Rose using Soul Spiral to break through T. Hawk's red focus attack.
The Armor Break is a mechanic introduced in the Street Fighter IV series.
Description[]
Each character in the games has at least one attack (such as Guile's Flash Kick or M. Bison's Psycho Crusher) with which they can bypass a character's Super Armor; each character will also have an Armor Breaking Ultra Combo as well. When a character with Super Armor is struck by an armor-breaking attack, there is a sound and a visual effect of glass shattering, while the attack itself proceeds as normal.
The blue "glass shattered" effect indicates an armor break in SFIV. (shown here against Cammy)
Breaking an opponent's armor does more damage and stun than the attack would normally deal and also causes knockback. This is not the same as depleting the opponent's armor (by hitting them with a non armor-breaking attack) as it lacks the damage and stun bonus of an armor break (the same is true for Throws and Command Grabs). Moves with armor breaking properties are also immune to Counter Attacks.
To discourage players from charging a Focus Attack during their opponent's Wake Up, all Special Attacks are given armor breaking properties when used immediately after Wake Up.
Damage Scaling[]
The general rule is that damage scaling begins with the attack that broke the armor. For example if Ibuki breaks Ken's focus attack with her backhand punch the first hit will not count towards damage scaling and instead give "grey damage" which is recoverable. The followup 2nd hit will break the armor and then Damage Scaling will begin to take effect. If an attack has 2 points of armor then two hits previously before breaking the armor will not scale down damage. For example if Ibuki hits an opponent with her two hit Target Combo 1 and then breaks her opponent's armor with a followup light punch then damage scaling will begin at the light punch that broke the armor. This can make depending on armor too much dangerous as when armor is broken all recoverable health is lost.
Gallery[]
