Street Fighter 6 characters: Full roster explained

All characters in Street Fighter 6 are more than just visuals on the screen. They come with specific movestes that allow players to express themselves in fighting matches.

The SF6 roster includes 25 characters. 18 of them are available in the base game. Four Street Fighter 6 characters are part of Year 1 DLC, and three have been released in Year 2 DLC — with one more coming in Spring 2025.

In this article, you’ll find information on every fighter in the game, including a brief description of their playing style.

The full SF6 roster is listed in the table below.

Street Fighter 6 has a great feature of Modern Controls, so you don’t need to bother with the Classic input. It may be difficult for beginners to unroll all those quarter-circles in a fast-paced match, and Modern Controls solve this issue.

Still, Modern Controls limit your fighting creativity. This is rather a way to get to know a character and then play them with Classic Controls. Being able to choose what normals and Specials to use is pretty satisfying and more effective in fights.

Playing SF6 with Modern inputs makes the pool of beginner-friendly characters vaster. However, the gameplan for some fighters is still somewhat complicated.

Classic Controls are more demanding to your skills and experience. Beginners may want to use specific Street Fighter 6 characters for this input scheme. They are the best even if you play with Modern Controls.

The competitive choices in Street Fighter 6 are somewhat different. Players with the ambition to climb up the ranking ladder or even participate in esports events consider effectiveness as the main factor.

Sure the SF6 meta changes, but currently, the following characters are the best competitively-wise.

Choosing a character to play in SF6 is a deep decision. Some players select a fighter they like visually. Others go further into the character’s personality and their story to find if their vibes are good enough to main them. The most practical approach is to discover moveset basics and select a character that sounds interesting and effective to play.

In any scenario, it is essential to take all the characters you like to the SF6 training mode and VS matches. Press buttons, check out the general feeling of playing this fighter, and observe your starting results with them. After this initial practice, try taking your character into real matches. If they click for you, deepen your knowledge with SF6 character guides and thorough regular training.

This section can help you with the starting stages. Below, you’ll find brief descriptions of everyone in the Street Fighter 6 roster: story and fighting styles.

The guy is looking for spiritual truth via battles. Ryu trains and travels across the world. He strives for perfection.

His style in Street Fighter 6 is versatile and well-rounded. He offers decent tools to express your personal best approach to fighting matches. The downside is that Ryu does not excel in specific aspects.

He is one of the most iconic Street Fighter 6 characters. Ryu’s techniques are legendary: like the fireball Hadoken.

Luke represents the young blood of Street Fighter characters. He joined the series with SFV, and he returns with SF6 for more victories. Previously, Luke served as a military contractor. Now, he trains energetically, mastering different martial arts.

In matches, Luke is nicely balanced, but his style still leans towards aggressive offense. Luke’s techniques have the flavour of classic Street Fighter moves by Ryu and Ken.

This Street Fighter 6 character mastered kung-fu to bring peace to Chinatown. Bad guys should beware!

Jamie is not your traditional fighter. He sips a special drink to enhance his abilities. This power-up is the core of his most effective technique. SF6 Jamie is quick and has plenty of mixup options. Managing the drink is a layer of difficulty.

The girl reached this level of strength to avenge her father. M. Bison destroyed the entire village, and it was a usual Tuesday for the villain. Now, Chun-Li is an Interpol officer, so she continues protecting innocent people.

In Street Fighter 6, the character uses her classic style: many quick kicks. Chun-Li also has effective projectiles to control space. Her moveset is versatile but with the focus on whiff punishing. 

He is a US Air Force officer who mastered combat quite perfectly. The initial motivation for Guile was to avenge his missing comrade. Now, it feels like he enjoys battling evil.

Guile has effective defensive tools and options for space control. His style as a Street Fighter 6 character is often based on punishing an opponent’s mistakes.

She is a young ninja with a passion for the 80s pop culture. In Street Fighter 6 matches, Kimberly utilizes unpredictable moves and many unusual elements to them. Spray cans and a cassette player are part of her attacks. Kimberly has quick movement and strikes. She sets conditions to trap opponents and confuse them.

The intentions of Juri are somewhat disturbing. She likes to cause pain, and this sadistic pleasure motivates her to fight.

Juri's fighting style is taekwondo: quick kicks. She can power up her Specials to deal even more damage. With Juri, you should focus on rushdown offense.

He is another iconic character in the Street Fighter series. Ken studied martial arts alongside Ryu, but then their ways separated. The man had a successful business for a while. Now, Ken is on the run for some obscure reasons.

The fighting style of Ken in Street Fighter 6 is based on classic moves, similar to Ryu’s arsenal. However, Ken emphasizes aggressiveness more. He has some very dangerous kicks in his moveset. 

This sumo wrestler is eager to prove that his martial art is as honorable and interesting as all the others, popular across the world. E. Honda travels a lot to prove his point in competition.

Mighty pressure is the name of the game with E. Honda. He has dangerous throws and pushing moves to not let opponents recover. It’s another rushdown archetype among characters in SF6. Long-range advancing moves of E. Honda are unique and really threatening. 

The yogi lived peacefully in a small Indian village, but then the evil corporation of M. Bison disturbed the local paradise. Dhalsim used his power to protect people, and he’s been doing this since then — far beyond one village.

The signature feature of Dhalsim in Street Fighter 6 is his super-long normals. The yogi stretches his limbs to hit opponents. Alongside teleportation and fire techniques, Dhalsim focuses on long-range fighting style and space control.

The creature comes from the Amazon rainforest: Blanka absorbed a lot of wilderness into his human nature. As a fighting character, Blanka utilizes his animalistic might excellently. He can roll around the stage and suppress opponents with his quick strikes. In addition to this, Blanka can shoot electricity. His style is all about active offense.

