A previous article covered how playing Street Fighter at a professional level can be the gateway to an actual career. This article will focus on the grappler class of Street Fighter characters, showing how to play them and why they are ideal for tournament-level play.
Why to Play as Grapplers
There are three grapplers in Street Fighter games: Zangief, T. Hawk, and Hakan. The term “grappler” simply means that their move sets revolve around grabbing and throwing their opponents. They certainly have other moves, but their large number of throws make them unique.
What makes them good for professional play is that so few people actually play as them. That means fewer people know how to properly defend against them. Their grapple moves also tend to dish out more damage than other characters’ super moves.
Grappler Weaknesses
None of the grapplers have long range moves- no projectiles and no moves that attack from across the screen with minimal danger to themselves. This means they have to be close to their opponents if they want to do any damage.
Activating a grapple move is often more complicated than other super moves and special attacks. It takes a lot of practice to become very good at a grappler character.
Using a grapple move also leaves the player open to attack if it is unsuccessful. Pulling off one of these attacks when the opponent is too far away or in the air makes the grappler vulnerable for about a second. And that is plenty of time for the opponent to get in a powerful attack.
Grappler Strategies
Individual strategies with each grappler will vary, but the basic way to play with them is to keep the fight at a medium range. The opponent should be only a few steps away from your character, but not so close they they can get in an attack without you having a chance to defend or counter.
Fireballs are a grappler’s worst enemy, but they can also serve as a window to an attack. Each grappler has an attack that will push them through fireballs without harm- Zangief’s spinning lariat, T.Hawk’s condor spire, and Hakan’s oil slide. When an opponent throws a fireball, if you are just out of striking range, you’re close enough to use one of these moves to get close and deal damage before they can recover.
For Zangief, players should know that he has the worst recovery window of any of the grapplers. This means that if he fails to connect with a grapple, he takes longer to recover to a defensive or offensive position than anyone else. But his grapples also have a slightly longer than average reach, meaning he can throw or grab characters when they cannot do the same to him.
Zangief is excellent for moving through low and medium height attacks using his spinning lariats. His standing chop is a great defense against air attacks, and his jumping attacks are some of the best in the game. His extendable hold move (when he bites his opponent) is a great way to dish out extra damage, which is done by pressing the attack button rapidly.
T. Hawk is the only grappler with a long range move. His condor spire takes him across the screen rapidly, but it easily exposes him to attack from opponents who expect it. T. Hawk is the tallest character in the game, which makes him a bigger target, but it also means he has a lot of reach. His sweep is one of the longest in the game.
T. Hawk can be used to play a very close game with opponents, as his normal attacks are quick and powerful and lend themselves to combos.
Hakan has a unique set of moves that is ideal for psyching-out opponents. He has a feint move that can be extended into an attack or stopped midway to do an entirely different attack. He also has extra reach on his grapples, but only after he has used the oil-up maneuver.
Oiling-up with Hakan makes several of his moves faster and can considerably change the way he plays. He is ideal for a defensive play-style, particularly against air attacks, as he can catch opponents in the air with his Ultra Combo and deal lots of damage.
Grapplers are unique in the way they play, which makes them hard to learn, but also very hard to play against.