How To Perfect Parry in Street Fighter 6

The Perfect Parry is one of the most stylish and deadly moves to pull off in Street Fighter 6. Not only are the audio and visual effects of a Perfect Parry extremely satisfying but you’ll also be granted a guaranteed Punish Counter. The damage your character deals will scale down by 50%, but the fact that you can unleash a secured counterattack can be a massive advantage in combat. Most players likely understand how to Parry, but some might not know how to Perfect Parry in Street Fighter 6. 

To perform a Street Fighter 6 Perfect Parry, you’ll need to push the same inputs as you would a normal Parry. For those unfamiliar, these two inputs are Medium Punch and Medium Kick, also referred to as MP + MK. If you don’t know what those moves are bound to, head to your game’s Options and open Controls. The display should show what your MP and MK are set as. You can change your controls with the “Edit Control Mapping” tab.

Now that we’ve established that Medium Punch and Medium Kick are the moves required to produce a normal Parry, you’re likely wondering how a Perfect Parry works. The Perfect Parry in Street Fighter 6 boils down to exact timing. You need to watch when your opponent is connecting an attack with your character. Within the animation frames, when their strike hits you, you want to use Medium Punch and Medium Kick at the same time. 

Suppose you’re someone who likes to play and experiment with different characters every few matches. In that case, practicing the Perfect Parry in SF6 will be challenging. The reason is that executing this move requires a perfect reaction to what you’re seeing on screen. Recognizing when your enemy lands an attack can be visually cluttered if you constantly swap from character to character. Of course, this primarily applies to those new to the game and who are still learning the ropes of special moves and Parry mechanics.

While always striving to get a Perfect Parry in SF6 might be tempting, it’s important to understand a possible downside. Whenever you’re doing a Parry, your enemy can immediately react by grabbing and throwing you across the ground. It’s impossible to stop this from happening if they grappled you in a Parry. Therefore, it’s ideal to never spam MP + MK when facing an opponent, as they can counter-punish you with a throw.