also now what other characters do. In platinum 1 -2 you need learn how to use the drive system and platinum 3 - 5 learn how to combo.
Anti airing and backrolling at all ranks
I went from platinum 1 to master. My experience is by platinum 3-5, most players have a good grasp of game mechanics and can do punishing combos. They are not making glaring mistakes but they may have some weaknesses that can be exploited, like not teching throws or habitually hitting buttons on wake-up. By diamond 4, players have a tighter defence and better match-up knowledge. They are focusing on their opponent, observing their play style and developing a counter play. Gimmicks may work a few times and the opponent will learn from their mistake. This is also where you start seeing a good combination of consistent anti-airs, whiff punishing, efficiency in combos, strong spacing, unpredictable mixups, gauge management etc though not necessarily all in the same player
For me, I can almost pinpoint exactly what took me out of each rank. Rookie: What my moves are and what buttons make them come out . Iron: Pick five moves, looks at what your opponent is doing, and use the move you've decided to use in that case. Bronze: Special cancels. Silver: Anti-airs and easy mix-ups. Gold: Not out of that yet. Focusing on learning to react to DI and improve all the other things.
Anti-airs in silver ? I'm plat/diamond depending on characters and still can't anti-air reliably (although most opponents never care to try, so that helps).
Oh yeah, to be clear, it's when I learned to do them at all. By no means are they consistent.
A good tip is to pressure purely with DI cancellable buttons. Also wake-up OD DP.
Until diamond honestly all you need is a couple BnB combos and knowing how to apply pressure. Anti airs also.
Literally got placed in plat 5 after not playing for 6 months because I anti-aired reliably
I can pretty much grab any random character with little practice and place at Plat 5 by just remembering their best pokes and anti airs.
It makes you realize how much you over complicated learning the game in the first place, at least that’s what happened to me lol
Yeah these dudes are fucking tripping talking about combos. I couldn’t use drc until d2. Just got there by anti airing and canceling. Didn’t know a cash out FOREVER and it was fine.
People want to skip the basics and go right into the cool stuff, it’s human nature
Went from rookie 1 to diamond 3 since release I can't remember WTF I was doing in rookie, just trying to land hits I guess In iron I tried to at least get my target combos right Bronze same In silver I learned basic combos into specials Around gold I could do basic combos into specials & super with lots of drops still In platinum, very rare drops, learned safe jumps, meaties In diamond I've started incorporating shimmies, trying to mix up stuff to the point of scrambling the opponents brain, I might miss some tools to hit master but I will definitely hit it before they release another character I wanna play
Who do you main and how many hours have you got? Good luck with reaching Master ;)
Kimberly, idk how many hours I have since I sold the game on Playstation & got it on pc, I'll have to check on my console but certainly have around 200h
Masters - That you didnt pay good money to block Platinum to Diamond - Drive combos, setups, oki, parrying Iron to gold - Footsies / consistent supers Rookie - To block
Master: I need to drop Manon
I'm stuck ranking up to plat 3 star and ranking back down to play 2 star over and over lol can't get a foothold in plat 3 I'm sure it would be easier if I left the match after the first time I win and not give the other person the runback but I feel like I would be depriving myself of learning experiences
In the FGC, there’s an unspoken honour code of rematching, regardless of if you win or lose. You are right in learning experiences, if you "one-and-done" somebody, you won’t learn nearly as much on how to counter them or what to do, just to do gimmicks and hope. You should play to learn, not rank-up. Since you’re stuck, try casuals (or customs): infinite rematches and people of all skill levels.
