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Everything you need to know about the Drive system in Street Fighter 6
The new Drive system “drives” every interaction in SF6, let’s take a look at how exactly it’s all intertwined.
If you want to win in Street Fighter, you've got to manage your meter and, ever since Street Fighter 4, we've had a lot more to worry about than just the Super bar. SF4 introduced Ultras, the cinematic high damage moves that are common in fighting games today. It came with its own bar, so you could still do EX moves, focus cancel, or build up for Supers independent of your Ultra use.
SF5’s key mechanic to manage was the V-system. At full gauge, after taking enough damage or using their V-Skill and landing enough crush counters, characters could enter their V-trigger. Properly managing this resource also allowed players to use stocks of their V gauge for defensive mechanics like V-reversal and V-shift.
This was a strong comeback mechanic, similar to Ultras, as characters could access their best tools or had their existing moves strengthened allowing them to put in some pain when they’re down but not out. EX moves were still part of the same bar that built up to one’s Critical Art (super), necessitating keen resource management across the board if players wanted to be effective.
SF6 continues the multiple resource trend, but flips it around. Supers are dependent on their own bar, and everything else is tied to the Drive gauge. These other options include the various Drive mechanics as well as EX moves, now called ‘Overdrive’ or ‘OD’ moves.
SF6's Drive guage is segmented
© Capcom
01
How does the Drive gauge work?
The Drive gauge steadily increases over time, so doing absolutely nothing will still give you meter. To incentivize offensive play, you gain more gauge by walking forward, and successfully landing attacks. You can also gain meter by successfully parrying incoming attacks.
There are plenty of ways to lose Drive Meter, and most of them involve getting hit. Blocking attacks depletes your gauge, driving home Capcom’s focus on aggression. If your opponent lands a Punish Counter, a Drive Impact, or a Super, you will lose part of the Drive gauge. Also, using any Drive mechanic (Impact, Rush, Reversal, Parry) or OD special moves cost meter.
This gauge is so important to maintain, high level players sometimes opt to get hit instead of doing something that will deplete their meter. There are many ways to gain or lose gauge, so let’s go over them.
It’s important to know what brings your Drive gauge closer to zero, because having none left is wildly disadvantageous. Once the gauge is empty, you'll enter the Burnout state. When burned out, every attack you block gains 4 extra frames of blockstun, greatly improving the opponent’s pressure.
You will also take Chip Damage when in Burnout, so even blocking isn’t safe anymore. Chip damage CAN actually end your round when it burnout if it causes your HP to reach zero. If the opponent’s corner Drive Impact wall splats while you're in burnout, you'll become stunned and unable to defend yourself until the opponent’s next combo ends.
You are locked out of any Drive mechanics while in Burnout, so your ability to fight back is severely hampered. Parrying slow attacks like fireballs is recommended so as not to lose Drive gauge for no reason.
What are the Drive mechanics?
Drive mechanics are extremely important, so hopefully you can avoid burnout at all costs. The various options you get when you've got ample meter are quite strong, and learning how to fight with and against them is an ongoing struggle for even the best of players.
You'll react to Drive Impact in SF6 eventually
© Capcom
02
Drive Impact
Drive Impact is a polarizing mechanic that takes some inspiration from SF4’s focus attack. It costs 1 stock of Drive gauge, is a forward moving attack, and can armor through 2 hits, making it a little tough to deal with for new players.
On hit, Drive Impact will remove some of the opponent’s drive gauge and either launch or knock down. On block, it only pushes the opponent away. In both cases, if you are knocked into the wall, you will be vulnerable and the opponent can continue their combo.
On Punish Counter (when you hit a vulnerable opponent after they unsuccessfully attack you), Drive Impact crumples the opponent, giving you the opportunity to land your deadliest combo. The best way to counter Drive Impact is to react with one of your own, leading to your own Punish Counter crumple.
Perfect Parry is key in SF6
© Capcom
03
Drive Parry
SF3’s parry returns! Sort of! We owe legacy parry for the clip that got many into the genre back in the day: EVO Moment 37. Now you can try your hand at the Daigo parry vs Chun-Li in SF6. Drive Parry comes out on frame 1 and decreases the pushback of attacks, giving better range to punish certain moves. Since blocking attacks decreases the Drive gauge, using Drive Parry for half a Drive stock will recoup that cost, saving you from losing meter.
If inputted within 2 frames of getting hit, you perform a Perfect Parry, causing you to immediately exit blockstun and most likely punish the opponent’s attack. This is an important tactic to master, showcased by Kakeru at Gamers8 this summer where he Perfect Parried AngryBird’s Ken 32 times to win 400 thousand dollars.
Don't be afraid to yell "get off me!" when you Drive Reversal
© Capcom
04
Drive Reversal
Drive Reversal is probably the most straight-forward of the mechanics. It’s your everyday guard cancel/alpha counter. Spend 2 bars to gain invincibility and push the opponent away. Drive Reversal destroys armor on hit, so it will even stop Drive Impact. If baited, the opponent has 8 frames to punish.
You're to see a lot of cr.MK in this game
© Capcom
05
Drive Rush
Most likely the strongest of all the mechanics, Drive Rush is a command dash that adds 4 frames of hitstun/blockstun to the normal performed after. This might seem simple, but the immediate pressure this gives makes it a scary option in neutral.
Players will attempt to jab you out of Drive Rush or use an invincible reversal, as they don’t want to deal with the strike/throw mix after blocking your plus on block normal, but this can be countered by canceling the Drive Rush early, as AngryBird showcased to win EVO 2023.
Drive Rush costs just 1 stock of Drive Gauge, but can be canceled into, which costs 3 stocks, half the entire gauge. It is one of the best combo tools available, as the extra frame advantage allows links and combos that aren’t normally possible.
That's OD!
© Capcom
06
OD Moves
This one’s also straight forward, since EX moves have been in games for years. These are the powered up versions of characters' special moves that gain better properties. Often this makes it a better combo tool, such as Ryu’s OD Tatsumaki Senpukyaku allowing for a Drive Rush conversion in the corner.
Like SF5, reversals such as Guile’s Somersault Kick are only fully invincible during the Overdrive version. This is important to recognize, as it means you can only reversal out of some situations while you have Drive meter available.
OD moves cost 2 stocks of Drive gauge.
07
How to manage your meter
Managing the Drive gauge is simply essential to winning in SF6. Burnout makes this crystal clear. Since there’s added frame advantage during Burnout, some characters like Manon can basically trap you by spamming 5MP. Not only does it add the 4 frames of blockstun, but you can lose to chip damage, and Drive Impact stuns you in the corner, even on block.
All the important mechanics are tied to the Drive gauge, so the first thing is to make sure not to use them without reason. It can be enticing to throw in an extra OD Hadouken or use 3 stocks to cancel into Drive Rush, but if the next combo will kill either way, you might be better off saving your meter for a future interaction.
Your meter management will look different depending on who you play as well. For someone with a great Drive Rush like Dee Jay, you will get a lot more mileage out of it in neutral than someone who's Drive Rush is easy to stuff with a poke. Conversely, Lily’s strengthened Condor Spire leads to an immediate 50/50, but is easy to react to with Drive Reversal, so you will have to use it more in that matchup.
There are times where level 3 Super Art will even the Drive gauge war, and save you from getting burnt out. Spending the cash is great, and you never want to lose a match because you were greedy with meter. However, you might want to save those supers so you can defeat Drive Impact if you find yourself burnt out later anyway.
