Street Fighter 5: Balrog Guide - Combos and Move List

It sounds quite logical for a fighting game franchise to have a boxer as one of the characters - especially for Street Fighter that in a way represents various martial arts from all over the world. And of course, the series has a boxer. He is muscled, rather greedy, dangerous, and at the same time very interesting for players - welcome Balrog!

In this guide, you can find some info on the background of Street Fighter Balrog, his abilities, moves, and attacks in SF5. Recently, we posted a similar guide on Blanka.

Balrog Street Fighter 5

This guy was added to the series long before the fifth game. First, Balrog was a non-playable character in Street Fighter II, so players fought him as one of the bosses. A bit later, the game got an updated version, Street Fighter II: Champion Edition, and Balrog was added to the playable roster.

There was a chance that Balrog SFV could have another name. In Japan, this character is known as M. Bison (or Mike Bison) because his appearance is vaguely based on the appearance of Mike Tyson. When this idea was presented to Capcom USA, they decided to protect the company from a potential lawsuit and make the boxer Balrog. So, there are three such differences in names:

• Balrog is M. Bison in Japan;
• Vega is Balrog in Japan;
• and M. Bison is Vega in Japan.

In the game story, Balog is a personal guard of M. Bison. Before this, he was a professional boxer, but because of often illegal attacks (such as headbutt), bad injuries of the opponents, and even one death on the boxer ring, Balrog has been banned from pro boxing. He doesn’t care about the evil deeds of Shadaloo - in this organization, Balrog looks only for money and glory.

All the Street Fighter games with Balrog:

• Street Fighter II
• Street Fighter Alpha 3
• Street Fighter IV
• Street Fighter V

SFV Balrog wasn’t available in SF5 after the initial release of the game. The developers added him with the Season 1 as a downloadable character. Of course, Balrog is present in Arcade and Champion Editions.

Destroyer of Rules - Street Fighter 5 Balrog guide

Barog is tall and muscled, and still, he is not as big as Zangief. In the game, he wears his boxing gloves and most of his attacks are based on various boxing techniques.

This guy is not following rules, so you can expect some dirty tricks from him - almost like from Cody, who fights with a knife and a pipe.

Basic attacks of Street Fighter 5 Balrog

• Light Punch is a hit with the right hand (left from the crouching position).
• Medium Punch - Balrog performs a kind of uppercut. It’s a direct hit while crouching.
• Heavy Punch - this attack is very strong. The hit with the right hand covers a big distance. Heavy Punch of Balrog turns into an uppercut in the crouching position.
• Light Kick - as a boxer, Balrog doesn’t use legs in fights. His kicks are almost the same Punches but with the other hands. So his Light Kick is a quick hit with the left hand (and right while crouching). While jumping, Balrog hits with his elbow.
• Medium Kick - it’s a kind of Medium uppercut.
• Heavy Kick - Barog makes a very strong hit, using his elbow. In the Crouching position, the boxer changes the hand and makes a very low hit.

Unique attacks - Balrog moveset

• Hard Smasher - it’s one of the Balrog combos. Press Medium Kick, then Medium Punch, then Medium Punch+Kick, and then any Punch.
• Hard Pressure - this attack of SF5 Balrog is almost identical to the previous one, but in the end, you press any Kick. So, press Medium Kick, then Medium Punch, then Medium Punch+Kick, and then any Punch.
• OTB - press Medium Kick, then Medium Punch, then Medium Punch+Kick. This combination is part of two previous Balrog Street Fighter 5 combos.
• Under Impact - press Light Kick, then Medium Kick, and then Heavy Kick.
• Stomping Combo - press down, then Medium Kick, then again down, and then again Medium Kick.

As you can see, for performing these SFV Balrog combos, you should remember just a few patterns. It’s similar to other SF5 characters (even such as Seth), but the variety of basic combinations is not so big for Balrog.

Special moves - Balrog SFV move list

• Dash Straight - move towards the opponent and press any Punch.
• Charging Buffalo - while performing a special move, press forward and any Punch.
• Dash Grand Blow - move towards the opponent and press any Kick.
• Screw Smash - make a Z-like movement with the stick and press any Kick.
• Bursting Buffalo - while performing a special move, press forward and any Kick.
• Turn Punch - to perform Balrog Turn Punch, hold and release any two buttons of Punch + Kick.
• B3 - press Heavy Punch and Kick when Balrog is near the opponent.

Balrog SF5 V-System

• V-Skill I - KKB. Press Medium Punch and Kick.
• V-Skill I - Buffalo Swing. While performing KKB, press any Punch.
• V-Skill I - Buffalo Pressure. While performing KKB, press any Kick.
• V-Skill II - FFB. Press Medium Punch and Kick.
• V-Trigger I - Crazy Rush. To activate Balrog V Trigger, press Heavy Punch and Kick.
• V-Trigger II - No Mercy. Press Heavy Punch and Kick.
• V-Reversal - Buffalo Headbutt. Press forward and all three punches.

Critical Art of Balrog in Street Fighter V 

• Gigaton Blow - make a quarter-circle movement with the stick and press any Punch.

In comparison to many other Street Fighter characters (even to Ryu), the process of activation attacks and moves of Balrog is not too complicated, so this guy can be recommended even for beginners in this game. But of course, you should really like his personality to make him your primary fighter.

To play Balrog, you need to unlock this SFV character first. Then, you will be able to choose different SF5 costumes and colors for him.

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