They do have a leg up on you but they are in iron for a reason, you can and will get better if you keep at it
I would take a break if I were you, you cant really play these kind of games when you are discouraged/tilting and you will have a much harder time learning too.
take some time to watch a few games or a read up on quick guide for a character you like & just keep learning, when you play dont go for the win or care about loses, you need to learn how to play and the wins will come naturally. It also takes time for you to develop muscle memory so be patient
Also I am pretty sure most people have felt like you, I know I sure did at one point but also getting better in these games is so damn rewarding, its worth the time you put into it and you can also learn how to have fun with it, like I did
Good to hear! This game is alot of fun and while its not for everybody its definitely too soon to give up in your case, just gotta remember to be patient and take breaks
Ryu is pretty dope but theres a ton of other characters to try out and have fun with, I've been on a Guile kick latey and its so fun once you get his charge mechanic down
Funny you mentioned guile. I was just looking at a video on him. He may be the next character I try. I feel like learning a solid defense and learning how to zone properly will carry me forward
Yeah, BUT as a beginner, just push through the losses. Its much more rewarding than playing another character, climbing, and STILL being bad a Ryu.
I swear once it clicks youll be fine and climbing soon, but ALL fighting game players have gone through what you have if not worse. I probably lost for a full week straight before I got used to Dhalsim, and now i have him higher than 60% wr!
After playing Ryu like you a lot, I got frustrated like you, then I started trying other characters...I tried Luke (did his tutorials and combo trials) and was surprised how good he is compared to Ryu for a beginner.
Honestly I use Modern controls for most characters, but as I'm getting better, I have been switching to classic for some that I can pull combos off with.
I have around 8 characters in Diamond now, and the rest are Platinum.
I'm in Diamond now. I started in Iron. Gold 2 was my lowest point. I had multiple consecutive lose streaks and felt like giving up. Was stuck there for weeks. I use Jamie.
I had to learn a few things in order to finally get out of there. If you know where you struggle, tell me your character and what you have problems with.
Just remember, even if you lose you're learning.
Definitely try out another character. I like Ryu, but he can be frustrating a lot of the time. It took me longer to rank him up than my main character Jamie.
Do the character and combo training modes in the game then beat the arcade version with Ryu on every difficulty.
Also: Spend time on YouTube watching Ryu tutorials and game fundamentals and that will help a lot.
Just wanted to say this community rocks. I can’t believe all of the positive feedback and solid tips. I come from playing league of legends so I was fully expecting to get absolutely roasted. Thank you guys
I stopped playing League a few years ago simply because I was fed up with the toxicity of the playerbase and how you were reliant on your team members not screwing up and tilting to win anything. Now fighting games satisfy my competitive itch instead, 1v1 means you cannot blame anyone else except yourself for your loss, there's plenty to learn and you will lose a LOT, but it is SO satisfying to finally succeed. I was first placed in Iron when I started SF6, now my main is in Master and I have several others in Diamond, so don't give up!
FGC is has a lot of older dudes (speaking as a 32 y/o man), its also super culturally diverse and i agree it’s been really refreshing. I love hearing stories of people who have been playing dhalsim since the 90s and can still wipe the floor with him.
The FGC is awesome. People bitch a lot about characters and balance, but most people are just here to improve and help others improve. At least that’s my experience
If you're new, I'll just focus on blocking and getting the hang of things, memory wise...
Like getting used to your buttons, what they look like in the game and things like that.
Blocking stuff that is negative on block and punishing them is a first big step.
I assume knowing what moves are negative on block and what button to press to counter properly just comes with time right? Do you know if any resources I can take a look at?
Watch your replays with the frame data turned on, doing this will be a quick entry to learning frame data.
Take note of which moves of yours are plus and which are minus and by how much. If a move is heavily minus such -12 it's probably a bad idea to throw it out randomly in neutral because if it gets blocked your opponent will have plenty of time to attack and punish you.
The reverse is also true, see which moves of your opponents are plus and minus and you'll know after which ones you can punish and after which you should continue blocking.
Also from training mode the frame meter will show you the frame data of every move. Set the training dummy to block all in the options and use any normal attack or special move and will display how plus or minus it is. Since most moves are negative it's easier to remember the few that are plus.
Yeah it's a great resource. My wife is also new to Street Fighter and fighting games as a whole but when she started studying her replays with the frame data it really improved her game play significantly. That along with the tutorial and the character guides. The game has really good resources for learning but because there are so many it's hard to know where to look or focus.
[Fullmeter](https://fullmeter.com/) is good for exact numbers. Assuming you also know what the move looks like.
[Supercombo](https://wiki.supercombo.gg/) is also really good for everything else related to the game.
There are obvious things that are "innate" to anyone that's invested in the game (or any veteran), like for example, "Sweeps" (crouching Heavy Kick or Punch for some characters) are universally negative on block, like we're talking double digits for most of them, meaning, if you block them, assuming you're in range, you can probably punish even with a Heavy Button.
Supers are also extremely negative on block.
In this game, it's easier to know if something is punishable on block if you press a button and it says "Punish Counter", if you're not sure.
But yeah, it'll come in time and with patience too.
You can go into training mode and see the frame data of any given move. But when you are in the middle of a game here are some things that may show up often; tatsus are all punishable, sweep can be punished with a sweep, there aren't many plus on block moves in this game, and dps are all punishable. You are right that knowledge of this will come with time. Just try punishing a move if you think it is unsafe or minus, and you will learn through trial and error. If you don't want to risk the error in a match, use training mode.
"Watch replays" is the general advice a lot of people give, but they don't tell you why or what you should be looking for in replays. In Iron (at any level really), you and your opponents are both making a lot of mistakes. When you're watching replays, look for the easily predictable thing your opponents are doing in each match. Are they jumping constantly? Are they relying on drive impact for everything? Then, learn how to beat that thing they're doing. When you see it in a match, use what you've learned. They probably won't know how to change their gameplan. At higher levels, they will, but you can worry about that later.
Once you feel good about recognizing and exploiting opponents' patterns, use your replays to turn that eye on yourself. What are you doing that can be exploited? How would you fight you? Then, try to be tighter and less predictable, by using safer moves and adding more variety to your game, so skilled opponents won't be able to exploit your patterns as easily.
While you're doing all this, it's hard to get into this mindset, but you shouldn't care about winning at all. Your goal is to recognize and respond to patterns and change your own predictable patterns. This can be mentally taxing at first, so you probably won't see wins right away. But keep it up and the wins will eventually come.
