ZANGIEF - NORMAL MOVES - SUPER STREET FIGHTER 4

JAB (LIGHT) PUNCH

       

• His Light Punch is one of his best normal moves; it leads to tick throws and knock down combos for further mind games. His crouching version also has more frame advantage than crouching light kick, making it safe to do against characters with a shoryuken.
  

STRONG (MEDIUM) PUNCH

     

• Standing medium punch from afar is a very powerful poking tool. Use it; abuse it. Crouching medium punch acts as an anti-air and should be used as an experimental anti-air agaisnt normals that beat lariat i.e. Chun Li's neutral jumping roundhouse. Pressure opponents with standing medium punch and then use it as a buffer to extend your light punch SPD range.

FIERCE (HARD) PUNCH

     

• Not much use when done from standing. Crouching hard punch can be used to go under certain moves such as Chun Li or Sagat's standing roundhouse (from certain distances). Jumping fierce has a lot of range, so use it well to get in. Also, because of most players don't like to jump after blocking one hit, use jumping fierce punch and then walk up SPD.

SHORT (LIGHT) KICK

     

• Standing, close light kick is an easy tick throw, but it is not comboable. Far standing light kick acts as a good tool for footsies, and if used correctly, can lead to knock downs via ex banishing flat. Crouching light kick can also be used as a tick throw, but because of the low block stun, a crouching light kick block string must be precise otherwise it will be beaten by a shoryuken if the gap is big enough. Use the space between a crouching light punch and crouching light kick to allow space for an opponent to start his/her prejump frames and punish accordingly. Doing an angled jump and pressing down and light kick makes Zangief drop to the ground with his knees faster. There are two main purposes for this: 1) To land on the ground sooner (he extends his legs after the knees quickly) and 2) It is used as a good tick throw. For advanced Zangief players who are looking to up their game, crouching light kick combos are the next step. Although difficult to consistently get, the advantage of a crouching light kick is that it stops jumpers, deals more damage, and it can lead to tick throws.

FORWARD (MEDIUM) KICK

     

• Close standing medium kick is comboable into ex banishing flat. Far standing medium kick acts as a unique footsie tool for certain low normals (Ryu's crouching medium kick). It is negative on block and hit, so use it sparingly and at appropriate distances. Crouching medium kick shortens the distance a bit and can close the distance enough for a light punch SPD. However, on block, this move is negative and should be used sparingly. Jumping medium kick can be used as a tick if high enough and can be used early to stuff out certain moves, such as Dhalsim's standing roundhouse (the extended version).

ROUNDHOUSE (HARD) KICK

     

• Standing hard kick is a good tool for anti-air purposes and 720 setups. It is also Zangief's normal for karas (kara ex banishing flat). Crouching hard kick is a decent sweep and down forward crouching has improved range but more negative frames on block. Because of the range, use this as punishes or a good footsie tool for knock downs.

COMMAND NORMALS

HEADBUTT

VERTICAL JUMP + MP or HP

• MP version deals 500 stun / 200 damage.
• HP version deals 600 stun / 150 damage.