Street Fighter Collab has a high amount of interesting cards. Eight 6★ cards on debut is unprecedented for a collab and their multiple forms including a equip great improves their value. On the 5★ side there are two currently irreplaceable actives in Balrog and Zangeif but also some mediocre/useless cards. Overall it’s a collab that holds more value for players with developed boxes, especially those who care about speed farming.

6 Stars

Ryu

Ryu’s purpose seems to be the promotion of L-Attack as a play-style. On paper a 2.25x HP/RCV leader with a consistently activatable 25% shield is very appealing and having damage divide across skill use and 5-match allows for stalling/damage control. Issues with Ryu as a leader stem not from himself but instead from the scarcity of an appropriate 1 CD sub for activating his full multiplier every turn. At the time of writing, his only 1 CD option is the difficult(read: $$$$$) to obtain LBastet . The next best option is Awoken Diao , who has a 50% downtime and low stats but synergistic awakenings and potential for future buffs through reincarnation. Running a Ryu team without an active use sub requires stalling on floors and deal high damage only when active is available, which greatly hurts the team’s ability to chip down timed floors like Hashihime . Active use sub aside, the light L-Attack subs a Ryu team wants do exist but are relatively limited compared to more established play-styles like TPA, such that Ryu ends up being his own best sub.

Ryu’s array of offensive awakenings and balanced type makes him a great damage stick, but only as long as the team utilizes L-attacks. His active is an unique orb spawn that creates an L shape of light orbs. The unlock factor is decent utility but not extremely important given the unlocking function of L-Attack. Regardless of how relevant the active is for your team, it is still a 5cd active that’s easy to inherit over.

Ult. Ryu

Evil Ryu’s powerful leader skill is hampered by the unforgiving scaling:

> 50% HP	4	5	6	7	8
9x	36x	81x	144x	225x	324x

Although the damage multiplier starts at just 4 darks, he requires 6 darks to achieve any meaningful damage and 8 to really stand out. This orb hungriness makes Evil Ryu unsuitable for longer content and while he could be a decent farming lead, inability to use Satan due to the suicide removed much of his appeal.

As a sub, Evil Ryu brings HP and VDP. His active creates 9 orbs in a 3×3 box, in other words a VDP. While it has applications in farming due to the predictable nature of the orb spawning and allows for neat board set ups like this 0 move VDP 8c FUA using 4 actives , the CD is rather high and when specific position isn’t important, a double orb changer grants similar amount of orbs while usually having less CD. Lastly, it is not feasible to rely on this active for mindless VDP since there might be extra orbs surrounding the box.

Equip Ryu

Equip Ryu’s main use is the double SBR, but these days not having 5 SBR on any team is quite rare and usually a few single SBR equips will suffice for farm teams. Aside from SBR, Ryu equip does transfer 1000 HP and then on-color stats to dark, but a team HP equip will achieve similar effect if not better.

Which Ryu?

Ult Ryu is a cool VDP sub with interesting active and HP stick utility but not a great leader due to bad scaling. Base Ryu is the better leader, but at this moment his subpool is terribly limited. The equip is an easy skip, as there’s just not enough situations where a single equip slot must cover 2 SBR.

Chun-Li

Despite her relatively high orb requirements at 2 blue combos, Chun-Li’s offensive multiplier is average while her defensive capabilities is limited to a small 43.25% shield. Chun-Li’s 2 CD 3 blue making active helps greatly with her orb needs and she has a 25x unconditional multiplier, but her devil killers makes her unsuitable for running easier content like A3 without a damage absorb void as Parvati is a devil.

As a sub, Chun-Li’s forte is the killing of devils. She kills straight forward spawns with ease but struggle against devils with a void, as she has no VDP to overcome the issue of dealing too much damage from 1 sub. Her active does very little, but since it’s only 2 CD, Chun-Li can take just about any assist and expect the active to be available on time.

