Zangief's Double Lariat Street Fighter 6

Domingo posted June 11, 2023

In spite of how this move has worked in the past, it's not a particularly great anti-air in SF6. At least not the normal version or compared to how it has worked in previous games. It absolutely works against normal forward jumps. Especially the EX/Overdrive version. However it's risky if you aren't early. Vertical jumps? Only if they're mistimed. It might look like it would stop cross-ups, but it gets beat clean. If someone ever gets behind you (usually off a cross-up or teleport) it will NOT hit them. It doesn't seem to actually reach behind Zangief at all. I can't tell if that's intentional or a mistake, but it makes the spinning nature of the move feel a bit pointless.

It's not the best "get off me" emergency reversal move, either. You'll probably eat a DI if it doesn't land, so that's a big risk.

The lariat most often used against obvious jumps, snuffing out close projectiles, or as a combo ender. It's way less rewarding than a DI vs. a close projectile, but it *does* work and it can help in a burnout scenario. As a combo ender, it's effective after a low LP, low MP, standing LP, standing LK, hell stab, or F+HP.

The Overdrive/EX version has better defensive properties, plus it scores one additional hit and pushes back more. THIS is the anti-air option you'll want to use if you have the meter. It's still totally ineffective against cross-ups, but it does work against vertical jumps in most instances. In combos it can be cancelled into Gief's level 2 super on the lariat's first hit...but that isn't as useful as it sounds. The timing is tight and scaling does it no favors.

Overall, it's a necessary move for Zangief, but it's less versatile than it usually is, especially defensively. The cancel into level 2 off the overdrive version seems interesting, but isn't that much of a game changer. It barely adds any damage vs. going straight into the super and the cancel has a very small execution window if you mess up.