I do a lot of casual matches when I'm tired of ranking down or when I need to warm up before ranked and paradoxically I seem to do better against higher ranked people than I do against lower ranked people idk why tho I think it's because I can't predict what a low rank player will do because they don't even know what they are going to do lol
Here are some common mistakes: Spamming: DI, buttons, Invincible reversal, SA, DR, etc. Not mixing-up options. Unsafe, unplanned blockstrings. Suboptimal combos, you should have an optimal: [a DP] pc combo (meterless and cash-out), a wallsplat combo (meterless and cash-out), a DI combo, a stun combo, etc. Poor drive gauge management. Not parrying or mixing block heights. Not delay teching. Who are you stuck with? I’d be happy to watch some of your matches and provide an outside perspective :)
In high platinum and diamond is where I really started learning counter hit combos. This was huge for me in my climb. So often you catch someone pressing buttons and you’ll need some more optimal punishes on that. I rarely see counter hit on posts like these so that’s my vote.
Applicable to all ranks: if you lose, the connection was bad/the mu was bad/the player was bad but got carried by modern controls
Exactly. If you win you were better. Don’t forget to one and done.
People already said but i want to add ta on master you need to re learn everything and really "master" your character every one on 1600+ know your tricks.
Rookie: Find your best button, and BLOCK for the love of god. Don't need combos, don't need special moves, don't need supers. You need to not let your health hit zero. You have 99 seconds and a whole ass life bar to play with. Don't sit there thinking your opponent needs to be dead off one hit in the first 10 seconds. Iron: Block jump-ins. Don't need to learn to anti-air necessarily, but learn when you need to stand or crouch block. Getting opened up by the occasional overhead is no big deal for now. Your opponents don't know how to capitalize off that shit anyways. Bronze: Block cross-ups. That's all. Continue refining the other things. You can literally still poke people to death with whatever your best button is. If you wanna do something cool, either learn a really basic combo off your best button, or some cancel you can do off it. Don't fall for how cool raw supers and DIs are. Play lame win game. Silver: Start mixing in a special move or two. Preferably ones that won't cause you to instantly explode on block. Continue doing the other stuff. Maybe start practicing whatever your easiest anti-air is. When you can comfortably look for a jump-in, then you can go for DPs or whatever the hell. For now, probably just stick to 2HP or whatever is your character's easiest anti-air button to hit. Gold: Throw people, and occasionally wake up super to scam people. Don't do it all the time, but also don't do it NEVER. Platinum: Go learn like ONE combo. If it doesn't work in every screen position, then either learn a different combo that does, or learn a second combo for the corner. Bonus points if it can end in a super. Minus points if you only learn a combo that starts with a jump-in, and you can't convert off any grounded normals. Diamond: Pay attention to what your opponents are doing and learn to perfect parry some stuff. Master: That you suck shit at the game, but so does most everybody else. Learn how much you still have to learn, then pick one thing out at a time and start learning and incorporating it.
I should learn that Master ranges players who picked up the game last week to people who played Street Fighter since the 90s
Just 1 Bronze~Master - Don't Lose
rookie -> master anti air and learn a basic punish combo, it's all you need
Juste this for real
the biggest learnings for me in iron has been proper defense + punishing and rolling out of knockdowns. got great advice on the sub the other day too about not rushing my own buttons; be patient, block, punish. learn timing for DI counters and don't spam DIs from neutral.
Master ranks = Neutral Refining. Learning when to shimmy. How to get out tight blockstrings. Learning to adapt to the type of player you’re facing quickly (pattern recognization). And a slew of other things but I can’t think of anything else right now.
When will videoagemes finally agree and settle which is superior: Platinum or Diamond?
Tin.
Classic players are just learning inputs until they reach Plat, so I'd say anything below Plat is about cultivating a powerful learning habit that allows you to recognise and improve upon your constant mistakes over time. I'd also recommend learning about fighting game fundamentals purely so your brain is looking for various concepts that will come into play later, even if you're unable to execute yet. For example, just the ability to identify your opponent's wake-up options and how they are more likely to choose an option in context of ther health and conditioning is important to have in the back of your mind from the beginning. The ability to actively notice what your opponent is doing can be trained before you understand why they're doing it. Just notice it, then try to figure it out.
