V-Shift and V-Shift Break inputs confirmed on Japanese Street Fighter 5: Champion Edition website, appears to deal gray health damage
Street Fighter 5 is officially kicking off its fifth season this coming Monday. The wait to try out Dan, the game's new mechanic, a fresh batch of balance changes, and more is nearly over.
Capcom has introduced the world to V-Shift, the aforementioned new mechanic, but has yet to reveal everything about it. The game's official Japanese website recently updated, however, and we now have more details on V-Shift and V-Shift Break — specifically, confirmation on their inputs.
Previously, we learned that V-Shift Break is performed by hitting heavy punch + medium kick. With V-Shift Break being the follow up attack to V-Shift, it left fans wondering how the initial defensive maneuver is triggered — though the assumption was that V-Shift would be performed the same way.
That indeed looks to be the case as the Street Fighter 5 website now has sections under the "Basic Operations" for V-Shift and V-Shift Break that offer official descriptions of both. Players will be hitting HP + MK to activate V-Shift, then they can choose to repeat the input to trigger V-Shift Break.
The move description reiterates that a V-Shift activation will consume one bar of V-Gauge. We also know that if the V-Shift is used to avoid an attack, it will restore half of that same V-Gauge bar that was just consumed.
More interesting than the inputs, though, is how V-Shift Break deals damage. Though it doesn't say it specifically in the listing, the screenshot accompanying the move shows Ken being hit by a V-Shift Break and having gray health damage inflicted upon him (thanks to Fubarduck for pointing this out on Twitter).
The footage and images we saw initially that showcased this mechanic omitted the upper HUD, so how this affected health was previously unknown. V-Shift and V-Shift Break are defensive mechanics like V-Reversal, and it appears they will also function similarly in that regard.
With this new detail, we now know that V-Shift Break will not be a move that can actually end rounds or win games as gray health damage is recoverable and is incapable of knocking out a fighter.
Capcom is gearing up for their Capcom Pro Tour 2020 Final event this weekend, which will see some of the best players in the world compete in special exhibitions. They have also informed fans that a special treat is inbound this weekend during the event.
Street Fighter 5 Season 5 officially begins Monday, February 22. The game's servers will be down from 8 p.m. PDT to 12 a.m. PDT on February 21, and when they return we can expect to see the game's latest update and content to be live and ready to play.
