Looking for the best Street Fighter 6 Chun-Li combos and special moves? For beginners, Chun-Li is one of the most complicated characters to learn. It’s not just because her best moves have the charge input, but her combos are harder to set up consistently due to her speed. That said, she has some of the best regular moves in the game due to her reach, power, and nimbleness.
With more moves per character than previous titles in the long-running fighting game series, Street Fighter 6 Chun-Li will take a long time to master if you aren’t used to her gameplay mechanics. She is one of the few fighters, including Guile, who uses charge attacks. We sat down to practice with Chun-Li during the previous Street Fighter 6 beta to try and compile some tips on this potential top-ranking character on the Street Fighter 6 tier list, making her special moves easier to pull off consistently and how you can work them into combos.
How to play Chun-Li in Street Fighter 6
The best way to play Chun-Li in Street Fighter 6 is by keeping to the middle and looking for opportunities to sneak some hits in. She is one of the quickest fighters with fantastic reach, making it easier to hit the opponent consistently. She also excels at bamboozling her opponent by leaping or using other attacks to lead into huge combos.
Once these basics become muscle memory, you can incorporate other buttons, special moves, and super arts to maximize your damage output. Chun-Li has access to combos that can easily dish out a quarter of your opponent’s health bar, provided that you master the art of setting up charge moves.
Street Fighter 6 motions
Chun-Li uses quite a variety of motions for her special moves in Street Fighter 6, so here are all of the relevant movements with simplified explanations for each:
Motions
- Quarter-circle forward – push down on the d-pad or stick and quickly rotate to the direction your character is facing.
- Quarter-circle back – push down on the d-pad or stick and quickly rotate in the opposite direction to the one your character is facing.
- Charge – depending on the move, you hold the d-pad or stick in the direction opposite to the one your character is facing or down for a short time. This is usually followed by snapping to either the direction your character is facing or up and press the move’s button.
- Double tap down – tap down twice and follow up with a button to perform a special attack.
- Overdrive – known previously as EX moves, this is the same move, but you press any two punches or any two kicks. It consumes two bars to the Drive Gauge to execute.
Street Fighter 6 Chun-Li special moves
Kikoken – Charge back, then forward + Punch
Chun-Li’s projectile’s distance is affected by the strength of the punch you use. A light punch will only send it a short distance in front of her, while medium and heavy punches send it out for longer. The Overdrive version goes fullscreen and hits the opponent twice on contact.
Hundred Lightning Kicks – Quarter-circle forward + Kick
A series of high-speed kicks. This input is different from other Street Fighter games, making this move more valuable as a way to end combos. The light version of this move has barely any startup animation and hits three times, but medium and heavier versions of this move give you four and five hits, respectively, but each one takes a longer time to start. The Overdrive Hundred Lightning Kicks have no startup time, hits five times, and can be extended by pressing both the kick buttons again to get ten hits.
Aerial Hundred Lightning Kicks – Quarter-circle back + Kick
Like the ground version, the Aerial Hundred Lightning Kicks depends on which kick button you press. Light gives you three hits, medium four, and heavy five. Button presses don’t alter the startup time. In addition, the Overdrive Aerial Hundred Lightning Kicks hit six times but can’t be extended further.
Spinning Bird Kick – Charge down, then up + Kick
Chun-Li’s classic Spinning Bird Kick has her turn upside down and spin her legs like a propeller. The reach is impressive, and it hits the opponent multiple times depending on the kick button pressed: three for light, five for medium, and seven for heavy. The Overdrive version of this move hits seven times, then launches the enemy into the air, allowing for a potential Tensho Kicks to follow up.
Hazanshu – Quarter-circle back + Kick
This is an overhead kick that slams Chun-Li’s leg downwards. It is best used against opponents who like to sweep and to close in the distance, with kick strength determining damage and space traveled. The Overdrive version of this move pops the enemy into the air for a potential follow-up Tensho Kicks.
Tensho Kicks – Double tap down + Kick
A simple technique to perform, but there are limited options to use this vertical kick in combos. It’s best used as an anti-air against jumping enemies or as an ender to specific Overdrive versions of other special moves, such as Hazanshu or Spinning Bird Kick.