You should learn not to Tuck around and Find out with a Akuma, Bison, Luke, Ryu, and a Ken Player!!!
From Iron to Plat: anti-air Diamond: waiting your turn, taking your turn Masters: everything else
If you hold back you block. You will learn this at every level
Rookie: how to hit people bronze: how to block silver: how to move gold: how to drive impact platinum: that there is a parry button diamond: how to drive rush master: how to play the game
Totally true, and there is no real ending on learning how to play the game
This is the one
If you play super offensively, learn defense. If you play hyper defensively, learn offense. You need both, and a lot of people I run into put all their skill points in defense and never looked back. Easy dubs most of the time.
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You can reach any rank with any mode. There are many Master level players who use Modern. Modern is easier to react but less options. Classic is harder to react but more options. Pick what feels best. Neither option stops you from learning spacing and reactions and (usually) optimal combos.
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That’s completely fine. Nowadays, a lot of people play every game competitively and it saps the fun. As long as you enjoy it, play how you want.
Rookie -gold Spacing
Plat Combos
Diamond Frame /space trap shimmy and Basic frame data. ( when is it your turn)
Please tell be bc I been platinum for way too long with lily
Some questions and a statement before I try to help. Did you grind up to Plat or get placed in Plat? Highest ranked player? Do you play anybody else? Estimated hours? In anything but World Tour. How do you practice? What combos do you know? Do you watch content creators or try to learn from other online content? I have grinded to Gold V as Ryu from Bronze. I got placed as a Plat JP and have never gone up or down despite 100s of matches as him. I just got placed as a Plat II Akuma and seem to have the same problem with him. That is to say, the game can sometimes place you in a range where you never go up or down despite not being by 50/50 as you gain slightly more than you lose. You can also grind up to this range. This range is dangerous but might be where you "deserve" to be. Sometimes, it can be a simple mistake you make which rank sticks you. Maybe you DI on wake-up or can’t delay tech. What’s your username? I’ll look at some of your matches and see if I can help or see a problem, an outside view is usually helpful.
Awesome yea def grinded idk what my user name is im pretty new to this online community stuff but when I get home I will look up info for you
Rookie to master here. When I first got started people told me to just hold down back, hit anti-airs, and have a punish combo. * Rookie: Learn the buttons and learn not to freak out and mash all the time. * Iron: Just hold down-back and anti-air. * Bronze: Just hold down-back and anti-air. * Silver: Just hold down-back and anti-air. * Gold: Get stuck because I think "surely I'm out of the stage where holding down-back and anti-airing is the optimal strategy. I'll try to mix things up and incorporate DI and DR." Show some replays to higher level players, they tell me "Just hold down-back and anti-air." I take their advice and rip off a huge streak to Platinum. * Platinum: Okay wtf people also block here and even hit anti-airs sometimes. Start incorporating system mechanics like DP and DR, and learn punishes. Stop going into burnout so much. Slowly grind to Diamond. * Diamond: Learn the actual matchups, which moves you can punish and how. * Master: Just got here! Still just trying to learn the ins-and-outs of each matchup. If you're below Plat1...do I really have to say it? Just hold down-back and anti-air.
Idk about each rank but learning to use parry properly, anti air, your bnb combos with super, punish combos, your safe on block moves, and for the love of god don’t press DI, what a bad habit to develop even if low ranks just perma press unsafe buttons
To get to master- jump a lot. Mash 4f. Throw all time. Learn cash out combo.
Rookie: leg sweep is such a good move, and I love hadoukens Iron: Jumping attacks are amazing, I feel like batman swooping in from the night. Also throws are so strong. Heavy punch into DP all day long Silver: anti-air anti-air anti-air. Also drive rush from everything and just hit them hard Gold: Resource management, also I have a brain now Platinum: Here's what I want to do, and I gotta remember that they can do this Higher: literal gods
One thing you need to learn for any rank is humility. I have multiple characters in masters and my biggest weakness is my ego. I’ll actively be salty while getting my ass kicked and I’m not learning anything I’m just thinking about how much they suck doing the stupid option they did and how I’m so much better then I lose. I also get cocky after smoking them in the first round and I’ll lose the whole set cause I stop respecting them.