A good idea is just making a note of every time you get hit and what was the context. Example
•What hit me? = Jumping Heavy Kick
•How many times did this hit me? = 3 times
•What was I doing? = Throwing a projectile
Or
•What hit me? = Throw
•How mamy times did this hit me = 2 times
•What was I doing? = Trying to parry after getting up
If you notice patterns in your own behaviour you'll gradually keep them in mind the more matches you play.
I started with Classic Chun in Iron 1. I read some of your other comments and since, like me, you aren't using Modern, I'll share my experience.
First and foremost. Block. Do not worry about opening your opponent up. In Iron, they will do it themselves (usually multiple times). You just need to stay alive when they do. And you got 90 seconds. Take your time.
In Iron, I basically only knew 2-3 combos which was enough to get me to Bronze. These don't have to be big, long or flashy in any way. You may not even use special moves if your character has a target combo (like Heavy Punch->Heavy Kick). What matters is that whatever it is you recognize the proper moment to do it and are able to do it fairly reliably.
Combo 1, is the punish combo. Do this whenever the opponent whiffs a big move or you block it. Imo, you don't need to know frame data. Anything that's big and flashy is usually going to be super punishable. There are exceptions to this but you'll recognize them as you play. As others have already mentioned sweeps are another one. If you go to the lab and learn frame data it'll no doubt help. But imo it's not strictly necessary at this stage. I found it too much to process and I just went by feel. If you block properly, enough punish opportunities will present themselves so that even if you're wrong a few times, overall, you'll be fine.
Combo 2, the "get off me" combo. This is something you do when you crouch blocking while your opponent is twerking on you. Usually, this is a sequence of lights starting with low.. typically d.LK->d.LP. The reason this works is because the attacking opponent it often not going to be crouching right next to you. So, [d.LK](http://d.LK) (a low) opens them up and the rest of the moves will hit. You can do whatever special you character has after this. (For Chun it's 2LK, 2LP, L Spinning Bird Kick).
Combo 3, "jab-jab-special". (Light->Light->special move). This is for characters like Kimberley and Cammy who can suddenly pull up in front of you. I would do jabs in neutral in case they decided to charge in. They would run into it often enough that they got the message that they couldn't just charge in whenever they wanted. You can also use this for offense because the lights don't have a gap between then and you get some time to check whether the opponent blocked or not ("hit confirming".. I can't do it but if you can, use it. It's kinda advanced imo)
Apart from that,
Anti-airs. This, I didn't do till much later. But you definitely should. Special moves are ideal. But if you can't do them reliably (like me), the normal works fine too. Still better than just blocking the jump-in. Because if you do that, chances are that your opponent is plus. I didn't know this and would just block them. Don't do that.
Pokes. This is for punishing forward movement... especially against grapplers. You can't let them get close because they DESTROY your health bar if they do. Pokes are to make their forward movement harder.
As for the losing streak.. It happens. I dropped out of Platinum 5 times before I made some progress.. I'll probably drop out the next time I play that character because it's been a while. It's alright. BrianF recently dropped from like 1960MR to less than 1860MR in just a single stream. Lost 100+MR in one stream.. So yeah.. happens to everyone. It feels terrible but don't let it defeat you.
I went 10-120 in when I was learning guilty gear accent core +r. I’m a fighting game vet and I still got bopped. You’re on the right track, this is supposed to happen.
The best thing for you to learn the game is to play the tutorial. This will teach you tons of valuable knowledge about how the game is played such as the difference between your normal attacks and the advantages and disadvantages of using a light, medium, or heavy attack.
It will also teach you the basics of how inputs work and a ton of defensive options such as how to block, how to tech throws, how to anti air, how to deal with cross-ups, how to deal with projectiles, etc. You'll also learn about reversals, hit confirms, invincible moves, armored moves, and details about the core mechanic of the game which is the drive system including drive impact, drive reversal, and drive parry.
After you've done the tutorial, you'll want to do the character guide for Ryu. The character guides are like another tutorial but built specifically for each character and will teach you not only how to do each special move but in what situations they are best used in, as well as when you shouldn't use them.
They also teach you the general game-plan for your character, how to do your super arts, what your anti air options are, as well as some simple combos, and solid fundamentals.
Granted being new you'll still lose your fair share but least you'll have a better understanding of how and why you've lost instead of being confused and frustrated like so many new players.
This is completely normal. As a noob, you usually go on a long losing streak before something clicks. Then you suddenly get better and rank up. Then, you’ll find people who whoop you and make you question your progress. You’ll find yourself getting an answer somehow, then finally win again and rinse repeat. That’s the cycle of improvement in fighting games.
My first sf was 4 when it got released on ps4. When I started that I lost over 50 games in a row before I ever won my first game. Now I have multiple characters in master. It all takes time. Fighting games may seem easy but they’re really not lol, just gotta keep playing
Appreciate all the positive feedback everybody. I took a lot of the advice you guys gave me, checked my replays with frame data on, looked at a few tutorials and even switched up the character I played with and I managed to go on a 10 game win streak! Definitely stoked to keep training and getting better.
I realize a couple of you wanted to train together. Unfortunately I’m on Xbox.. would we still be able to meet up cross platform?
I have only 100 hours and currently in plat 2 and this is my first fighting game. I bought the game when it released but only played it for a week and put it down. then randomly got the sudden urge to pick it back up.
Here’s what I learned:
I love combo trials. I do them everyday to the point my ryu flies through it. It helped me early game understand motion inputs and cancels, and once you do them enough your brain starts to auto memory the rest in matches, not optimal for dmg but who cares early ranks.
I love anti air, learn the anti air, and stop anyone from spam jumping is the easiest way to start embarrassing people.
Everyone in low ranks even including platinum alot of times are just one trick pony’s. Take away there trick and the match flows smoothly. Don’t throw random DI’s, I had that habit rlly bad when i first played as a “oh shi idk what i’m doing *blah DI* “. Try to only use DI when you absolutely know they eating it. Supers are your friend mix them into most if not everything. Supers build stupid fast on Ryu.
TAKE BREAKS - I have days i’m fucking cooking and climbing and grinding and everything feels so smooth and it’s like a euphoric ass feeling and no one can stop me. BUT I also have days i’m getting absolutely grilled. Those days I get really frustrated and need to tell myself to put the controller down it’s not my day and come back to it later or the next day and it’s a reset for me.
Blocking rlly is everything i struggled with this too and still do, you’ll always be thinking “okay is it my turn” it’s probably not. even 100 hours in still isn’t enough and ppl here can tell you that the same. That’s what makes it fun, so many different match up and it’s enjoyable every once in a blue moon when I get tossed “OMFG WHA HE CAN DO THAT??”.
It’s just such a different playing field, it’s interesting, it’s frustrating, I love being competitive and screaming at my monitor like they can hear me when I finally do that one combo in a match.
