Street Fighter IV Damage Scaling Demystified
Those of you who managed to pick up Street Fighter IV know just how incredibly well balanced and well made this game is. It has an impressive amount of polish, and the whole experience (except for maybe the [shal]final boss[/shal]) is fun and addictive. But there has still been some mystery over how the [shal]damage[/shal] system works. That is until now.
The Combo System:
The combo system works in the following way. The first two successful hits deliver 100% damage, while the third hit delivers 80% of that move’s original damage. And each subsequent hit has an extra 10% of damage shaved off. For example, the fourth hit will deliver 70%, the fifth move 60%, etc. After the ninth successful hit, damage is shaved off in 1% increments.
This is vital information if you have multiple combos that you want to string together, and also lets you know when to stop attacking, as combos have steadily diminishing returns.
Ultras and Focus Attacks:
Ultras and Focus Attacks count as two moves. If used within a combo, the damage scaling will affect them accordingly. For example, if a focus attack or ultra is the 4th move within a combo, it will only count as 60% of the original damage. This is because it counts as the 4th move and the 5th move.
The Exceptions:
Throws, Supers, and EX-Moves only count as one move.
E. Honda’s Hundred Hand Slap only counts as one move.
[shal]Chun Li[/shal]’s Jumping Hard Punch counts as two moves.
*If a move requires extra controller input to pull off, it’s going to count as two moves*
Damage Reduction:
The more damage a fighter receives, the less damage they’re going to take. This works in tandem with the damage scaling Combo System, so there’s some notable math involved if you’re a fighting game statistician. Damage scaling is flipped on when a fighter’s health dips below 50%. When health dips to 26~50%, damage is scaled to 95%. When health dips to 16~25%, damage is scaled to 90%. When health dips to 1~15%, damage is scaled to 75%.
This information should help out both the hardcore players, as well as casual players who simply wondered why damage dished out and damage received isn’t consistent during each match. There are specific rules, and this knowledge will definitely give you a leg up if you study the move list of each character.
[Source]
7 Responses to “Street Fighter IV Damage Scaling Demystified”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
May 14th, 2009 at 11:23 PM
yeah thats exactly why 85% use cross overs nonstop in online matches.. its boring, especially with no counter system and a weak “focus attack” who tends to look the other way when cross ups are done. The game is awesome but lacks a counter edge. why go back to the roots if they allow cross ups yet no counters? its not something i can simply say in a comment unless shown how ‘high level’ players exploit that written above. The damage system here is the same as SC4 more moves less damage. The linking system lock can be by passed by slow button tapping to allow people to exploit the link system and the ‘damage reduction’. by slowing your inputs in a combo you by pass the damage reduction.. ive done it and now people who found the loop hole in 2 days of its release day. You’d be surprised to see how many good players only fight with cross ups. its like the fighting system was gimped with crossovers.
By slowing your inputs you can bypass the damage reduction………..
besides my findings.. the games fun but looses its sparkle after seeing clone style battles… not characters clone matches…fighting style matches..sorry to sound negative just a few things i saw in the game that still hasnt been fixed..even after the champion edition update..
May 15th, 2009 at 12:02 AM
Really, you can bypass the damage reduction by doing that? o_o I’m gonna have to try that out. Thanks for the heads up, Shadowjin!
May 15th, 2009 at 12:18 AM
yeah, i should send you my character combos. my friend made one with Sakura.
Capcom has a link system that locks a character in after a certain amount of jabs are thrown to prevent players from abusing jabs than linking to another jab than super than ultra. like in old Alpha series. but by slowing down your jabs it doesn’t register as a 2nd jab and spacing the distance of the inputs you can by pass it. my friend exploited it with sakura hardcore being able to do..
jab, jab, medium, fierce, hurricane kick, Super………. than ULTRA. he speeds up on the ultra moves and super moves since they require longer presses. and it breaks the link wall they made on characters.. thats why most people do jab , medium, fierce , super or Ultra. it works better with characters that have moves that propel themselves at you the farther they get pushed back.
thats why cross overs are constantly used online because of there 100% damage ratio and it hits twice. when done, they try to cross you over again.
as for the slowing of the inputs.. do them with the mind frame of Tekken (buffing the move).. hopefuly you know what move buffing is since its a Tekken trademark.
May 15th, 2009 at 8:56 AM
yah SF is one of the best fighting games of all time.
May 15th, 2009 at 1:34 PM
Wow. Nice read. I never thought the combo system was so detailed.
5/5
May 15th, 2009 at 3:35 PM
Wow that’s cool.
May 15th, 2009 at 9:37 PM
This is going to make it much better.