What happens if someone combines the beauty of a supermodel and the might of a judo fighter? Manon is a result of such a combo! She is graceful and glamorous on the fighting stage. But her throws and strikes are extremely dangerous. Don’t come close to her!

With special power-ups, Manon can strongly increase her damage. Every time she uses her command grabs, they get stronger. Manon’s long-reaching tools are also effective.

The girl considers fights a special kind of art. Marisa is a jewelry designer from Italy, and she has the Colosseum battles right in her blood.

Just look at her! The massive body clearly speaks of the fighting style Marisa uses as an SF6 character. The girl suppresses opponents with her exceptional strength. Her downside is being somewhat predictable. The best scenario for Marisa is to put an opponent into a corner.

The little girl is super quick and has an effective aerial play. Her moveset is rather simple, but it still has a power-up technique for dive-kicks. The speed should be used for mixups and constant unpredictable pressure. When he lands a poke or just approaches very close, expect a command throw from her.

Lily comes from the Thunderfoot tribe, and her connection with the spirits of nature is super strong.

He is a successful businessman who doesn’t reveal too much about his personality. May profitable investments by JP be connected to his psychic abilities?

It is difficult to play JP in Street Fighter 6. You need to set traps across the stage and avoid punishment for this. The magic tricks help JP deliver devastating combos, but the preparation for this is somewhat notorious. In skilled hands, JP is extremely dangerous. The Capcom Cup 11 winner, Kakeru, plays this character for a reason!

The music superstar from Jamaica loves fun parties and good fights. Dee Jay’s kickboxing style is filled with a special dancing rhythm, just like his music.

Embrace his offensive moves and feel the vibes of a rushdown gameplan. Dee Jay has a variety of pressuring tools, and you should not give opponents a chance to strike back.

As part of the British special forces, Cammy participated in the operation against the evil organization Shadaloo. In Street Fighter 6, Cammy is all about speed. She dives onto her opponents to find a quick opening and then delivers a series of damaging close-range attacks. Being aware of the attack range for the entire SF6 roster is important for such a fighting style.

Wrestling with bears is quite a training for a grappler. Zangief made it through such practice to establish himself as one of the best fighting characters of this archetype.

The guy may be somewhat slow, but when Zangief is within his active zone, expect a full-body grab and a devastating throw. Having a powerful lariat and massive normals makes the guy a grappling powerhouse.

The guy belongs to a noble family, and his approach to life is carefree and lighthearted. Rashid enjoys technology and loves following modern trends. However, his fighting techniques seem to be based on the ancient magic of controlling the wind.

Rashid is one of the fastest Street Fighter 6 characters. He utilizes this speed to confuse and attack opponents. With Rashid, you can create unique wind traps to extend combo damage. His air-powered projectile can change the characteristics of other moves.

This mysterious woman could be friends with Juri, as both enjoy inflicting pain on their victims. A.K.I. uses a disturbing amount of poison for this.

She is one of the most unusual characters in Street Fighter 6. Players need to think outside the box to succeed with A.K.I. Bait your opponents and provoke their mistakes. Punish them from a distance, apply poison that damages over time, then let A.K.I. slither close and deliver the final blow.

When Shadaloo was at the peak of its power, the bad guys captured Ed to conduct cruel experiments. Rumors say this guy was exactly the comrade Guile looked for, but that Ed died in Shadaloo’s laboratory. The new man was created back then, and he wants to help all the other victims.

In a way, Ed is a boxer, but he is an unusual one. His punches and Specials work the best at mid-range. Ed utilizes the Psycho Power to find openings when opponents try to return to the fight after knockdowns.

The input for this character may be simplified, but the gameplan is pretty complicated.

To become a powerful warrior, Akuma used the dark energy that turned him into a real demon. This mysterious might supports Akuma in Street Fighter 6 matches, but at a cost.

Akuma is a versatile SF6 character, and all his tools are quite effective: from a high movement speed to long-reching normals and damaging Specials. However, he is a kind of glass cannon. Low health forces Akuma to be careful, as any misstep can be severely punished.

When everyone thought M. Bison was dead, the legendary villain returned. He is among the Street Fighter 6 DLC characters. It feels like M. Bison is not interested in reviving Shadaloo. Maybe he just enjoys being evil?

M. Bison uses dominant pressure in SF6 matches thanks to his amazingly effective normals. Then, the fighter adds tons of damage with his Specials: like placing a bomb to extend combos. Confident offense is a style for M. Bison!

The guy travels across the world and between fighting games. Terry Bogard comes from the Fatal Fury series. He joins SF6 as a DLC character before being released in the main roster in City of the Wolves.

In general, Terry Bogard is a versatile character, but his style feels different from one of the classic Street Fighter 6 characters, such as Ryu and Ken. Terry’s fiery projectiles travel on the ground, and it’s a tool to force jumps and punish them. He can dash forward to find an opening and start close-range pressure. Terry Bogard is a nice all-rounder!

The home series for Mai is Fatal Fury too, and she joined Street Fighter 6 characters alongside Terry Bogard. 

The fighting style of Mai Shiranui is based on dances and ninja tricks. She uses her dance fan as a weapon, and it’s a dangerous projectile. Mai can summon fire to burn opponents to ashes. The fighter is more about offensive style, with simple but effective attacking patterns.

The character is set for release as a Street Fighter DLC character in Spring 2025. We will add information about SF6 Elena to this section. Stay tuned!

The roster of SF6 will be bigger with Year 3 DLC and inevitable future seasons. Even now, the game has one of the best rosters in the fighting games genre: for all tastes and playing styles.

Stick around on esports.gg for all Street Fighter 6 news and updates.