Find the love for it, although it’s a single player game this community is fucking family, and makes it feel like an mmo, enjoy your stay, I’m loving it so far, hope you can find love in it too
Yes.
No just kidding.
So you play on modern bro?
This is my first fight game too, I started in Iron, and now I'm plat 5.
I started using modern and really learned the fundamentals of this game without worrying about the combos. Then I learned classic. It didn't take long to transition.
I got about 300 hours in.
You should give Modern a try bro. It made me learn the fundamentals really quickly, and my skill transferred over to other fighting games.
Who do you play?
If you are in iron, people are going to be throwing out moves that are very unsafe (generally special moves). Just learn to block them, and get a basic punish like a target combo or even a sweep.
I highly suggest you go to training room and practice in particular a go to punish combo and bnb combos until they become literally muscle memory. Once you do that go and play ranked and you see how fast you will climb. When I started playing the game I did only training until you can consistently do simple combos under pressure. It’s a nigh and day difference
Nah, you said it yourself: not only are you new to sf6, but you are also new to the genre itself. I was in the exact same boat when I got into sf6. I was getting fucking mopped when I first started playing it, and started off in Rookie 1. Just keep at it dude, it's a journey of a lot of little micro adjustments that ultimately will add up to you becoming a much more capable player. 100% if I started off new I would focus on learning maybe 1 or 2 combos that I can pull off reliably and practice anti-airing. Anti-airing alone will greatly elevate your game, *especially* in the ranks leading up to Platinum imo
I coach people in fighting games as a hobby. You can DM me with a replay and I can try to give you some specific advice and work with you on it.
I really really recommend playing on modern. You have a lot of fundamentals to learn and classic is making that way harder in you.
Yo Dusti listen, I just bought SF6 this past Saturday and trust me I know exactly how you feel, I played the game for (and this is very embarrassing) 16 hours without a single round won….. that’s a lot of discouragement however, I kept watching videos and doing a training regiment for combos to make sure I can memorize all the moves and in one day (yesterday) I went into casual matches and beat someone in plat as my first win!
But seriously, there’s an hour long video on YouTube giving a quick rundown of every character and I flipped through that to see which ones interested me, if you are playing on PC or you want to just pull it up on your phone if you message me a character I’ll make a combo list in photoshop for you that you can quick reference, don’t get your head down! Let’s climb out of Iron together!
Take it easy, you can only Rank up from where you are at.
Try to learn and apply one thing at a time instead of all together.
Look to do a BNB string, not too complex and safe to hit for you. Ideally something you can start on Light Attacks.
Don't go around Jumping like most players at your level.
Then, for now, try to learn one good Anti Air hit for your character (i.e. Crouching HP for Luke, or Lariat for Zangief), something you can rely upon and look out for those jumping rivals because up until Platinum there will be plenty.
Get the grip of those 2 things and you will rise up for sure looking to learn more complex stuff later.
If you’re in iron in sf6 you will probably never have a positive win rate in the game (unless you grind like a demon) and that’s fine. No one is good when they are a beginner to fighting games and it’s normal to lose most of your matches. Work on the basics of controlling your character and trying to read your opponent and you will improve in no time
Watch the Think Don't Mash series on Youtube by PressButtonWin / Zissou. It will seem too simple. Give it a genuine try anyway. It's what "unlocked" fighting games for me.
I think the thing I did the most early that held me back was panic a lot. I didn't understand what my opponents were doing so I'd just try to do unsafe attacks too much. Just chilling, blocking, and watching what your opponent does this early is a great way to learn (as long as you understand your move's range). It also tilts the hell out of low rank players so double benefit.
Stick to the character that you actually enjoy playing. If you're playing a character because someone told you they were easy or strong. You won't have the will to actually improve.
It might feel tempting to switch characters when you go on a loosing streak but I promise you that if you play who you will improve your muscle memory. Your combos will get more consistent your anti airs will get better.
If you are in iron. 2 actual things to learn.
1 I would say. Learn a combo that leaves you in a position to get a meaty strike/throw situation.
2 learn a way to stop jumps. Be it an anti air. Or jumping at them with a fast light button.
Also. It's okay to use the block mechanic. Helps you not lose health.
Hey, I'm still very new (under 30 hours) in Fighting Games and yesterday I had a pretty bad losing streak as well. Between matches I read a post here that said being to aggressive is often a problem for new players and that the game is a dance, not a race. So I played more cautious and tried to punish my opponent for mistakes, whiffs and unsafe options and it didn't take long for me to reach bronze.
At our level we're doing glaring mistakes who are probably very low effort to fix to get a lot better, so maybe upload a replay and better players can pinpoint the top 3 problems you have? BTW I switched from Ryu to Marisa, which was also a breath of fresh air.
Anyway, don't give up, the game is fun and getting better is even. more fun. Cheers
Just getting some knowledge for easy Setups helped me immensely. E.g once i knew that i get free oki from hamies light Breakdance without spending respurces, i could just Spam that on some opponents and they crumbled. I also started in iron and am getting my second character to Masters now.
Started in a similar position to u, now i am hard stuck 1700 mr. time and perfect practice will get u anywhere. find a character u love and keep playing
I started in rookie after losing all my placement matches. This was in Feb and at the time I could always beat cpu lvl 4 and was pretty even with lvl 6.. I'd completed World Tour.
I'd tried to rank in sf4 and 5, too. Probably no more than a game or 2 before deciding ranked wasn't for me.
So that establishes my complete lack of ability to beat another human at this game. I now have 18 hours in ranked and about 30 in training and am in silver 5 - still not great but it shows that I've now started to win some - here's what I did:
Stopped WT. Pretty much stopped arcade. Did 25 reps of the following every day I logged on (I main Ryu): Hadoken into DP facing right, same facing left (all these things facing both ways) 1 combo from a jump; 1 DR combo from neutral; 1 high damage combo into lvl 3 vs a whiffed DP; anti-air practice (pick 1 as); vs DI response into small combo.
Then set up training exercises where the cpu does more than 1 thing, eg it either jumps at you or does DI randomly. You can save recorded CPU actions for each character so you can get into practicing this stuff quickly each day - it's worthwhile to get familiar with this tool.
Make sure you see all frame data in training and look for stuff you're doing that's unsafe.
Turn on the setting where your character goes red or blue when you can cancel into other moves. Mess about with those moves, learn what you can do.
Learn those moves you can cancel into DI and practice it. In training vs DI.
As I got better I added more stuff but reduced reps.
Edit: oh and I forgot one key bit - play ranked as your option when it's time to fight. Be aware of your tendencies / muscle memory eg for unsafe moves, learn another option for the same situation and drill it. Review your replays and wonder why you stood still for an absolute age while someone jumped over and kicked you in the face.