Haha, this is exactly how I feel. Earlier I lost to someone and was so annoyed that I lost a single round to a Silver V player but didn’t consider why. Introspection is a valuable tool.
Gold: Od Reversals Platinum: Not to use OD reversals Diamond: Delay Tech Master: Not to use delay tech
Plat 3, and I am up and down on this roller coaster.
Realistically, I don't think there's one specific thing you NEED to learn at each rank- I got to Master from Plat 2 in ~3 months of on/off play by just fixing issues that people pointed out to me from replays and building on my knowledge, what helped is that every session I tried to focus on one thing that I struggled with (like anti airs, specific matchup tech, conversions, etc.) and even if I ended at a point defecit I'd feel satisfied if I was able to complete my goal that session.
I might not be the best to talk about this because my main is low MR(1500 to 1600) Gold and below can be beaten by spamming your characters busted moves/gimmicks, for example Juri drive rush and standing mp or Akuma demon flip and air fireball Platinum and diamond you just need anti airs and you need to know your characters meaties, this takes a few seconds to figure out and you can practice them while you wait for a match. Knowing how to stop other people from abusing their character's strengths is also key above platinum, but you can learn that while playing, just try different answers instead of mashing jab every time after you get hit the headbutt, Blanka ball, knee press or demon flip. Some gimmicks are meant to be strong and you can't punish them, and you have to be ok with it, just learn how to stop it instead of blocking it.
At each rank you should definitely learn how to play better.
Welp. I did a lot backwards and I’m paying for it currently lol. Thank you for this post because I was just thinking of where to look specifically that talks about the different rank goals on average. I’m taking a lot of notes to get better because I stopped playing ranked as much but I still want to progress.
Happy to help :) Remember that the boundaries of ranks are fluid and you should focus on your weaknesses, not everybody else’s. I’ll watch some relays if you want :)
I need all the help I can get to be more consistent so if you could watch a couple I’d appreciate it!
Pay money, win games
I started in Gold and this is the first Street Fighter I’ve played more than casually, though not my first fighting game. Gold was all about anti-airing and reacting to DI, and punishing accordingly. Pretty much the entire “wait and react” pillar of neutral. Platinum was establishing offense. In Gold, wakeup DP/DI/mash was the case almost every time I knocked an opponent down. In Plat I still had games where I could wait for the jump/OD reversal/poorly thought out DI and punish, but I also had to get in and pressure/mix up my opponent. Working out safe, loopable, confirmable offense took me from hitting a little bit of a wall at Plat 1 to breezing through the rest of the rank. Starting to use drive rush felt like a new world. I did have some minor refinements like checking drive rush and delay teching that helped out as well. Diamond was quick for me, but my greatest successes came from shimmying, the occasional whiff punish, and converting my stray hits, even if it was 1 in 3. Mash on jinrai low and get counter hit? We’ll convert that with a s.lk link into H DP for a knockdown. Throw out a big button predictably? A little walk back, punish counter s.HK into run DP, knockdown. I started to use DP instead of cr. HP for my anti airs, and incorporating more complex setups like spacing traps and meaty DI on wakeup in the corner. I used more optimal punishes and parried more often. I stopped going for button > DRC when my meter was low, and just sitting back and playing neutral/footsies. I developed good burnout pressure and DP/reversal baits. I think overall I also just got better at reading opponents, knowing their options in any given situation, what they are looking for in a matchup, and how they would likely achieve it. The wave of new Akuma players liberally using s. HK and air fireball at half/full screen also helped tremendously since I could punish those pretty reliably from day one of his release. I’m still not incredible and have some holes in my play, but my neutral is greatly improving and I’m working on cashing out (something some platinum players know how to do, even if they burn out immediately on a hit without killing), which I have maybe done twice in the whole time I’ve played the game.
