Zangief has historically been hard to play especially at a high level and has only been played by a few big names like Itazan (AKA Itabashi Zangief), and Snake Eyes. This is because his basic design, a close-quarters grappler, doesn’t do well against most of the Street Fighter cast that can zone their opponents using their long-range special moves and normals. He’s strongest when he’s close because his SPD (Spinning / Screw Pile Driver) does a ton of damage, even if it leaves him a mile away in Street Fighter 6.
The addition of a Drive Rush in Street Fighter 6 means that he doesn’t suffer like in previous iterations and can close the gap if the opponent is sleeping at the wheel. But in season 1, his normals were mid, and his grabs left him nearly a full screen away, back at square one. Capcom realized that this meant that he had a very hard time capitalizing on his opportunities, so it decided to buff the Russian grappler at the start of season 2.
With his biggest weakness of walking his opponents out of the way, the damage, combo, pressure, and conversion buffs he got in season 2 made him far stronger than even Capcom anticipated. He was easily destroying some of the strongest brawlers in Street Fighter 6 like Rashid, M. Bison, Akuma, Cammy, Ed, and everyone below them in the tier list. This meant that some pros like Kobayan, Itazan, and MenaRD started doing really well, so much so that Capcom decided to bring him down a notch with the Terry Bogard update.
Both this Headbutt and his Knee Hammer were nerfed. Every Red Cyclone fan’s favorite move, the Headbutt got 25% more scaling on its first hit, with 10-20% more if the combo continues, but it also got one extra frame of advantage on hit. The Knee Hammer got an extra frame of recovery and advancement in its hurt box, making it more punishable than before.
Itazan Shows the True Power of Zangief in Season 2 of Street Fighter 6
Then came East Coast Throwdown 2024, a packed event with some of the best players from around the world. This was a Capcom Pro Tour event, so winning it meant a confirmed seat in the cup, so everyone wanted it bad. This event had killers like Daigo, Big Bird, iDom, Nephew, Dual Kevin, Caba, EndingWalker, Angry Bird, Problem X, and countless others.
But even the best players playing the highest tier characters didn’t stand a chance against the Japanese Itazan’s unstoppable Zangief as he tore his way through the bracket and ended up in the winner’s finals without losing a single set to anyone in the entire tournament. His last opponent was iDom, the only player who still thinks Manon is viable, and got demolished 3-1 as Itazan took the top spot showcasing Zangief’s newfound potential.
Dual Kevin ended up taking 3rd place, Big Bird got 4th, Nephew went on 5th/6th, and Daigo the beast himself went out on the 7th spot, shared with Caba from the Dominican Republic.
Zangief still has matchups that are very hard for him, like JP, Guile, and Dhalsim, but he is the most consistent fighter against the top tiers in the whole cast. Now that he’s more than viable, we might see a few more join the rare breed of grapplers in Street Fighter 6. I pity the bears that come across this iteration of Zangief.