Ult. Chun-Li

In exchange for a more nuanced activation divided between 2 blue matches and 7 combos and less orb movement time, ult Chun-Li gained a HP multiplier and higher attack overall. The active skill was also upgraded to a new 99 turn skyfall buff that can persist through a whole dungeon, though the % increase is rather low. Being better than the base form doesn’t actually make her an exceptionally good leader though, in particular the 7 combos requirement significantly raises the difficulty of performing a VDP and FUA while hitting full multiplier, usually requiring some type of +combo active.

As a sub, Chun-Li’s awakenings are decent but overshadowed by Saber who has a better typing and more VDP damage. The active is interesting but also not something worth using twice, so it’s more convienent to have it as an assist.

Equip Chun-Li

While JP already has many options for scroll resist, NA had only Glavenus Assist before Chun-Li. Her cooldown is on the low side, but the additional damage offered by HP≥80 and the unique active are both valuable in their own right. Blue teams get more value out of this equip than other colors, but it is strong overall.

Which Chun-Li?

Chun-Li’s scroll resist equip double as a way to increase attack, although HP≥80 is unreliable without a self healing active on the team. Her two forms are decent subs for different purposes, but as leaders they are somewhat orb hungry.

M. Bison

Base M. Bison is one of those mis-matched cards with a 4 match/TPA style leader skill but row awakenings. He can be used for speed farming purpose in a manner similar to Shishio but 144x attack multiplier and 1 SB on leads isn’t especially appealing.

M. Bison’s appeal as sub isn’t high, given the low demand for dedicated dark row subs. A delay and row making active is somewhat useful but not particularly unique.

Ult. M. Bison

Although M. Bison has no HP/RCV multiplier, he has a high 75% shield tied to matching any 5 non-dark orbs that can be activated the majority of times. It is quite possible to stall, as most of the damage is tied to matching 4~6 dark orbs. Off color orb requirement of 5 is convenient for FUA, but sadly FUA itself prevents rows. At least 11/30 orbs are occupied by 2 combos for full activation such that it can be difficult to overcome high combo shields. To work around this issue take advantage of M Bison’s combo orb, ideally with a 3rd combo orb awake from a sub for maximum efficiency. Be aware that combo orb itself can be unreliable without no-skyfall, as it may be matched away in a skyfall combo.

As a sub, Bison is a usable VDP sub and a great option for Lajoa among other leads with a blob play-style that benefit from combo orb. His active is the first dark double row and unique in that it spawns on the bottom two rows. This position and shape lends itself to VDP or combo orb but does not offer as much row damage on a swipe when compared to a top & bottom row active. The 5x 1k button part makes this active slow in terms of animation but on the other hand one can clear a high defense low HP floor while having enough orbs to deal with the following floor. Lastly it’s important to note that, this active isn’t great for Bison’s own leader skill as you must ensure the top 3 rows have 5 non-dark orbs, compared to just using a bi/tricolor board changer with darks.

Equip M. Bison

If you are a fan of dark row teams and more specifically the 4x HP/ 1x RCV Lajoa , then this equip is a must have. Unlike other triple dark row equips , M. Bison equip has an active that directly spawns dark rows and guarantees 12 dark orbs for various purposes. Poison resist is vital for teams with relatively low RCV, but most teams appreciate not having to match poisons.

Which M. Bison?

The equip offers significant advantages over other dark row equips, but it’s not very useful if you have no interest in running dark row teams. Base form is pretty boring while Ult. Bison is a interesting leader that suffers from high combo shields.

Guile

For some strange reason, base Guile’s leader skill is like a green version of Ult Chun-Li minus the HP multiplier and with the corresponding 99 turn skyfall active found in Blanka . He is usable, but not particularly strong.

As a sub, Guile provides more HP to the team but has only TPAs for damage. The active skill is an all-target true damage button that also creates 5 green orbs, almost like an inheritable version of Adekazakiri and has the same type of “button 1 floor kill next floor” utility.

