How To Defeat Akuma in Street Fighter 6's Battle Hub
Akuma's release and the new battle update in Street Fighter 6 mean's that you've probably hopped back into the game. If you've gone to the Battle Hub, then you were greeted by a giant towering Akuma hologram that's taken over the space. This is part of a brand new event called "Giant Attack" and it's an interactive way to earn Fight Money to purchase goodies in SF6's shop. So here's how to take down Akuma and win some bread for your disposal. The event runs through May 31st so you'll have to move fast.
What Is Giant Attack?
The Giant Attack event is a limited-run interactive mini-game that sees players in the battle hub take on Shin Akuma. For those not in the know, Shin Akuma is a souped-up, hyper strong version of the character that's been a secret boss in the SF series going as far back as Alpha 2. In this game, he's just as monstrous as his previous incarnations. To progress through the Giant Attack event, you'll have to take on Shin Akuma, which is no easy feat.
The general loop of Giant Attack is you'll take on Shin Akuma in the Battle Hub. If you challenge him at a single arcade machine, you'll use your ranked character. However, if you go to the center of the hub you can use your avatar fighter to take him on. If you're good enough to beat Shin Akuma, you'll be awarded something called "Attack Points". These are what you actually use to assault the giant hologram. Once out of the battle, if you hold circle on the PS5 controller or B on Xbox, you'll be able to throw a Hadouken at holo-Akuma and get those precious points to exchange for fight money. But even that's not the most effective use of those points.
When you first zone into the Hub, you'll notice that there's a massive glowing dome right at the entrance. This is the group attack zone. After you obtain your points, you'll actually want to utilize this area more than attacking holo-Akuma solo. If you activate the group zone with your points, a 30 second alert will pop in the entire Hub. At this moment, anyone with Attack Points can join you in a pseudo-Spirit Bomb attack that will take down chunks of Akuma's health. And since you get bonus points for depleting the hologram's life completely, this is by far the most effective way.
How Do I Defeat Shin Akuma?
But all of the previous is predicated on being able to beat the insane fighter that is Shin Akuma. If you aren't familiar with SNK Boss Syndrome, this is the Capcom verison. Shin Akuma is a broken, unfair, totally dominant CPU character that's really tough to fight. So if you aren't on your A game he WILL overwhelm and frustrate you. So if you're screaming "that's busted" or "how did he do that?!" or "that's so cheap/unfair/impossible!" you're right. He's supposed to be.
Shin Akuma differs from the normal one in a number of ways. He can throw two air fireballs at once, he has access to two brand new super moves (one of which can hit you from literally anywhere on the screen, mind you) and he's faster than the entire cast. Couple this with the fact that he has frame advantage on nearly every normal and it seems impossible to beat him. But it's not.
Shin Akuma is absurdly aggressive, so he'll constantly throw out unsafe attacks. He'll also throw out moves that can easily get stuffed by quick attacks. And because his air fireball still keeps him in the air longer than a jump, a good EX anti-air can stuff his offense as well. And just like normal Akuma, this version can't really take a hit. So with a couple of well executed combos, you can chunk his health away with ease. But generally, this is still hard to do with normal characters. This is where the folks who dropped time into World Tour will have an advantage.
Avatar characters are just as broken as Shin Akuma minus the crazy frame data and walk speed. With your avatar you can create you can load up your fighter with moves specifically made to stuff Shin Akuma. Moves like Guile's Somersault Kick and virtually anyone's Shoryuken can stop his aerial offense. Manon's or Zangief's command grabs will decimate Shin Akuma's low health and Marisa's normals can help stuff Akuma's advantages.
Giant Attack Rewards
After doing all this and taking down SF6's first superboss, you'll get points to exchange for Fight Money. There's some emotes and titles you can also win, but the FM is the real prize here. Mostly, because of the new character BGM settings, you can use Fight Money to purchase old Street Fighter OSTs for use in the game. But you can also use, that precious FM for whatever cosmetics or gear you'd like.
NORRIS HOWARD