Here’s a guide to get you started
[Header image from Dead End Thrills]
I’ll admit, I’m a little late getting this guide out compared to my internal timeline. I have a good reason though, and I think Street Fighter V fans will understand. You see, in between playing and researching Juri, I played the story mode of SFV and never wanted to touch the game ever again. Holy crap, that entire thing was terrible. Seriously, I think Nic was too kind giving it a 4. The whole thing disgusted me and I stopped playing the game for a while.
Anyway, Juri’s in the game now! I was excited to hear that you no longer need to hold buttons to keep stores of her moves, because that was a huge barrier to entry for playing the character. Turns out that while that barrier is definitely lower, she is still one of the hardest characters to be efficient with in the entire SFV roster.
The Basics
Juri is a character all about resource management. I know I’ve said that before about Ibuki, but that was because I hadn’t seen what Juri was all about yet. In addition to the traditional meter management, Juri can store three additional resources using her main special moves. Let’s break those moves down.
- Fuharenkyaku (Quarter-circle forward, Kick)
This is easily Juri’s most important move. Each version of kick will store a separate resource, and they’re indicated on the bottom of the screen, next to your other meters, like this:
They’re displayed in order from left to right: Low Kick, Medium Kick, and High Kick. When stored, executing the same special move with the corresponding kick button will make Juri perform an actual attack. When storing, she’ll just lift her leg into the air for a brief moment. I’ll further break these different resources down because talking about each one is important.
1. Low Kick – Using the stored resource sends out a low projectile that doesn’t go far or do a lot of damage. However! This is an incredibly important resource for Juri to have. It allows you to create space and helps to control the pace of the match. If your opponent has to back up or block, it affords you time to build up her other resources.
2. Medium Kick – Juri leaps forward and performs an arcing kick. This can go over some moves but is also super punishable. Mostly used in combos.
3. Heavy Kick – Two spin-kicks back to back. This move is great to punish whiffed moves from your opponent and to use in combos.
Knowing which resources are available to you and when to charge them is crucial, and it’s what makes her the most complex fighter in the game (so far). For the record, throwing an opponent does not afford you enough time to get a charge in, unfortunately.
- Ryondatsu (Quarter-circle back, Kick)
This move is great at punishing fireballs. It’s a guilty pleasure of mine, for sure. In fact, if I can afford it, I like to jump over the fireball with this move and cancel into her Critical Art for a simple-yet-effective combo. Hell, the Heavy Kick version almost goes across the screen, making throwing fireballs incredibly unsafe against a Juri with resources. The EX version has projectile immunity.
- Tesenrin (Dragon-punch motion, Kick)
Probably better known as her “Pinwheel,” this can be a good anti-air when using the Medium Kick version. The Light Kick version can be cancelled into her Critical Art, but I had to spend a decent amount of time in the lab to get used to that, since it’s a DP motion followed by two back quarter-circles (I am pretty bad at execution).
- Kasatsushu aka Juri’s V-SKill (Medium Punch + Medium Kick)
Another resource to store! Holding the inputs will put Juri into a crouching stance while she charges this move up. You’ll know when it’s fully charged because a puff of smoke will come out like she just laid a wicked fart. You can store it by dashing at any time. You can also cancel the move itself by tapping the inputs again. Fully charged, this move will become projectile invincible and go across the screen. Again, don’t throw fireballs against a Juri with resources.
- Feng Shui Engine Alpha aka Juri’s V-Trigger wtf is that name (HP + HK)
Her V-Trigger changes a lot about Juri, most notably the ability to chain her normals together from low to high. That means that you can input LP->MP->HP and it will act like a Target Combo, while consuming some of her V meter. This also works in the air and while crouching. There are a ton more changes that happen too, perhaps the most important of which is that you no longer need stores to use your Fuharenkyakus. Using one will partially deplete the V meter, so use them wisely! From what I’ve read, it’s best not to go nuts on unleashing Fuharenkyakus while in V-Trigger, since it depletes the bar so much.