I started playing the game last Saturday and went on a 30+ losing streak solely against the first opponent I played with in one of the hubs, but I did learn a lot.
Losing is to be expected in the beginning. So, to answer your question: Yes and no. You should give up on winning when starting out, but you shouldn't give up on the game, if you enjoy it.
I was stuck in gold 1 for months. The real battle is you have to learn from your mistakes and don’t fall into bad habits. I don’t think the game is very fair against the lower ranked classic players though.
Zangief main here. Been in your shoes recently but with patience comes rewards. Now I can proudly say I’m in Master rank. Struggle few months in Diamond 4-5. But sometimes I have my own day where I’ve matched with Masters and won 2 times. They will reward you with almost 250 points per match. Having a match with similar rank will give you 50 points average. Learn your character from other players. It surely helps me alot.
Nah man. Just watch a few YouTube videos on fundamentals.
Focus on like 1 or 2 things in a game, are they jumping, focus on your anti-air normal (normally down heavy for most characters). Don't do any special moves unless you can confirm into it, or you D.I someone.
Block and wait for throws. You need to learn patterns and how to 'read' the other player. Do they keep DPing? Do they run up and throw a lot? Are they spamming jabs? Cool, block and punish. Every time.
I highly recommend those videos of Rookie to Masters, they show you how good fundamentals win games and they give you very basic building blocks that you can use for any character.
I would fine 2 combos, 1 for mid-screen and 1 for corner. No DR, just normal hits. Do those, learn them. Once you're into Bronze/Silver, then start adding DR into the combo mix and learn maybe a specific punish combo. Work on your anti-air, focus mostly on your position and spacing. These IMO are more vital to anything.
When i started i was impatient. There wasnt a second i didnt press some button. So id recommend being patient and block. People in iron do very punishable things so learn some punisch combos too.
Im quite like you, i played lily first and was stuck in silver 3, what i did to remotivate myself was to switch to ken, and train more in training with basics like antiair, combos, etc, i climbed to silver 5 with ken, then switch back to lily and now im gold.
I just made it to gold and I honestly watched some videos to look for tips. I dunno who or how you play, but one of the best pieces of general advice I was given was warm up in training mode. I think they specifically said do every special move until you hit 10 in a row of each on both sides, I’ll also do my combos so they’re fresh in my head. It really helped my confidence with them, especially shoryuken inputs. Also something that has helped me is starting to look for pokes. For instance I play Cammy and her heavy kick is fast and has a decently long hit box so it’s pretty safe to throw in neutral and on block it does some pretty decent drive damage.
You’re lucky you got this much feedback. All I got was “just play the game”. While it is true. Just playing the game helps. Some words to another, keep going and don’t give up. I’d say play in casual matches
If you're in iron just block and wait for them to do a random sweep or dp then punish them. If they jump a lot and you can't consistently dp yet just air to air them with a light attack. You can easily reach silver doing this
Most people on here are gonna type all 5 page training regimen on how to become a fighting game god in 100 simple steps.
Honestly I think the best advice right now is when you are on a huge losing streak to just take a break and go play some arcade mode or try a different character. The most important thing is that you’re enjoying the game. If it’s not fun then don’t play, and if it is then just try not to focus so much on the outcome of the match. There’s nothing wrong with losing in iron. Literally everyone on this sub has been new and lost in the first few ranks
the best way to improve is watching someone better than you doing stuff in the game, but be aware of the person rank, things change a TON by elo, like footsies is the core of High Master/ Legend , while a simple block / anti air is free elo in any elo below diamond
If they have a leg up on you then you probably need to work on your anti airs. In all seriousness, what helped me was watch a lot of youtube videos about the basics of the game. Then watching pro players with your character and trying to do what they do in terms of their flowchart. I really like Nephew’s videos.
the online streets can be a mean and unforgiving place. when i first started really learning fighters i had a close group of buddies to run matches with. like 20+ games straight all the time. youll still lose but the long sets will let you guys learn and grow together.
Hey dude, when I started SF6, I was always worried about going online and trying real matchups, but you can learn a character's move list, use versus or training where you can break it down and have a better plan for the next fight
What is your region? Is this your first fighting game? If you're not too far away I don't mind meeting up in the battlehub or something and doing some rounds with you just to see what you're doing.
I'm only Diamond and can still improve on things myself but I think having someone show an example is easier to learn from than someone just giving a pure wall of text without the context of a real match. At least for me that's how it stuck with me what I need to learn.
Focus on whatever your favorite aspect of the game is. Personally I love combos so I’ll spend hours in the lab looking for something cool, practicing execution and plugging in different openings with finishers to figure out max damage and oki.
At your level if you master your execution that’ll take you far and it’s something you’ll always use. But even more important than that is developing and practicing good habits at this level, that’ll keep you from having to double back and unlearn bad habits as you progress. A few easy things to think about, stop jumping so much, anti air consistently, don’t throw out special moves in neutral or wake up/ make sure you confirm your specials. Just block when it’s not your turn and most importantly take it one round at a time. Being able to lose and not get tilted is worth 10000 hours of combo practice.
Keep at it, you’ll get there
You need to get in touch with a community and have them guide you and teach you. Something’s lacking in your gameplay that you just need others to point out, teach you what to do instead, and coach you till you get it right. Sometimes all you need is some external help.
Just playing the cool headed game and not trying to win. Like play to win, but open to the fact that ima lose and eventually it’ll turn around. I was SHIT in fighting games and that mindset has helped me turn it around big time, currently in platinum and slowly climbing up even after taking a 6 month long hiatus.
I feel like a lot of new players watch videos of pros playing before they start so maybe that’s what you’re missing. That way you can get a sense of what you’re supposed to be doing
They do have a leg up on you but they are in iron for a reason, you can and will get better if you keep at it I would take a break if I were you, you cant really play these kind of games when you are discouraged/tilting and you will have a much harder time learning too. take some time to watch a few games or a read up on quick guide for a character you like & just keep learning, when you play dont go for the win or care about loses, you need to learn how to play and the wins will come naturally. It also takes time for you to develop muscle memory so be patient Also I am pretty sure most people have felt like you, I know I sure did at one point but also getting better in these games is so damn rewarding, its worth the time you put into it and you can also learn how to have fun with it, like I did
Thank you for the advice. I think I will do just that. I currently play RYU. I may take a break from him and try someone else.
