M. Bison

M. Bison is a bully style character with oppressive special moves that can dominate the neutral, and powerful normals that make opponents think twice about contesting. He benefits from the system mechanics of SF6 more than most other characters - his iconic Double Knee Press (or Scissor Kick) is no longer a charge motion, and its strong frame data makes it a safe tool to pester opponents with when properly spaced. Drive Rush allows him to turn many of his errant hits into devastating combos, and OD Psycho Crusher is a fantastic anti-fireball tool that can beat many projectiles on reaction. His Hell Attack target combo (j.MP~j.MP) can punish poor jumps and leads to very high juggle damage on a successful callout.

Once he's in, Bison has excellent pressure normals such as 5HP or 4HK that let him maintain advantage and whittle down the opponent's Drive Gauge until they crack. A key skill for playing Bison is gauging your opponent's temperament; waiting for the moment they run out of patience, then swatting them down for daring to press a button.

While many of these strengths existed in previous iterations of the character, SF6 Bison has plenty of unique tools that bring him to another level. 6HP is an overhead that's on the slow side, but can easily catch opponents who've been conditioned to guard his plus-on-block normals. It even leads into a full combo when used from Drive Rush, giving Bison another layer of mixup beyond his usual repertoire.

Last but certainly not least is his new special, Backfist Combo, which implements the Psycho Mine from his SFV V-Trigger 2 into his moveset. Finishing combos with this attack leaves your opponent in a very dangerous position, as the mine explosion can either make certain moves safe (such as Psycho Crusher) or dramatically increase the combo damage off his more common starters. If his opponent makes the wrong guess, optimised Bison combos can absolutely shred their lifebar in one violent swing.

Bison's main weakness is that, like most dictators, he is much weaker when he isn't in control. He lacks an invincible OD reversal, and while his supers have some invulnerability a savvy opponent can thwart your escape with a meaty jab. If you find yourself on the back foot as Bison, you'll have to rely on patient defense and the system mechanics until you find another opening to exert your dominance.

If you want to control the pace of a match and make your opponent second guess every decision they make, give in to the Psycho Power and let M. Bison take the reins.