Remove Claw/Mask

The Remove Claw/Mask is one of Vega's special attacks, introduced in the Street Fighter IV series and in Street Fighter X Tekken.

Description
Executed by performing a Shoryuken motion ? and pressing punch, Vega will remove his claw and throw it to the ground.

The EX Special version is different; it has Vega discard his mask instead of his claw. Unlike most EX Specials in Street Fighter IV, throwing the mask away requires two sections of the Super Gauge instead of just one, similar to Sagat's Angry Charge and Seth's Tanden Engine.

The discarded claw and/or mask always gravitate towards the center of the stage, and both can be recovered if the Vega player simply walks by them.

Tactics
Remove Claw/Mask resets the number of blocked/landed hits it takes to knock off Vega's claw (or mask) back to maximum, allowing him to prolong the duration for which he has it on, and can prevent him from losing it at a crucial moment. It can also serve as a taunt of sorts.

However, tossing the claw also decreases the range of his claw attacks, and decreases their damage by 10%. Tossing the mask, on the other hand, has the effect of increasing the damage inflicted by Vega's attacks by 10%, but lowering his defensive stats by 25% (or 10% from Super Street Fighter IV on). Remove Mask can be used to boost damage before punishing an opponent's whiffed attack.