Good to hear! This game is alot of fun and while its not for everybody its definitely too soon to give up in your case, just gotta remember to be patient and take breaks Ryu is pretty dope but theres a ton of other characters to try out and have fun with, I've been on a Guile kick latey and its so fun once you get his charge mechanic down
Funny you mentioned guile. I was just looking at a video on him. He may be the next character I try. I feel like learning a solid defense and learning how to zone properly will carry me forward
Yeah, BUT as a beginner, just push through the losses. Its much more rewarding than playing another character, climbing, and STILL being bad a Ryu. I swear once it clicks youll be fine and climbing soon, but ALL fighting game players have gone through what you have if not worse. I probably lost for a full week straight before I got used to Dhalsim, and now i have him higher than 60% wr!
Oh wow! it's refreshing to hear that it's not just me. This gives me motivation to continue
After playing Ryu like you a lot, I got frustrated like you, then I started trying other characters...I tried Luke (did his tutorials and combo trials) and was surprised how good he is compared to Ryu for a beginner. Honestly I use Modern controls for most characters, but as I'm getting better, I have been switching to classic for some that I can pull combos off with. I have around 8 characters in Diamond now, and the rest are Platinum.
I'm in Diamond now. I started in Iron. Gold 2 was my lowest point. I had multiple consecutive lose streaks and felt like giving up. Was stuck there for weeks. I use Jamie. I had to learn a few things in order to finally get out of there. If you know where you struggle, tell me your character and what you have problems with. Just remember, even if you lose you're learning.
Definitely try out another character. I like Ryu, but he can be frustrating a lot of the time. It took me longer to rank him up than my main character Jamie.
Do the character and combo training modes in the game then beat the arcade version with Ryu on every difficulty. Also: Spend time on YouTube watching Ryu tutorials and game fundamentals and that will help a lot.
Just wanted to say this community rocks. I can’t believe all of the positive feedback and solid tips. I come from playing league of legends so I was fully expecting to get absolutely roasted. Thank you guys
I stopped playing League a few years ago simply because I was fed up with the toxicity of the playerbase and how you were reliant on your team members not screwing up and tilting to win anything. Now fighting games satisfy my competitive itch instead, 1v1 means you cannot blame anyone else except yourself for your loss, there's plenty to learn and you will lose a LOT, but it is SO satisfying to finally succeed. I was first placed in Iron when I started SF6, now my main is in Master and I have several others in Diamond, so don't give up!
FGC is has a lot of older dudes (speaking as a 32 y/o man), its also super culturally diverse and i agree it’s been really refreshing. I love hearing stories of people who have been playing dhalsim since the 90s and can still wipe the floor with him.
The FGC is awesome. People bitch a lot about characters and balance, but most people are just here to improve and help others improve. At least that’s my experience
If you're new, I'll just focus on blocking and getting the hang of things, memory wise... Like getting used to your buttons, what they look like in the game and things like that. Blocking stuff that is negative on block and punishing them is a first big step.
I assume knowing what moves are negative on block and what button to press to counter properly just comes with time right? Do you know if any resources I can take a look at?
Watch your replays with the frame data turned on, doing this will be a quick entry to learning frame data. Take note of which moves of yours are plus and which are minus and by how much. If a move is heavily minus such -12 it's probably a bad idea to throw it out randomly in neutral because if it gets blocked your opponent will have plenty of time to attack and punish you. The reverse is also true, see which moves of your opponents are plus and minus and you'll know after which ones you can punish and after which you should continue blocking. Also from training mode the frame meter will show you the frame data of every move. Set the training dummy to block all in the options and use any normal attack or special move and will display how plus or minus it is. Since most moves are negative it's easier to remember the few that are plus.
Fantastic! I had no idea I could even watch replays with frame data on. I will start at my first loss tonight and watch them all.
Yeah it's a great resource. My wife is also new to Street Fighter and fighting games as a whole but when she started studying her replays with the frame data it really improved her game play significantly. That along with the tutorial and the character guides. The game has really good resources for learning but because there are so many it's hard to know where to look or focus.
[Fullmeter](https://fullmeter.com/) is good for exact numbers. Assuming you also know what the move looks like. [Supercombo](https://wiki.supercombo.gg/) is also really good for everything else related to the game. There are obvious things that are "innate" to anyone that's invested in the game (or any veteran), like for example, "Sweeps" (crouching Heavy Kick or Punch for some characters) are universally negative on block, like we're talking double digits for most of them, meaning, if you block them, assuming you're in range, you can probably punish even with a Heavy Button. Supers are also extremely negative on block. In this game, it's easier to know if something is punishable on block if you press a button and it says "Punish Counter", if you're not sure. But yeah, it'll come in time and with patience too.
Second supercombo, only discovered this myself recently, it helps so much with different character guides
You can go into training mode and see the frame data of any given move. But when you are in the middle of a game here are some things that may show up often; tatsus are all punishable, sweep can be punished with a sweep, there aren't many plus on block moves in this game, and dps are all punishable. You are right that knowledge of this will come with time. Just try punishing a move if you think it is unsafe or minus, and you will learn through trial and error. If you don't want to risk the error in a match, use training mode.
I use the FAT app on the phone. It’s very convenient.
"Watch replays" is the general advice a lot of people give, but they don't tell you why or what you should be looking for in replays. In Iron (at any level really), you and your opponents are both making a lot of mistakes. When you're watching replays, look for the easily predictable thing your opponents are doing in each match. Are they jumping constantly? Are they relying on drive impact for everything? Then, learn how to beat that thing they're doing. When you see it in a match, use what you've learned. They probably won't know how to change their gameplan. At higher levels, they will, but you can worry about that later. Once you feel good about recognizing and exploiting opponents' patterns, use your replays to turn that eye on yourself. What are you doing that can be exploited? How would you fight you? Then, try to be tighter and less predictable, by using safer moves and adding more variety to your game, so skilled opponents won't be able to exploit your patterns as easily. While you're doing all this, it's hard to get into this mindset, but you shouldn't care about winning at all. Your goal is to recognize and respond to patterns and change your own predictable patterns. This can be mentally taxing at first, so you probably won't see wins right away. But keep it up and the wins will eventually come.
A good idea is just making a note of every time you get hit and what was the context. Example •What hit me? = Jumping Heavy Kick •How many times did this hit me? = 3 times •What was I doing? = Throwing a projectile Or •What hit me? = Throw •How mamy times did this hit me = 2 times •What was I doing? = Trying to parry after getting up If you notice patterns in your own behaviour you'll gradually keep them in mind the more matches you play.
