Stun Gauge



The stun gauge indicates how close the character is to being stunned and can be found at the top of the screen underneath the health bar. The stun gauge builds up when the opponent lands a successful attack or grab. Critical Arts normally do not inflict stun, but Ryu’s Denjin Hadoken is an exception. When the stun gauge becomes full, the character gets stunned and isn’t able to move, leaving them vulnerable for a maximum of 4 seconds.

The stun gauge will be able to fill up again after the character takes damage during the dizzy animation or if they break out of dizzy. If the character blocks an attack, the character will not build up stun, but the stun gauge will not drain either. If the player can avoid taking any damage, the stun gauge will eventually drain at a steady pace.

Just like with health, characters have different amounts of stun, ranging from 950-1075. The amount of stun a character has is relatively close to the amount of health they have, if not the same. This means it takes less effort to stun low-health characters (Cammy, Karin, Akuma) than high-health characters (Abigail, Zangief, Alex)

Tactics
V-Reversals are a good way to remove pressure from the opponent and minimize the risk of being stunned. V-Reversals also remove a fixed amount of stun when activated.

After inflicting stun on the opponent, you can use your time waiting for the opponent to stand up again by whiffing special moves to build meter. This is a tactic commonly used by professional players during tournaments.

Players are able to recover from stun quicker if they mash the attack buttons and move the stick around. It is possible to recover from stun in a just a second by doing this.

Some characters have EX reversals that have long animations when blocked (e.g Sakura's EX Shouoken ) which gives them time to drain their stun gauge. Even if they are punished and stunned after the animation finishes, they typically need to be punished with a lengthy combo which means more damage scaling an less reward. However, this can be countered by interrupting their reversal after blocking the first few hits. Stunning the opponent earlier in a combo leads to a higher damage output during a punish.

When a character is stunned, their damage scaling does not reset, which means that any combo performed after a stun will do less damage than it normally would. Using full combos with EX moves to extend those combos may not be as efficient as resetting the opponent during a combo.

It is generally preferable to inflict stun with a move that deals a lot of damage in a single hit, like a heavy move or a grab. Performing a back throw to stun an opponent is useful as back throws deal a good amount of stun while also reducing the amount of damage scaling present in the follow up combo.

The visibility of the stun gauge can be used advantageously by both the player at risk of being stunned and the player threatening stun. A player may play more aggressively if their opponent is close to being stunned. Forcing a hyper-aggressive approach can lead to overextending and making punishable mistakes. But the same can be said about the player who is at risk of being stunned. Players may panic if they are in danger of being stunned and wake up with a reversal, whether that be an invincible move or a Critical Art. Even though it is an effective way of defusing the opponent’s offense, it leaves the user in a vulnerable state if it is blocked. Knowing this, players can bait out this type of panicked response and punish the opponent accordingly.

Misc.

 * Some moves do not inflict stun immediately, like Karin’s EX Mujin Kyaku which will only inflict stun damage on the last hit.


 * Kolin is the only character capable of suspending an opponent's stun gauge until they are stunned with her V-Trigger I.


 * Since armor break moves can only inflict recoverable or chip damage on block, they do not inflict stun damage.


 * It is possible to "unstun " with a specific bug.