Street Fighter V, a title well synonymous with fighting game players, had its Fall Update 2021 stream today. The primary focus regarding this broadcast is to break down the brand-new character coming very soon, Luke. For those that aren’t aware, Luke is the fifth and final DLC character of Season 5 for Street Fighter V. Initially, he had an announcement trailer released all the way back at the beginning of August. Since then, there was radio silence.
That is, until about a week and a half ago, where Capcom had revealed that Luke would be getting the same treatment his Season 5 peers were getting; a live stream that breaks down all of his character mechanics, special moves, how he works in the V-System, and release date. So let’s discuss what we know about Luke and his unique gameplan. If you want a visual representation of everything here, you can watch a replay of the stream below.
On The Offensive
Immediately, the live stream demonstrates that one of Luke’s strongest attributes revolves around how easy it is for him to close distance. all of his standing punch normals move him forward, and his kicks have far range. He also has access to multiple target combos off of these advancing normals, allowing him to really convert damage.
One of Luke’s unique mechanics lies in his special moves. He has access to a relatively standard set of tools, such as a projectile, known as Sand Blaster, and an invincible reversal in Rising Rocket.
More specifically, his mechanic comes in with Flash Knuckle, as all versions have their properties change based upon if he’s held the button or not. Light allows for the use of an enhanced launcher, Medium causes a wall bounce for further combos, and Heavy is a hard knockdown, while also being plus on block.
Luke’s V-Skills
Luke’s V-Skills are where things start to take a turn for the very unique. His V-Skill I, Hard Shot, enhances his Flash Knuckle, allowing you to use the charged versions without holding the button. It also allows access to a third version of each Flash Knuckle, doing even more damage.
His V-Skill II is known as Suppressor, and arms Luke with an attack that dodges and retaliates, akin to a counter. The major draw is that it has a counter window versus throws rather than strikes. Upon detecting a throw within its counter window, Luke does an enhanced version, allowing for more follow-ups.
V-Triggers and Mechanical Differences
Both of Luke’s V-Triggers have probably the most unique way of timer management thus far, to preface this. Regardless of the V-Trigger that he picks, the timer will gradually tick up instead of down. It will also refill as he does damage to you. However, it will drain upon taking damage or using each Trigger’s respective trait.
That said, let’s talk V-Trigger I. Known as Fully Armed, it grants him access to two new projectiles, Rock Smasher and Thermobaric Thrash. These special moves are stronger versions of his projectiles, traveling full screen much faster, and Thermobaric Thrash is a multi-hitting version of Rock Smasher.
V-Trigger II, Vanguard, allows him to chain Flash Knuckle into a different strength of the same move, allowing him to get unique combos specific to this trigger. Combined with his V-Skill II, Luke can get lots of damage off of any given touch.
Release and Wrapping Up
Finishing up the Luke breakdown, Capcom revealed Luke’s release date for PS4 and Steam players. Luke’s update for the game will be released on November 29th, six days from now. There won’t be any balance changes aside from adding him to the game.
Overall, from the breakdown offered, Luke looks to be a rather strong character to be added to the world of Street Fighter V. Capcom has also gone ahead and said that he’ll be important to “the next Street Fighter project”. This might be them implying that, on the next main-series entry, Luke is probably going to be a primary candidate for the main roster.
Street Fighter V is available now on PlayStation 4 and PC via Steam.
What did you think about the Street Fighter V Luke breakdown? Are you looking to try him out on November 29th? Do you plan to get Street Fighter V during the online sale? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.