Ult. Guile

Guile’s leader skill has high damage, good defense through 4x HP, and consistent activation as he does not require a specific color. As your leaders have no RCV both in terms of the lead skill and in terms of base stats, a strong RCV stick is vital. Aside from the RCV stick, Guile has access to green’s strong subpool, most notably Zela whose active more or less guarantee full activation. In addition to 6 match, there is a combo requirement but 5c is relatively low and it is possible to plan ahead for VDP combo floors by utilizing the combo orb awakenings on your leads. Lastly, while Guile does not have SBR in his standard awakenings, a double SBR sub is not strictly needed as it’s possible to get a SBR super awakening.

Guile brings VDP and combo orb and the active is a double top 2 green row that allows activation of both of those awakenings. He is a niche sub with some uses in Kaede farming teams since Dios + Indigo allows easy 2 combo orb activation and he is able to cover the VDP needs as well. The nuke part of his active is only 100x, single target and overall not as useful as an all-target true damage button. Plus, there’s already a stronger nuke + double green rows active in Fake Assassin .

Equip Guile

Given how blinds can be cleared simply by matching orbs and the way heart bicolors allows you to see through blinds just by orb shape, blind resists are more of a luxury than any other hazard resist. The SBR can come in useful for Guile’s own team and some farming compositions, but the applications are ultimately limited since any team only needs 5 SBR.

Which Guile?

Ult. Guile is a strong leader, even if he’s not quite as good as Komasan . The equip and base form both have niche uses, but they are more of an afterthought.

Akuma

Akuma’s leader skill has an easy 5c & HP≤99% activation with a small shield for bulk, in exchange for not being particularly strong. Since there’s two leaders with good offensive awakenings his damage is decent, but nothing can be done about the defensive aspect.

As a sub it’s better to capitalize on HP≤50 over 7c since Akuma has more of the former, especially with HP≤50 equips in mind. Unfortunately for Akuma, dark has fierce competition for HP≤50 and his only advantage is being God type and eligible for DMeta. The active skill is a new type of skyfall buff and act as a 50% suicide/nuke + delayed board change as long as you are thorough with clearing the board this turn. The cooldown is rather long when compared to a suicide + board changer, but it does allows for some advanced planning and clears unwanted non-hazard skyfall effects.

Ult. Akuma

Ult Akuma’s leader skill is like a harder (9c vs 8c with +2s) and more restrictive (dark only vs dark & green) version of Ult Roche . Since natural 9c boards are uncommon he is not very practical on 6×5, but makes for a strong pairing with combo based 7×6 leaders . The RCV multiplier is useful if you are forced to take a few hits without shield, but usually the goal is to kill floors before they kill you.

Akuma has nice awakenings including FUA, but his sub value is largely defined by his damage absorb void active. The active ordering is “correct” in that gravity will deal damage instead of healing the enemy, but currently there’s no damage absorb spawn with a resolve threshold higher than 65%. What you can do with Akuma is kill any damage absorb spawn with 3 gravities , as long as you can get those gravities up on time. Should the damage absorb spawn not appear in this run, the gravity can be used for damage instead, like bringing Kali to under 65%.

Equip Akuma

At 22 CD, equip Akuma overtook Karin Shindou as the highest CD equip that grants a skill boost. Akuma’s active is also significantly more applicable for farming purposes than other SB equips. Damage absorb void benefits A3/A5 Saline lead swap farming since those teams require high SB for turn 1 leader swap while the 35% gravity is useful in the aforementioned gravity setup .

Which Akuma?

Although it’s great, do not make the SB equip unless you are 100% certain about what build/set up you absolutely need a SB equip for. Both base form and ult are strong subs, but I lean towards making the ult since it is a good leader with widely applicable active while the base form is a replaceable damage stick.

Sakura Kasugano

Base Sakura is a decent leader. She is tanky and easy to activate with access to several RCV solutions and her average attack multiplier is supplanted by offensive awakenings on the leaders. Just keep her lack of SBR in mind when team building.

