All Street Fighter 5 balance changes we’ve spotted in the definitive update so far

Saint Patrick’s Day contained an unexpected surprise, as Capcom announced that a balance update is coming to Street Fighter 5: Champion Edition along with a number of other bells and whistles to improve the current game. The patch is set to drop on March 29, 2022, or about a week and a half from now.

The changes in the video Capcom showed go by really quickly, but we did our best to compile the alterations we saw in our most recent episode of Talk and Block. We do a character-by-character breakdown of every fighter shown, trying to determine which changes were made to each fighter ahead of the official balance update patch notes.

We cover the changes showcased for Ryu, Ed, Alex, Poison, Akuma, Gill, Ibuki, Rose, Urien, Menat, Juri, Falke, Ken, Kage, M. Bison, Sakura and Guile, 17 fighters out of the 45 cast members available in the game.

These updates are subject to change, and Street Fighter 5: Champion Edition’s current frame data was used to build out this analysis. However, it’s possible the frame data has been tweaked in unexpected ways, so not everything may match up with the patch we receive in the next 11 days.

Considering this is being labeled as the “Definitive update” for the game, we assume this will be the last major update coming to Street Fighter 5. Alas, we may see some minor balance changes surface in the summer or fall time though, as Capcom will often do some smaller updates after they drop a big patch.

Street Fighter 5 is definitely nearing the end of it’s lifespan, with Street Fighter 6 currently announced — and an expected Q1 2023 release date, we’re likely less than a year away from having the successor to SF5 in our hands.

Check out the breakdown below, and feel free to use the time stamps to skip around to the characters who interest you.