Combos and Anti-Airs
From my experience, Juri’s trial combos aren’t very useful outside of trial mode. Capcom has been very hit and miss with each character’s trial mode, and Juri definitely feels like a miss. She is also one of the most technical characters on the roster because of just how particular everything will be.
To play Juri effectively, you’ll need to understand a lot of what makes fighting games complex. Specific matchups, spacing, resource management, etc. etc. You’ll need to know that this combo will not work without these resources available or on those characters. This is the main reason why I plan on sticking to the more simple characters and leaving Juri to the professionals.
I’ll break down her combos into two categories. The first I call “Oh god I have no idea what resources I have but I need to combo.” It’s pretty self-explanatory, I think. So many of these combos depend on whether or not you have specific resources, and if you’re like me, sometimes you just have no real idea of what charges you do or don’t have in the heat of the moment. The second category is the “I got this” category, where you are in control and experiencing some nirvana while playing, knowing exactly what you have at your disposal.
‘Oh god I have no idea what resources I have’ combos
- Light Punch, Light Kick, Heavy Kick Tesenrin
Both of the normals here can also be performed crouching. This is a great combo that comes out pretty quick and most importantly for this category, requires literally no resources. I find that the spacing on connecting the HK Tesenrin can be a bit funky, so it’s generally safer to end with the Light Kick version instead.
- Medium Punch, Back or Forward + Medium Punch, Medium Kick Tesenrin
Tesenrin is a good combo-ender when you’ve lost track of your resources or are panicking. The MK and HK version create some decent space between you and the opponent. The LK version links with a lot of things but be aware of the lack of space created when ending with it. It can be used to keep up pressure at times.
- Crouching Heavy Punch, Heavy Kick Ryondatku
Simple, yet effective. Also creates some space. You can tweak this one a bit and do cHP, LK, LK Tesenrin if you’re feeling frisky.
‘I got this’ combos
- Crouching Medium Kick, Heavy Kick Fuharenkyaku, Medium Kick Fuharenkyaku
See that last part? Commit it to memory because you can link many things into it. This was my go-to combo when I knew I had these two resources stocked. Crouching Medium Punch also works as a good starter here since it comes out a little faster, though you sacrifice some reach.
- Jumping Medium Kick, Crouching Heavy Punch, Medium Kick Fuharenkyaku, Crouching Medium Punch, Heavy Kick Fuharenkyaku
This is one of my favorite combos, though it’s tough to pull out when I’m panicking in a match. But just knowing it helped my game a lot because I would take pieces of it and apply them to my situations at times. This is a great combo to use if the enemy is stunned.
- Anti-Airs
As mentioned above, Medium Tesenrin is a good option for incoming opponents. Her Critical Art is also useful as an anti-air, though there are plenty of better uses for it.
Videos
Definitely one of the better-produced videos out there. Shows combos in slow motion before displaying them in real-time, allowing us slow learners to see (and read) the combo twice. A lot of the combos I used were from this video, since they are quite practical.
Bafael, if you’re reading this (you’re not), please just put a little more effort into editing these videos. The plain white text on a black background is fine, but display the combos on screen that you’re using! I get it, it shows inputs on the left, but having to see the combo, see the inputs, and commit them to memory takes multiple repeats, which sucks.
Anyway, this is video goes into some more complex stuff like V-Skill combos (of which I know none). Bafael always puts out great stuff, and this is no exception. I just wish it were easier to comprehend.
I particularly enjoyed Max’s “Week Of!” for Juri, since it really felt like I was learning with him. Sometimes he’s not as vocal with his thoughts and it makes for less of a learning experience, but that is not the case here. Great series from a great member of the community.
Speaking of great members of the community, here’s VesperArcade’s video. This particular video focuses on Juri’s “Bread and Butter” (BnB) combos, but the channel has other videos like this one on V-Trigger combos. Personally, I like that the videos are split up instead of all lumped into one long video. This is probably the most useful and best-edited video here; Vesper’s stuff is always top notch.
[This guide is based on a Season Pass code provided by the publisher.]