Serenity Stream – Quarter-circle back + Punch
Perhaps the most versatile move in Chun-Li’s arsenal. She will sit in a cross-legged position for a short time. Press one of the following buttons to execute the corresponding attack:
- LP – Orchid Palm: pushes both hands out for a light low hit.
- MP – Snake Strike: slides forward to hit low with her hands. Repeatable.
- HP – Lotus Fist: stands and performs an overhead punching strike.
- LK – Forward Strike – kicks out with one leg.
- MK – Senpu Kick: kicks out low with both of her legs.
- HK – Tenku Kick: stands and kicks the opponent in the chin, launching them skywards.
Street Fighter 6 Chun-Li Super Arts
Level One: Kikosho – Quarter-circle forward x2 + Punch
Chun-Li creates a mass of energy in front of her to deal up to five hits for moderate damage. This move can eat some fireball techniques and has a quick startup time. You can also execute this move in the air if you’re either forward or neutral jumping.
Level Two: Hoyoku-sen – Quarter-circle forward x2 + Kick
This is Chun-Li’s classic Street Fighter III: Third Strike super art, where she moves forward with a series of kicks before launching the enemy into the air. The last hit can immediately be followed by a jump to enable Chun-Li to get additional hits.
Level Three: Soten Ranka – Quarter-circle back x2 + Kick
Soten Ranka begins with a cinematic where Chun-Li repeatedly kicks the opponent, resulting in massive damage and a hard knockdown. If the first attack of the super art doesn’t land, instead Chun-Li performs a short sequence of attacks that deal significantly less damage.
Chun-Li combos
The secret to performing some of Chun-Li’s most basic combos is to master setting up her special moves, such as the Kikoken or Spinning Bird Kick. You need to hold a direction for at least two seconds before finishing the move’s input; however, the dirty little secret is that you don’t need to hold it down exclusively.
Let’s take one of the combos further in the guide as an example: Jumping HK > Crouching MK > Kikoken. To perform it, you need to jump, then immediately hold the direction down and back. Doing so will begin the charge timer from that point, meaning that by the time you’ve hit the Jumping HK and Crouching MK, you are ready to snap the direction of your d-pad or stick forwards and press the punch button(s) of your choice to execute the Kikoken.
Jumping HK, Crouching MK xx Kikoken
This is the example given earlier in the guide, and actually, it’s a decent basic combo that keeps the enemy at a middle distance, setting them up for more potential pokes. You can also opt to close in the space afterward to punish their more defensive play with the odd throw or two.
Serenity Stream into Senpu Kick xx Spinning Bird Kick
This one requires some rapid button presses, but it’s a great way to get significant damage. Make sure you’re holding down as you perform the Serenity Stream, then press up and your desired kick button after the Senpu Kick. If you want even more hits, use the Overdrive version of the Spinning Bird Kick, then perform a Heavy Tenshu Kicks for four additional hits while they’re in the air.
Standing LP, Standing LP, Crouching LK xx Overdrive Hundred Lightning Kicks + Lightning Kick Barrage
While you could do this with just a regular light version of the Hundred Lightning Kicks, the Overdrive version opens the enemy up to further damage with the Lightning Kick Barrage by pressing both kick buttons once more.
Crouching LK, Crouching LK xx Overdrive Hundred Lightning Kicks xx Hoyoku-sen xx Jumping Down MK x3
This combo seems intimidating, but it’s a simple combo that uses your level two super and its unique ability to cancel the animation at the end into a jump to perform some follow-up attacks. As soon as Chun-Li starts the Hoyoku-sen super, hold the d-pad or stick in a jumping-forward direction. When Chun-Li hits her final hit, she will jump up with her opponent, allowing you to hit up to three additional foot stomps to finish the combo. If you are feeling particularly gutsy, replace the three stomps with just one foot stomp, but then follow up with the Heavy Aerial Lightning Kicks.
With that, you should now be good to execute all of Street Fighter 6 Chun-Li moves and combos. Remember, though, your primary game plan is to dominate the space, so make sure you get that down first before learning more combos in the game’s various training modes. If you find Chun-Li a little too challenging to master, plenty of other characters in the Street Fighter 6 roster, including old hats such as Ken or Ryu, or perhaps newer fighters such as Kimberly, Jamie, or Luke, may better suit your play style.