Street Fighter 6 Tier List: Who to main in SF6

Tier lists are a popular topic in the fighting games community (FGC), as players don’t want to waste their time on weak characters. However, this division on SF6 best characters and low-tier fighters works only with a specific level of skills. Analyzing frame data and favorable matchups makes no sense for most casual players.

Choosing a character to play in Street Fighter 6 should not be based on tier lists only. Personal preferences are often more important. You should like a fighter in terms of their look and personality. And it’s important to simply enjoy playing them. This is a mighty basis to grow further as a fighting games player — and potentially start caring about SF6 tier lists. Some pros play non-meta characters and still win.

Sure, if you equally like a few SF6 characters, why not focus on one from the top tier? Giving yourself space for potential growth is always a good idea.

In this article, you’ll find an SF6 tier list for competitive play: the characters that can take you to the ranking heights and esports tournaments. Also, we created a separate casual tier list: Street Fighter 6 characters that are easy to play and still pretty strong.

Check out a competitive Street Fighter 6 tier list in the image below.

It’s a tier for the characters that demonstrate the best results in the current SF6 meta.

JP is here: Kakeru won the Capcom Cup 11 with this character. Playing JP is rather difficult, as you need to create tricky setups for his combos. The potential may be worth the time spent for thorough practice.

Ken was used by three players in the Capcom Cup 11 top 8. The guy is straightforward, and his offensive options are scary.

Such players as BigBird, Dual Kevin, and Oil King proved how good Rashid is in the Street Fighter 6 meta right now. Akuma also shines on the esports scene.

Ed is not as popular around the world as he is in Japan. Whenever there is a tournament in this country, like Japan Super Premier, many players pick Ed and demonstrate his strength. The fighter has a pretty complicated gameplan, but in skilled hands, Ed is certainly among the SF6 best characters.

The selection of Street Fighter 6 characters in our A-tier group is filled with super great picks. Everyone here has a potential to win ranked matches and esports tournaments. However, they are not universally great and may struggle in specific situations.

Ryu shined greatly in the hands of Blaz, a young sensation at the Capcom Cup 11. But in general, the character is not fully consistent on the top level. Cammy is a common pick at tournaments, but recently, she’s not taking the players to top 1. M. Bison, Juri, and Guile are extremely strong, and they somewhat share the fate of Cammy

Zangief is a menace as a good grappler should be. Some character loyalists play him in the biggest tournaments. The developers still like to buff this archetype, to somehow balance deadly command grabs.

Luke is a wonderfully solid character, and some pros play him, like MenaRD. He somewhat struggles from his “non-specialist” archetype.

Street Fighter 6 characters in this tier may dominate or struggle in different matchups. broski played A.K.I. at Capcom Cup 11, but the lady was losing her terrifying nature when faced some opponents.

Terry and Mai are great as DLC characters, but Capcom did not make them broken, which was a good step. Kimberly may be somewhat complicated with her setups, and they are not as effective as those of JP. 

Chun-Li and Dee-Jay may get punished for their offensive rushdown attempts. But when they are on point, they are a nice pick in Street Fighter 6.

Only players who enjoy these SF6 characters deeply take them to esports events. Mister Crimson is known for playing Dhalsim. He still keeps loyalty to the yogi, even if the character is too challenging and unorthodox for the current meta.

E. Honda is scary in casual matches, especially on Modern Controls. But skilled opponents know how to deal with those annoying pushes. MenaRD may take Blanka and win matches with him, but that is strictly because he is MenaRD. Blanka’s moveset is too risky now.

Manon relies on her medal power-ups too much while being weak in neutrals.

Most SF6 esports professionals agree that these characters are not for competitive matches right now. Marisa has become too predictable, and her anti-air options are just lacking. Jamie can’t go too far even with his drinking power-ups. Lily is fun to play, but her simple gameplan is just not for esports.

Here is a SF6 tier ranking for casual players and beginners. Top tiers highlight Street Fighter 6 characters that are easy to play and may be effective in a low-skills environment.

Even with straightforward movesets and accessible gameplans, these characters require some practice. They reward with growth potential in SF6 ranks and esports.

These characters are designed to be accessible for newcomers, especially Lily and Marisa. E. Honda is satisfying to play against other beginners.

On the other hand, you can’t reach far with these fighters: it’s the state of Street Fighter 6 meta.

Here we have SF6 characters that are not too simple and not too complicated. They are generally strong, but not to the level of dominating meta. 

Take them to the practice mode and play them vs the computer to feel if they are for you. Such characters as A.K.I. and Kimberly may require more practice. It’s about whether they click for you or not.

These fighters are complicated to play, and casual players may struggle with them. It may be a good idea to play Street Fighter 6 with other characters and only then return to these.

There are not many reasons for casual players and beginners in Street Fighter 6 to select these characters. Do this for your experimental research or if you just love the design very much. The challenge is real and with little reward.

The choice depends on a few factors.

Updates may change SF6 meta and shake the tier list positioning. New characters have the power to shake the preferences of competitive players. Such adjustments will be reflected in our tier lists.

For all Street Fighter 6 news and updates, stick around on esports.gg.