Yup, I still hate Guile in Street Fighter V

I still love his theme, though

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Guile, it’s nothing personal, but I hate you. You just…don’t jive with what I like to do. You’re very straight-laced and stone-faced, and I like my fighters on the wackier side. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I think you’re better than ever before. I love what you’ve done to try and distance yourself from your past. But the fact of the matter is, despite everything, you’re still you.

P.S. I struggled a lot while playing as you and here’s what I’ve learned.

The Theme

This is still the best part of Guile. 

The Basics

I’ve come a long way since my early Street Fighter days. Street Fighter IV was my first serious venture into the franchise, in which I avoided charge characters like the plague. Really, I avoided everyone but Hakan, T.Hawk, Dan, and Makoto, but charge characters especially. Then F.A.N.G. came along and I just had to play him. So, I learned to get comfortable with charge characters.

The quintessential charge character has to be Guile. When I picture Guile, I picture him squatting down, waiting for the opponent to make any sort of move that he can punish with a Flash Kick or one of his strong normals. His Street Fighter V iteration stays true to this but has given him more options thanks to his V-Skill and Trigger.

In fact, even though I still loathe the character, this is probably the most interesting version of Guile yet.

  • Sonic Boom (Charge back, forward + Punch)

Guile’s classic projectile. Not much to say here. Experiment with the speeds and know when to use each one!

  • Somersault Kick aka Flash Kick (Charge down, up + Kick)

Note that while the normal version of this is invulnerable to throws and projectiles, only the EX version is completely invincible. Remember this during your wakeup game!

And, well, that’s it. Seriously, those are all of his special moves. As always, what Guile lacks in specials he makes up for with his unique normals. Here are some to take note of:

  • High Kick (Down-forward + Heavy Kick)

This has some pretty good range. It can be a decent anti-air with some prediction. If you think it will come out too late, just use Medium Kick. If you do connect in the air, you can follow up with a Flash Kick.

  • Knee Bazooka (Forward or Back + Light Kick)

This is definitely one of the most useful and unique normals Guile has for one huge reason: You can move forward while still maintaining a charge!

  • Spinning Back Knuckle (Forward + Heavy Punch)

This comes out faster than you might think. Learn the spacing for this, because it will likely be one of your go-to tools for the range it reaches.

  • Reverse Spin Kick (Forward + Heavy Kick)

Haha! This move looks ridiculous. I mean, what exactly is going on here? Just about every normal (unique or otherwise) is completely standard and within the realm of possibility and then BAM! Reverse Spin Kick. I actually don’t know much about using this move other than it avoids throws since Guile is technically airborne. 

  • V-Skill (Medium Punch + Medium Kick)

I love Guile’s V-Skill, even if it does take three bars. Guile places a stationary Sonic Boom, which is evidently called a Sonic Blade.  This can be used defensively, to prevent jump-ins, or offensively to keep an opponent cornered or stifle their wakeup. Guile can also launch it forward by launching a Sonic Boom, but this needs to be quick. For those not used to Guile, this will certainly require some practice to do consistently (at least it did with me). 


Both the header image and this screenshot are from DeadendThrills.

Combos / Anti-Airs

  • Crouching Light Punch, Crouching Light Punch, Flash Kick

I can actually do this combo, so I use it as my “bread and butter.” If I can do it, so can you! God I’m awful with this character…

  • Standing Heavy Punch, Crouching Medium Punch, Flash Kick

The timing on this one can be tricky since you need to start charging for your Flash Kick as soon as you push the Heavy Punch button. No need to wait for it to connect, just wait for Guile to begin the animation and you are good to go.

  • Crouching Light Kick, Standing Medium Punch, Forward Heavy Punch

This is one of Guile’s best target combos, but be careful when executing it. If the opponent is crouching the Heavy Punch will whiff.

More combos (that are way above me) are shown off in the videos below! I always appreciate sharing your favorite comments as well, especially when I suck at the character like Guile.

  • Anti-Airs

Crouching Heavy Punch will keep away people who are very close to you in the air. Standing Medium Kick is great if they are further away. Of course, Flash Kick is perfect if you’ve got a charge stored. As for air-to-air, you can always air throw them!

Videos

Definitely start here. VesperArcade has put forth a lot of great tutorials, and this one is no different. As I’ve mentioned, I’m pretty new to playing charge characters and I learned some handy tips from watching this tutorial! It focuses on charge characters in general, but he makes his points using Guile and does mention some Guile-specific information. There are some other videos on the channel that focus solely on Guile, so be sure to check them out if you dig it!

This is the official Guile guide, by Capcom. It goes over all of his moves, including normals, and is a good surface-level tutorial. I’ve enjoyed watching these videos for each character, since they’re very well produced, though I do occasionally find the meaningful information lacking. My favorite part of each of these character tutorials is the overview section at the end, which begins at 9:58 in this video.

Here you go, someone way better than me demonstrating a lot of nice combos for the American turtle sensation, Guile. Bafael has put in amazing work so far, and he deserves all the attention he gets!

This one is meant for those who are more serious about Street Fighter V. It goes over frametraps and meaty setups, and if you aren’t sure what those even mean then perhaps this video isn’t quite for you yet. It also has some really nice setups for his V-Skill starting at 2:43.


Note: The text is displayed for about 0.4 seconds each time, so make sure you pause!

This guide teaches players how to “keep everyone out,” but what I love most about it is how it shows real-match applications. These aren’t training dummies programmed to do one specific thing so the player can show off this amazing probably-not-gonna-happen setup. Other than the text displaying for little to no time, this is a wonderful guide for any potential Guile players. 

If a new character has been released, then Max has done a series of videos playing as them! I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: I learn a lot by watching good players play, and being able to watch and learn as Max plays and learns is great. One of my favorite contributors to the FGC and you can expect me to link to his videos for every new character of the Season Pass.

Extra Tips:

  • Don’t forget about his air throw! It has crazy priority.
  • I despise this character. Don’t play him.

[This guide is based on a Season Pass code provided by the publisher.]


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Author
Patrick Hancock
During the day, he teaches high school kids about history. At night he kicks their butts in competitive games like Rocket League, Dota 2, Overwatch, and Counter-Strike. Disclosure: I've personally backed Double Fine Adventure, Wasteland 2, Dead State, SPORTSFRIENDS, Torment: Tides of Numera, STRAFE, and The Binding of Isaac: Four Souls. I have previously written for AbleGamers.com and continue to support them whenever possible (like HumbleBundle).