As a sub Sakura is great if her killers are in effect but mediocre against spawns her killers do not apply to. Her active skill is very practical, at 5 CD she creates 5 orbs in an L shape, activating L-Attacks while clearing time debuffs. Sakura’s weakness is her relatively low HP, keep that in mind while considering her as a sub.

Ult. Sakura Kasugano

If you can match 6+ combos in 5 seconds while activating various damage and support awakenings, then ult. Sakura is a excellent leader with good bulk and enough of a damage scaling to consider damage control. If you are not skilled enough to do so, then Sakura is not the lead for you.

Sakura provides RCV, some damage, and choice of FUA or cloud to a team. Like base Akuma, Sakura’s active is like a delayed board change that clears unwanted non-hazard skyfall. She can be compared to Weld since both actives delay the enemy and make orbs. The difference comes down to being able to choose when to use the orbs by setting up Weld’s board change, or praying to RNG for enough orbs on the following turn through skyfall.

Equip Sakura Kasugano

Equip Sakura adds both RCV and HP but her active isn’t as op as Equip Kamui while she actually grants less RCV than Chocolate Box to teams that rely on a single heart OE sub due to how heart OE works.

Which Sakura?

While ult Sakura is a fun leader and stronger if you can play her right, most players will find base Sakura easier to use. The equip is not good enough to sacrifice your only copy of Sakura for.

Sagat

Base Sagat is the latest attempt to make HP≥80 good. I am not a fan of the autoheal + HP based shield playstyle but even if I was, there’s already a better version of Sagat in Leafa who fully activates on the same number of color combos but has a higher multiplier and attribute synergy with autoheal Odindra .

Even if the active does very little, 2 CD allows Sagat to be used as a inherit base. However his awakenings are not especially desired by any team aside from his own, so overall his sub value is low.

Ult. Sagat

Ult Sagat has a good damage multiplier coupled with a high 75% shield. Since doing 7 combos implies clearing 21 out of 30 orbs from the board, the 8 or fewer orb remaining requirement is nearly guaranteed but not strictly required if you want to activate just the shield and not the whole multiplier. While running a red team to take advantage of the leader’s offensive awakenings is valid, do not be afraid to go off color as Sagat’s lack of sub restrictions makes him very flexible and easy to team build.

Having a limited killer selection doesn’t stop Sagat from being a strong damage stick when applicable, but he really doesn’t bring much else. The active skill is alright as a +2c, but defense break is not usually relevant.

Equip Sagat

Equip Sagat is absurdly good for any HP≤50 teams. It doubles the damage output of the sub in question while providing basic hazard resists to help the team achieve 100% hazard resist in all 3 categories. The only real downside is the active skill, but 13 CD is longer than any other HP≤50 equip and it’s still a +2c if nothing else.

Which Sagat?

While the equip is amazing, players with less developed boxes will get more use out of ult Sagat as a leader. Base Sagat is not worth considering.

Karin Kanzuki

As a cross lead, Karin suffers from all the traditional issues like being orb hungry and having a skill gate in terms of overcoming high combo shields while matching crosses though both the active skill and the orb movement time helps. Being a mono-color cross lead is also disadvantageous, as her damage ceiling is much lower than a dual-color cross lead like Rushana who has higher defenses than Karin as well.

Karin’s active spawns a cross of light orbs and has +1c. There aren’t many farming applications for such an awkward shape, so it’s mainly useful for color cross teams. Many cards in this collab have a badly skewed stat distribution, but Karin is the worst offender of them all with her 2.5K HP at lv110. She exists if you somehow need both a high HP damage card and coop-usable cloud resist, but I’d look into her equip instead.

Karin Kanzuki

Ult. Karin is a 7×6 cross lead but unlike previous 7×6 cross leads , her scaling is very fast and in fact higher than R/L Kenshin even without 7×6 in mind. The lack of any shield or HP makes her a glass cannon, and Karin’s own low HP limits how much HP the team can obtain. Pairing with the aforementioned Kenshin and Diara grants some defenses at the expense of damage output.

