Capcom recently released Season 5 of Street Fighter V. In this major update they also introduced a new gameplay mechanic: V-Shift.
V-shift changes the game in some pretty significant ways. Read on to find out how to do a V-Shift in Street Fighter V.
How to do a V-Shift in SFV
To perform a V-Shift, simply press the Medium Kick and Heavy Punch buttons at the same time. This has to be done from a neutral position, so without pressing any directional buttons. Also, you must have at least one bar of V-Gauge available.
You’ll know the V-Shift is successful by your character moving back and having a blue aura surrounding them, along with an audible sound.
Using this against your opponent’s moves will essentially slow down the game (unless the opponent uses a throw) which gives you an opportunity to counterattack. You can punish your opponent with any move or combo you see fit.
In addition, you can use the built-in punisher that every character now has. This is done by doing the V-Shift again following a successful V-Shift counter (you can just mash this out).
When should you use the V-Shift?
The V-Shift mechanic is very useful for getting out of sticky or high-pressure situations. The following is when I’ve found V-Shift the most useful:
- On Wakeup – So this is when you’re opponent has knocked you down and is in an Oki-type position. Rather than keep taking pressure you can use the V-Shift to change the momentum of the game and make the opponent think twice when continually trying to pressure you.
- In 50/50 situations – This is useful against characters who rely on 50-50 mixups. So for example, Zangief, Laura, etc. Rather than guess if they’re going to do a command grab you can get out of there with the V-Shift.
- In the Corner – You’ll often face a lot of pressure in the corner so using the V-Shift is useful for getting out of this.
- Against fireballs – I’ve found this can be used to punish fireballs at close distance, especially with the V-Shift follow-up.
How does this change up the game?
V-Shift actually changes the game quite significantly. From the beginning, SFV lacked defensive options. There was, of course, V-reversal but it didn’t really change the aggressive tactics of players.
Players were rewarded for continually applying pressure which meant defense wasn’t really a viable option.
Now, with this new V-Shift mechanic, players can easily get out of high-pressure situations and shift the momentum of the game. Not only, is this better for the player but it makes for more exciting games and less one-sided affairs.
How to punish V-Shift
Whilst V-Shift is great as a defensive option, how do you punish people that might abuse it? There are a couple of ways.
Firstly, an opponent using V-Shift means that their character is in a crush-counter status. This means that if you know that the opponent is going to V-Shift you can be ready with a crush counter and then effectively punish with a devastating combo.
Another method is to use moves that have decent reach. So in most cases, this might be a sweep or something similar.
Both of these methods assume, of course, that the opponent hasn’t triggered the slowdown element and that you have recovered quickly from whatever move you were executing at the time.