W post, discussion and comments. Stuck at the cusps of platinum 1-2 with Akuma. Idk 😑
Happy to help :) I just got ranked Plat 2 with Akuma and feel like I can’t hold it. Practice in casuals, customs and training. If you tell me your username I’ll watch some of your rematches :)
once you reached diamond skill doesnt matter anymore because it's pure 50-50. guess wrong you lose, guess right you win.
Masters is all about learning footsies and neutral. If you rush at all you lose. Sit back, don't make mistakes.
Uhm idk man I'm at bronze
New Challenger: Rank doesn't matter Learn what you need to work on at the time. To start with you should work on understanding system mechanics and responding to common low-level situations. You should eventually work out how to lab to learn information about your character's options in different stages of the game (is this mix real?, what are the risks and rewards associated with (thing) in (situation)?). While learning how to lab and learn things yourself, also work to iron out execution for the things you've learned, be it combos, hit confirms, anti airs etc. Once you've mastered labbing and have learned more-or-less the ins and outs of your character and the mirror match, you may begin learning matchups properly. Continue to iron out execution and constantly learn new things with your time playing and you will see a steady improvement. Whether you make it through each step or not is completely up to you, some play more casually than others, and you might not want to learn certain things over just playing and that's absolutely fine !!! If you're always learning and improving, however you will maximise your potential as a player. It's also worth noting that while the lab is your best friend for improvement, you'll still need to play matches and display your techniques in order to properly learn them, and you'll need to repeat things eventually to strengthen the memory. It may also be wise to connect with the community to achieve more personal things, such as avoiding tilt, learning new tech you haven't found in the lab etc etc. While improvement is largely personal study, we need other people to make the most of it with us
Biggest game changer are these 3 things starting from rookie. 1. Simple anit-air 2. Learn what you can do after successful blocks. 3. Learn Max damage combos and when you can use them. Then actually use them.
Rookie - Silver: Learn to beat the gimmicks and do a single bnb combo which you can use to punish. Gold: Anti-airs Platinum: Delay Tech and more optimal combos. Diamond: whiff punishing. Master+: now you need to start learning your characters strengths and weaknesses. Strong fundies will no longer carry you
My only contribution to this is that I’m a 4-star Plat with Akuma and i’m always too focused on trying to play whatever game I want to (press the buttons that I want, do the moves that I want, without regard to my opponent) instead of adapting to my opponent 70% of the time. 😢 EDIT: also wanted to add that I’m currently learning more setup stuff rather than just general, huge-damage combo stuff. I have a handful of combos I can default to in most situations, but now I’m trying to learn how to put myself in situations (where I can use those combos) more often — Akuma’s l.tatsu into sweep being the most basic of these.
Rookie-Diamond: anti-air Master: also anti-air
Unranked to Legend: Abuse Bison's Knee Press
Everything below master - anti air
Rookie: The buttons. Its hard work, but I believe everyone can do it. Except Dean Takahashi.
I mean the rocketship of win streak bonuses drops you off at platinum if you know your basics. After that I think you need to study matchups and learn a good grounded neutral game.
You will naturally figure it out by yourself, bit by bit, as you keep playing. That's the beauty of the Ranked mode.
Rookie to Gold: Learn either the intricacies of your character OR the Drive system (aka universal mechanics) Platinum and beyond: Learn and master the intricacies of your character AND the Drive system.
I like this. Definitely true, I’m in gold rank and players seem to either have great fundamentals OR they know 1 or 2 reliable big damage combos that they spam. It gives me hope bc I’m in the “solid fundys” crowd… hopefully once I master the intricacies of my character I can make it to plat or beyond.
Rookie: Anti airs Iron: Anti airs Bronze: Anti airs Silver: Anti airs Gold: Anti airs Platinum: Anti airs Diamond: Anti airs Master: Anti airs and fireball -> drive rush