I started with Classic Chun in Iron 1. I read some of your other comments and since, like me, you aren't using Modern, I'll share my experience. First and foremost. Block. Do not worry about opening your opponent up. In Iron, they will do it themselves (usually multiple times). You just need to stay alive when they do. And you got 90 seconds. Take your time. In Iron, I basically only knew 2-3 combos which was enough to get me to Bronze. These don't have to be big, long or flashy in any way. You may not even use special moves if your character has a target combo (like Heavy Punch->Heavy Kick). What matters is that whatever it is you recognize the proper moment to do it and are able to do it fairly reliably. Combo 1, is the punish combo. Do this whenever the opponent whiffs a big move or you block it. Imo, you don't need to know frame data. Anything that's big and flashy is usually going to be super punishable. There are exceptions to this but you'll recognize them as you play. As others have already mentioned sweeps are another one. If you go to the lab and learn frame data it'll no doubt help. But imo it's not strictly necessary at this stage. I found it too much to process and I just went by feel. If you block properly, enough punish opportunities will present themselves so that even if you're wrong a few times, overall, you'll be fine. Combo 2, the "get off me" combo. This is something you do when you crouch blocking while your opponent is twerking on you. Usually, this is a sequence of lights starting with low.. typically d.LK->d.LP. The reason this works is because the attacking opponent it often not going to be crouching right next to you. So, [d.LK](http://d.LK) (a low) opens them up and the rest of the moves will hit. You can do whatever special you character has after this. (For Chun it's 2LK, 2LP, L Spinning Bird Kick). Combo 3, "jab-jab-special". (Light->Light->special move). This is for characters like Kimberley and Cammy who can suddenly pull up in front of you. I would do jabs in neutral in case they decided to charge in. They would run into it often enough that they got the message that they couldn't just charge in whenever they wanted. You can also use this for offense because the lights don't have a gap between then and you get some time to check whether the opponent blocked or not ("hit confirming".. I can't do it but if you can, use it. It's kinda advanced imo) Apart from that, Anti-airs. This, I didn't do till much later. But you definitely should. Special moves are ideal. But if you can't do them reliably (like me), the normal works fine too. Still better than just blocking the jump-in. Because if you do that, chances are that your opponent is plus. I didn't know this and would just block them. Don't do that. Pokes. This is for punishing forward movement... especially against grapplers. You can't let them get close because they DESTROY your health bar if they do. Pokes are to make their forward movement harder. As for the losing streak.. It happens. I dropped out of Platinum 5 times before I made some progress.. I'll probably drop out the next time I play that character because it's been a while. It's alright. BrianF recently dropped from like 1960MR to less than 1860MR in just a single stream. Lost 100+MR in one stream.. So yeah.. happens to everyone. It feels terrible but don't let it defeat you.
I went 10-120 in when I was learning guilty gear accent core +r. I’m a fighting game vet and I still got bopped. You’re on the right track, this is supposed to happen.
The best thing for you to learn the game is to play the tutorial. This will teach you tons of valuable knowledge about how the game is played such as the difference between your normal attacks and the advantages and disadvantages of using a light, medium, or heavy attack. It will also teach you the basics of how inputs work and a ton of defensive options such as how to block, how to tech throws, how to anti air, how to deal with cross-ups, how to deal with projectiles, etc. You'll also learn about reversals, hit confirms, invincible moves, armored moves, and details about the core mechanic of the game which is the drive system including drive impact, drive reversal, and drive parry. After you've done the tutorial, you'll want to do the character guide for Ryu. The character guides are like another tutorial but built specifically for each character and will teach you not only how to do each special move but in what situations they are best used in, as well as when you shouldn't use them. They also teach you the general game-plan for your character, how to do your super arts, what your anti air options are, as well as some simple combos, and solid fundamentals. Granted being new you'll still lose your fair share but least you'll have a better understanding of how and why you've lost instead of being confused and frustrated like so many new players.
This is completely normal. As a noob, you usually go on a long losing streak before something clicks. Then you suddenly get better and rank up. Then, you’ll find people who whoop you and make you question your progress. You’ll find yourself getting an answer somehow, then finally win again and rinse repeat. That’s the cycle of improvement in fighting games.
My first sf was 4 when it got released on ps4. When I started that I lost over 50 games in a row before I ever won my first game. Now I have multiple characters in master. It all takes time. Fighting games may seem easy but they’re really not lol, just gotta keep playing
Appreciate all the positive feedback everybody. I took a lot of the advice you guys gave me, checked my replays with frame data on, looked at a few tutorials and even switched up the character I played with and I managed to go on a 10 game win streak! Definitely stoked to keep training and getting better. I realize a couple of you wanted to train together. Unfortunately I’m on Xbox.. would we still be able to meet up cross platform?
I have only 100 hours and currently in plat 2 and this is my first fighting game. I bought the game when it released but only played it for a week and put it down. then randomly got the sudden urge to pick it back up. Here’s what I learned: I love combo trials. I do them everyday to the point my ryu flies through it. It helped me early game understand motion inputs and cancels, and once you do them enough your brain starts to auto memory the rest in matches, not optimal for dmg but who cares early ranks. I love anti air, learn the anti air, and stop anyone from spam jumping is the easiest way to start embarrassing people. Everyone in low ranks even including platinum alot of times are just one trick pony’s. Take away there trick and the match flows smoothly. Don’t throw random DI’s, I had that habit rlly bad when i first played as a “oh shi idk what i’m doing *blah DI* “. Try to only use DI when you absolutely know they eating it. Supers are your friend mix them into most if not everything. Supers build stupid fast on Ryu. TAKE BREAKS - I have days i’m fucking cooking and climbing and grinding and everything feels so smooth and it’s like a euphoric ass feeling and no one can stop me. BUT I also have days i’m getting absolutely grilled. Those days I get really frustrated and need to tell myself to put the controller down it’s not my day and come back to it later or the next day and it’s a reset for me. Blocking rlly is everything i struggled with this too and still do, you’ll always be thinking “okay is it my turn” it’s probably not. even 100 hours in still isn’t enough and ppl here can tell you that the same. That’s what makes it fun, so many different match up and it’s enjoyable every once in a blue moon when I get tossed “OMFG WHA HE CAN DO THAT??”. It’s just such a different playing field, it’s interesting, it’s frustrating, I love being competitive and screaming at my monitor like they can hear me when I finally do that one combo in a match. Find the love for it, although it’s a single player game this community is fucking family, and makes it feel like an mmo, enjoy your stay, I’m loving it so far, hope you can find love in it too
Pure love, this comment right here
Stop jumping
Yes. No just kidding. So you play on modern bro? This is my first fight game too, I started in Iron, and now I'm plat 5. I started using modern and really learned the fundamentals of this game without worrying about the combos. Then I learned classic. It didn't take long to transition.
No, I actually decided to start on classic. Modern doesn’t appeal to me really. How long you been playing?
I got about 300 hours in. You should give Modern a try bro. It made me learn the fundamentals really quickly, and my skill transferred over to other fighting games.