Sub wise, Karin is a FUA sub with no offensive awakenings but her active is pretty interesting. It creates 5 of each red/light/heart and with some luck you can usually get board with enough hearts for FUA and 2 combos of your primary color from this active. The cool-down is low and it clears any time debuffs, making it pretty handy and still easy enough to inherit over. Much like her base form, the low HP is very concerning even with 2 team HP.

Assist Karin Kanzuki

While this equip grants useful awakenings including cloud resist, the 8 CD makes it hard to use on any team that doesn’t want red/light orbs.

Which Karin?

If you have no interest in cross leads and no other cloud resist assists available, make Equip Karin as the sub value of both forms are very questionable.

5 Stars

Cammy

Cammy’s 2nd from top row maker has value for VDP making purposes, and she’s also an easy to obtain 100% shield with a tolerable CD. Active aside, she’s also a green double attacker killer that can take attacker killer latents.

Ken

Ken is the orb skin unlocking card of this collab and can be purchased through the 1200 Yen / 9.99 USD bundle. He’s an half-decent combo sub but that’s all I can really say about him.

Vega

Vega’s weird sounding active is in practice a tricolor board heavy on darks instead of a true full dark board. On one hand a dark team will get more damage out of this active than an evenly distributed dark tricolor, but on the other hand if your current board does not have hearts, Vega will not create any for you. The predictability of this active is powerful, as long as you have the turns it’s possible to save a certain number of light/hearts to achieve specific orb distributions for purpose of FUA, VDP, and damage in general.

R. Mika

Mika’s board change creates the same orbs as Aten but unlike Aten, you cannot combo the board with another active to guarantee a certain number of orbs while keeping rainbow activation. At best she can be used as a board change that counters spinners but we have many options for that.

Zangief

Zangief’s active is a one-of-a-kind predictable orb maker that generates 18 orbs at once. The lack of a inheritable red full board active makes it even more valuable, since you can set up a 7c red VDP board by using any non-red full board + Zangief without having to run a red full board sub. One can also use Zangief to kill multiple floors by “unmatching” orbs, but it’s quite a bit harder than doing the same thing on Sado/Chandra .

Aside from his active, Zangief also has machine killer and rows but he’s just a worse version of Narumi and not much better tha Awoken MGoe .

Dhalsim

Dhalsim’s killer combination is uncommon but lack of skill boosts makes him hard to use in farming. His active pretty good, being a great bind/awoken bind clear assist for red/blue teams as it gives you orbs even when no binds are present.

Balrog

Balrog is the first 350x nuke and is revolutionary for button farming. Dungeons that were previously impossible to fully button are now doable and dungeons that required slower nukes like Satan’s 300x dark nuke can now be made ever so slightly faster since Balrog carries no additional effects and thus has the fastest possible animation.

Triple poisons resist might have granted Balrog some sub value but his long CD and useless outside of button farming active means you are better off with a Serket .

Blanka

Blanka has a green version of Ult. Chun-Li’s active with the same long duration but low chance trade-off. He may find use as a triple blind resist sub with passable stats and bonus cloud resist, but as said before, blind resist is a luxury and if possible it’s better to run a good sub and use a blind resist equip.

Alex

Alex is not meaningfully unique enough in awakening or active skill to occupied any niches. At best he’s an easy to get light VDP that works with high HP leaders like Giga .

Monster Exchange

Kage

Kage is alright as a rainbow leader and sub, but his main niche is the 15% true gravity on his active. However, except for some extremely niche situations where you need the gravity to stay under a damage void, Trailo has a stronger true gravity at the same cooldown.

Verdict

Do I roll?

If you like collecting unique actives for the sole purpose of making speed farming builds, SFV is the collab for you.
For players interested only in content clearing, the diamonds are all useful to various extents but not revolutionarily stronger than anything already available.

Do I trade?

Sagat is a very flexible leader than can become a strong equip once you get better leaders, but I wouldn’t sacrifice 5 GFEs for him. Other diamonds are good as well but not likely to benefit a less developed box.