Street Fighter V

Start learning movesets and combos!

Choose the platform you play on.
See how to read and perform inputs.
Zangief
Street Fighter V
Street Fighter V

Zangief

Zangief is a heavy fighter who prefers close-range battles and uses traditional wrestling techniques. He is from Russia and loves to defend the honor of his country. Zangief is a believer of Muscle Spirit - it’s his way of self-development, so all the other fighting styles are secondary for him.Know more

Get notified of the character’s updates

Win rate

40%(59-89)

Pick rate

1%

Total players

148

Statistics

The chart shows this character's most frequent matchups, and also the most favorable ones based on win rate.

Zangief matchup chart

Win rate

0%100%
CharacterWin rateTotal usage
Rashid43 %21
Akuma26 %19
Urien15 %13
Chun-Li57 %7
Birdie17 %6
Ryu80 %5
Laura80 %5
Gill60 %5
Guile60 %5
Ibuki40 %5

Zangief matchups

Matchups based on at least on 50 games.

Most played vs:

Rashid
Rashid

Wins-losses:

9-12 (43%)

Best vs:

R.Mika
R.Mika

Wins-losses:

2-0 (100%)

Worst vs:

Dhalsim
Dhalsim

Wins-losses:

0-2 (0%)

top Zangief mains

PlayerGamesWinsLossesWin rate

Character abilities

  • Health: 10

  • Power: 10

  • Mobility: 2

  • Techniques: 4

  • Range: 5

News

Biography

Once, the President of the USSR sent Zangief to an important mission - to represent the country in professional fights around the world. Zangief is a hero that proves the power of his nation, and he is ready to beat anyone who doubts it.

The success of that task gives the idea to continue such cooperation, and the government hires Zangief to destroy Shadaloo. The evil organization wants to plant seeds of corruption, so it must be stopped. And who can do this better than Iron Cyclone himself? While fighting enemies, Zangief meets new friends - R. Mika, who admires this amazingly powerful man, and E. Honda, who helps to destroy Shadaloo.

Still, this guy is not a secret agent but a fighter, so quite soon, Zangief returns to his usual training. He enters the second World Warrior Tournament to represent his country but loses. After lots of practice in Siberia (matches against bears), Zangief gets an invitation to join the biggest wrestling organization in the world. After some consideration, he agrees, but again, only to share the glory of Russia around the globe.

Being famous has some downsides though. One of them is the dependence on fans, and Zangief falls into this trap. He wants to please the young audience in fighting, who start doubting his style. To prove them wrong, Zangief destroys all the opponents of the fourth World Warrior Tournament, but those youngsters still admire the famous bad guy Seth.

Decent fans don’t need additional proofs, but they want to learn something from Iron Cyclone. R. Mika asks Zangief to be her mentor, and he agrees. They travel to China and meet Azam and Rashid, so Zangief gives a few practical lessons on how to build up Muscle Spirit. And then these two, a huge muscled guy and tender but strong girl, team up to participate in a new tournament.

First Appearance: Street Fighter II: The World Warrior, March 1991

Rivals:

  • Ken
  • Dhalsim
  • Chun-Li 
  • Birdie (SFA3)
  • Blanka
  • Rashid
  • Balrog
  • Abigail

Allies & Family

  • R. Mika
  • E. Honda
  • Laura
  • Karin
  • Ed