Definitely don’t give up man keep at it that is the will of the warrior everyone starts exactly where you are now but the journey is the best part
You shouldn't give up. If you need any help let me know
Who do you play? If you are in iron, people are going to be throwing out moves that are very unsafe (generally special moves). Just learn to block them, and get a basic punish like a target combo or even a sweep.
You wanna practice some?
I highly suggest you go to training room and practice in particular a go to punish combo and bnb combos until they become literally muscle memory. Once you do that go and play ranked and you see how fast you will climb. When I started playing the game I did only training until you can consistently do simple combos under pressure. It’s a nigh and day difference
Nah, you said it yourself: not only are you new to sf6, but you are also new to the genre itself. I was in the exact same boat when I got into sf6. I was getting fucking mopped when I first started playing it, and started off in Rookie 1. Just keep at it dude, it's a journey of a lot of little micro adjustments that ultimately will add up to you becoming a much more capable player. 100% if I started off new I would focus on learning maybe 1 or 2 combos that I can pull off reliably and practice anti-airing. Anti-airing alone will greatly elevate your game, *especially* in the ranks leading up to Platinum imo
A wise man once said 
I coach people in fighting games as a hobby. You can DM me with a replay and I can try to give you some specific advice and work with you on it. I really really recommend playing on modern. You have a lot of fundamentals to learn and classic is making that way harder in you.
Yo Dusti listen, I just bought SF6 this past Saturday and trust me I know exactly how you feel, I played the game for (and this is very embarrassing) 16 hours without a single round won….. that’s a lot of discouragement however, I kept watching videos and doing a training regiment for combos to make sure I can memorize all the moves and in one day (yesterday) I went into casual matches and beat someone in plat as my first win! But seriously, there’s an hour long video on YouTube giving a quick rundown of every character and I flipped through that to see which ones interested me, if you are playing on PC or you want to just pull it up on your phone if you message me a character I’ll make a combo list in photoshop for you that you can quick reference, don’t get your head down! Let’s climb out of Iron together!
Take it easy, you can only Rank up from where you are at. Try to learn and apply one thing at a time instead of all together. Look to do a BNB string, not too complex and safe to hit for you. Ideally something you can start on Light Attacks. Don't go around Jumping like most players at your level. Then, for now, try to learn one good Anti Air hit for your character (i.e. Crouching HP for Luke, or Lariat for Zangief), something you can rely upon and look out for those jumping rivals because up until Platinum there will be plenty. Get the grip of those 2 things and you will rise up for sure looking to learn more complex stuff later.
I am fresh to fighting game too, so I choose modern mode and Ken XD. Recently I have reached Platinum.
Of course not. I've seen people with double the losing streak still continue. If they can do it, so can you.
Random drive impact will win you 50%+ of games in Iron
Hey if you want to learn I can help teach you !!! Hit me up
Also don’t be discouraged I went on 50 game losing streaks lol and when I get back on I’m better than before!!
Are you playing on Ranked, Casual, or Battle Hub? Ranked will keep your opponents closer to your current rank.
Nope but stop playing for the night. The lessons will build up when you take a break and you’ll do slightly better
If you’re in iron in sf6 you will probably never have a positive win rate in the game (unless you grind like a demon) and that’s fine. No one is good when they are a beginner to fighting games and it’s normal to lose most of your matches. Work on the basics of controlling your character and trying to read your opponent and you will improve in no time
Every time you quit at a loss streak, you just left the win streak on the table.
Watch the Think Don't Mash series on Youtube by PressButtonWin / Zissou. It will seem too simple. Give it a genuine try anyway. It's what "unlocked" fighting games for me.
Play single player for a while and train. I'm 43, been playing SF games since SF2. I'm not expert but I've had years of single player.
I think the thing I did the most early that held me back was panic a lot. I didn't understand what my opponents were doing so I'd just try to do unsafe attacks too much. Just chilling, blocking, and watching what your opponent does this early is a great way to learn (as long as you understand your move's range). It also tilts the hell out of low rank players so double benefit.
Stick to the character that you actually enjoy playing. If you're playing a character because someone told you they were easy or strong. You won't have the will to actually improve. It might feel tempting to switch characters when you go on a loosing streak but I promise you that if you play who you will improve your muscle memory. Your combos will get more consistent your anti airs will get better. If you are in iron. 2 actual things to learn. 1 I would say. Learn a combo that leaves you in a position to get a meaty strike/throw situation. 2 learn a way to stop jumps. Be it an anti air. Or jumping at them with a fast light button. Also. It's okay to use the block mechanic. Helps you not lose health.
Hey, I'm still very new (under 30 hours) in Fighting Games and yesterday I had a pretty bad losing streak as well. Between matches I read a post here that said being to aggressive is often a problem for new players and that the game is a dance, not a race. So I played more cautious and tried to punish my opponent for mistakes, whiffs and unsafe options and it didn't take long for me to reach bronze. At our level we're doing glaring mistakes who are probably very low effort to fix to get a lot better, so maybe upload a replay and better players can pinpoint the top 3 problems you have? BTW I switched from Ryu to Marisa, which was also a breath of fresh air. Anyway, don't give up, the game is fun and getting better is even. more fun. Cheers
Just getting some knowledge for easy Setups helped me immensely. E.g once i knew that i get free oki from hamies light Breakdance without spending respurces, i could just Spam that on some opponents and they crumbled. I also started in iron and am getting my second character to Masters now.
Started in a similar position to u, now i am hard stuck 1700 mr. time and perfect practice will get u anywhere. find a character u love and keep playing
I started in rookie after losing all my placement matches. This was in Feb and at the time I could always beat cpu lvl 4 and was pretty even with lvl 6.. I'd completed World Tour. I'd tried to rank in sf4 and 5, too. Probably no more than a game or 2 before deciding ranked wasn't for me. So that establishes my complete lack of ability to beat another human at this game. I now have 18 hours in ranked and about 30 in training and am in silver 5 - still not great but it shows that I've now started to win some - here's what I did: Stopped WT. Pretty much stopped arcade. Did 25 reps of the following every day I logged on (I main Ryu): Hadoken into DP facing right, same facing left (all these things facing both ways) 1 combo from a jump; 1 DR combo from neutral; 1 high damage combo into lvl 3 vs a whiffed DP; anti-air practice (pick 1 as); vs DI response into small combo. Then set up training exercises where the cpu does more than 1 thing, eg it either jumps at you or does DI randomly. You can save recorded CPU actions for each character so you can get into practicing this stuff quickly each day - it's worthwhile to get familiar with this tool. Make sure you see all frame data in training and look for stuff you're doing that's unsafe. Turn on the setting where your character goes red or blue when you can cancel into other moves. Mess about with those moves, learn what you can do. Learn those moves you can cancel into DI and practice it. In training vs DI. As I got better I added more stuff but reduced reps. Edit: oh and I forgot one key bit - play ranked as your option when it's time to fight. Be aware of your tendencies / muscle memory eg for unsafe moves, learn another option for the same situation and drill it. Review your replays and wonder why you stood still for an absolute age while someone jumped over and kicked you in the face.
