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Well, this is surprising. I find myself playing Balrog a lotin Street Fighter V. I generally judge how well I’ll perform by how efficient I can do their trials. I ended up doing terribly at Balrog’s trials, but have had really good success with him while training and online. I barely touched the guy in IV, and now he’s one of my go-to characters!
His damage is like whoa, which goes well with his awfully intimidating look. I mean, I get legitimately scared when he stares into the camera. Gives me the willies just thinking about it. So, whether you call him Balrog, Boxer, or M. Bison, the boxing champ is here!
The Basics
Balrog is a charge character with whom I am actually competent.I’m not sure what clicks with him for me, but I have been doing way better with him than any other charge character in Street Fighter history. It probably helps that he hits like a goddamn truck. He’s also a simple character to get into (provided you’re okay with charge characters) but has potential for big combos and a lot of style and flourish too.
Playing Balrog feels like pure power. Each move that connects is like “DAMN! That guy got messed up!” He’s just so aggressive and angry and I’m inevitably JUST GOING TO START TYPING IN CAPS AHHH IT CAN’T BE STOPPED.
Sorry. Anyway, here’s his move breakdown.
- Dash Straight (Charge back, forward+Punch)
A punch that lunges straight forward and hits high. Very straightforward and will be incorporated into many of your combos. This goes for all of the moves listed here, but learn the distances!You’ll need to know which button to use to punish people from various distances.
- Dash Ground Blow (Charge back, forward+Kick)
This attack hits low, and it’s important to switch things up between his Straight and his Ground Blow to keep your opponent guessing. I’ve won a lot of fights by catching people with an unexpected Ground Blow.
- Turn Punch (Hold any Punch + any Kick. release)
I mostly do this on accident. I honestly don’t know of any practical options for it. If you do and you are reading this, tell me!
- Screw Smash (Charge down, up+Kick)
Balrog’s launching skill, this will bop people into the air real good. This is themove for stylish combos, since comboing someone off of a launch just always looks badass.
- V-Skill: KKB (Medium Punch + Medium Kick)
So cool.Balrog spins and dodges projectiles while moving forward a step. I would set a Ryu to perform non-stop Hadoukens in training mode to get the projectile timing down. More importantly, this can be chained together with a Punch or Kick to perform an attack out of the KKB.
Combos and Anti-Airs
- cLP, c/sLP, LP Dash Straight
Basic combo that starts with a dash. If you want to play Balrog, know and be able to execute this right here. It’s not the heavy-hitter that will win you the match, but the Light Punch comes out quick and can catch a lot of things your opponent throws out.
- cHP, HK Screw Smash, LP Dash Straight
Okay, this is my favorite combo. I pretty much go into a round fishing for it. It’s simple, but can be extended in multiple ways depending on your resources. If you have your Critical Art, you can throw it in after the LP Dash Straight. If you happen to be in V-Trigger, you can throw in about four more punches after connecting with the Dash Straight. If you have both, DO BOTH! Careful though, if the crouching Heavy Punch is a Crush Counter, it will send them flying and the Screw Smash will only connect if you don’t cancel into it.
- KKB+K, MP, MP Dash Straight
If you manage to swoop in with a KKB, cancel into a kick and go into this sweet combo. It’s nothing fancy, but makes the best of a good opportunity.
- Down+Medium Kick, Down+Medium Kick, HK+HP, HP, HP Dash Straight
I’m a huge fan of Balrog’s double down+MK “Stomping Combo.” I thinkI saw this from PR Balrog, but I don’t quite remember. Anyway, after the stomping combo, I like to cancel into my V-Trigger and go into some classic punchin’. It’s not listed here for brevity sake, but adding in the extra V-Trigger attacks is a great way to stack damage onto the end. If you think you can kill them, you can also end with a Critical Art.
- Anti-Airs
I’ve had a lot of success with standing Medium Punch. It’s quick and doesn’t usuallytrade. Crouching Heavy Punch also works well for when you’re holding a charge, but it’s slower for sure. Jumping back and throwing out a Light Punch is surprisingly efficient, though it requires a more concentrated reaction time.
Videos
Just like with my Guile guide, I recommend watching VesperArcade’s tutorial on charge characters if you’re unfamiliar with the mechanics!
This video, while longer than most, is where I started and am super thankful for it. It shows the combos twice — once in slow motion and then again at regular speed. It is fully intended as a beginner’s guide, and it’s a great place to see the basics in action! What I particularly like here is that, in the combo notation, ahmz1404 tells you whento start holding back for the tricky parts. It’s perfect.
You’ve gotta include the Bafael video if you’re compiling tutorial videos. To go along with his Google Doc of combos, he always creates a solid video. I do still wish the inputs were displayed more prominently. As for now, just pay special attention to the input display on the left-hand side.
One of the first things I think of when starting a character is “Okay, when the crappy Ryu players miss a Dragon Punch, what should I do?” Well, this video has the answer in spades! This is easily one of the most well-produced videos on this list, too. Just listen to that music!
In addition to knowing the basics and DP punishes, you should know when to bust out a V-Trigger combo. I’ve listed my favorite above in the Combos section, but VesperArcade has plenty more on display here. They also have a non V-Trigger video available here.
As usual, I recommend watching players like Max in realmatches to get a good sense of the situations you can be put in, and how to deal with them. Plus, Max is just damn entertaining to watch and listen to! If I haven’t convinced you to subscribe to him by now, then you haven’t been listening. Definitely one of the best people in the fighting game community.
Finally: WATCH PR BALROG!
For those who don’t know, PR Balrog (Eduardo Perez) is theBalrog player. I mean, it’s in his name! The character was incredibly new, but he still managed to place 33rd at this year’s EVO. If you are serious about playing Balrog and truly want to get better as him, do yourself a favor and watch everything Eduardo puts out.