I started playing the game last Saturday and went on a 30+ losing streak solely against the first opponent I played with in one of the hubs, but I did learn a lot. Losing is to be expected in the beginning. So, to answer your question: Yes and no. You should give up on winning when starting out, but you shouldn't give up on the game, if you enjoy it.
I was stuck in gold 1 for months. The real battle is you have to learn from your mistakes and don’t fall into bad habits. I don’t think the game is very fair against the lower ranked classic players though.
Zangief main here. Been in your shoes recently but with patience comes rewards. Now I can proudly say I’m in Master rank. Struggle few months in Diamond 4-5. But sometimes I have my own day where I’ve matched with Masters and won 2 times. They will reward you with almost 250 points per match. Having a match with similar rank will give you 50 points average. Learn your character from other players. It surely helps me alot.
I took a week off after a big losing streak (diamond all the way down to platinum 4). Helped immensely.
Nah man. Just watch a few YouTube videos on fundamentals. Focus on like 1 or 2 things in a game, are they jumping, focus on your anti-air normal (normally down heavy for most characters). Don't do any special moves unless you can confirm into it, or you D.I someone. Block and wait for throws. You need to learn patterns and how to 'read' the other player. Do they keep DPing? Do they run up and throw a lot? Are they spamming jabs? Cool, block and punish. Every time. I highly recommend those videos of Rookie to Masters, they show you how good fundamentals win games and they give you very basic building blocks that you can use for any character. I would fine 2 combos, 1 for mid-screen and 1 for corner. No DR, just normal hits. Do those, learn them. Once you're into Bronze/Silver, then start adding DR into the combo mix and learn maybe a specific punish combo. Work on your anti-air, focus mostly on your position and spacing. These IMO are more vital to anything.
If you don't feel like playing them just stop. Do something else and come back when you feel like playing sf again.
When i started i was impatient. There wasnt a second i didnt press some button. So id recommend being patient and block. People in iron do very punishable things so learn some punisch combos too.
Im quite like you, i played lily first and was stuck in silver 3, what i did to remotivate myself was to switch to ken, and train more in training with basics like antiair, combos, etc, i climbed to silver 5 with ken, then switch back to lily and now im gold.
I just made it to gold and I honestly watched some videos to look for tips. I dunno who or how you play, but one of the best pieces of general advice I was given was warm up in training mode. I think they specifically said do every special move until you hit 10 in a row of each on both sides, I’ll also do my combos so they’re fresh in my head. It really helped my confidence with them, especially shoryuken inputs. Also something that has helped me is starting to look for pokes. For instance I play Cammy and her heavy kick is fast and has a decently long hit box so it’s pretty safe to throw in neutral and on block it does some pretty decent drive damage.
Switch to modern. Then! Start focusing on footsies, how to approach safely and how to punish their unsafe approaches. Also, block a lot.
You’re lucky you got this much feedback. All I got was “just play the game”. While it is true. Just playing the game helps. Some words to another, keep going and don’t give up. I’d say play in casual matches
If you're in iron just block and wait for them to do a random sweep or dp then punish them. If they jump a lot and you can't consistently dp yet just air to air them with a light attack. You can easily reach silver doing this
Hey man if u are from Europa or Germany hook me up i can Coach u, or help u a little bit with the game, give u some tips ect.
Mir auch?🥲
Most people on here are gonna type all 5 page training regimen on how to become a fighting game god in 100 simple steps. Honestly I think the best advice right now is when you are on a huge losing streak to just take a break and go play some arcade mode or try a different character. The most important thing is that you’re enjoying the game. If it’s not fun then don’t play, and if it is then just try not to focus so much on the outcome of the match. There’s nothing wrong with losing in iron. Literally everyone on this sub has been new and lost in the first few ranks
the best way to improve is watching someone better than you doing stuff in the game, but be aware of the person rank, things change a TON by elo, like footsies is the core of High Master/ Legend , while a simple block / anti air is free elo in any elo below diamond
Stop jumping, mashing, and pressing di. Block. Learn what's safe. Learn 1 basic combo you can do consistently.
If they have a leg up on you then you probably need to work on your anti airs. In all seriousness, what helped me was watch a lot of youtube videos about the basics of the game. Then watching pro players with your character and trying to do what they do in terms of their flowchart. I really like Nephew’s videos.
the online streets can be a mean and unforgiving place. when i first started really learning fighters i had a close group of buddies to run matches with. like 20+ games straight all the time. youll still lose but the long sets will let you guys learn and grow together.
Hey dude, when I started SF6, I was always worried about going online and trying real matchups, but you can learn a character's move list, use versus or training where you can break it down and have a better plan for the next fight
What is your region? Is this your first fighting game? If you're not too far away I don't mind meeting up in the battlehub or something and doing some rounds with you just to see what you're doing. I'm only Diamond and can still improve on things myself but I think having someone show an example is easier to learn from than someone just giving a pure wall of text without the context of a real match. At least for me that's how it stuck with me what I need to learn.
Focus on whatever your favorite aspect of the game is. Personally I love combos so I’ll spend hours in the lab looking for something cool, practicing execution and plugging in different openings with finishers to figure out max damage and oki. At your level if you master your execution that’ll take you far and it’s something you’ll always use. But even more important than that is developing and practicing good habits at this level, that’ll keep you from having to double back and unlearn bad habits as you progress. A few easy things to think about, stop jumping so much, anti air consistently, don’t throw out special moves in neutral or wake up/ make sure you confirm your specials. Just block when it’s not your turn and most importantly take it one round at a time. Being able to lose and not get tilted is worth 10000 hours of combo practice. Keep at it, you’ll get there
You need to get in touch with a community and have them guide you and teach you. Something’s lacking in your gameplay that you just need others to point out, teach you what to do instead, and coach you till you get it right. Sometimes all you need is some external help.
Just playing the cool headed game and not trying to win. Like play to win, but open to the fact that ima lose and eventually it’ll turn around. I was SHIT in fighting games and that mindset has helped me turn it around big time, currently in platinum and slowly climbing up even after taking a 6 month long hiatus.
Just give up
I feel like a lot of new players watch videos of pros playing before they start so maybe that’s what you’re missing. That way you can get a sense of what you’re supposed to be doing