Pros go hands-on with Street Fighter V's Kolin
Street Fighter V’s newest DLC character Kolin is forthcoming, but we got our first hands-on preview of her at the Lupe Fiasco/Street Fighter V event last night.
If you’re unfamiliar with Kolin, she’s Street Fighter’s first ice-based character, with the ability to toss ice projectiles and freeze her opponents. She seems to be a technical character with a steeper learning curve, requiring various set ups to get her offense going, similar to Ibuki or FANG.
Before Kolin releases on 2/28. check out how she utilizes the V-System to escape pressure, counter attacks and freeze opponents in place. pic.twitter.com/qfT0RJKNHO
— Street Fighter (@StreetFighter) February 15, 2017
Pros took to Twitter to give those of us who couldn’t make it to San Francisco in person the juicy details about Kolin.
Joe “LI Joe” Ciaramelli seemed most impressed with Kolin’s counter damage and the ability to freeze an opponent’s stun bar with her V-Trigger:
The freeze to the stun bar stays there until you get hit…. yikes
— Joe (@thisislijoe) February 16, 2017
Sway back you can
Do nothing
The punch move
The dash knee
a hard kick
OR jumpAfter the jump you can do the extra ice jump
— Joe (@thisislijoe) February 16, 2017
He also mentioned Kolin having “stubby normals” and a “cheap” EX special move:
Ex ice cube throws 2 out.. cheap
— Joe (@thisislijoe) February 16, 2017
Echo Fox’s newest addition Justin Wong compared Kolin to Ultra Street Fighter IV’s Decapre because of her mobility:
Kolin game will revolve around her command dashes IMO. She can use her cmmddash to get out of block string. EX command dash is strike invul
— Echo Fox Justin Wong (@JWonggg) February 16, 2017
I think @INFILTRATION85 will play Kolin. It reminds me of how he played a mobile Decapre. She does have not amazing normals though
— Echo Fox Justin Wong (@JWonggg) February 16, 2017
He expanded on Kolin’s counter damage, stating that if it whiffs, she is susceptible to Crush Counters, which give an opponent an opportunity for big damage:
Overall V Trigger is scary since she can perform 2 of her V Trigger moves and it's a 2 bar so it can potentially be 4 of those moves
— Echo Fox Justin Wong (@JWonggg) February 16, 2017
Like the other pros, Long “LPN” Nguyen believes her V-Trigger and the ability to freeze an opponent’s stun bar is “really strong:”
First and far most, the character is really fun to use. Too early to really rate her as a lot of things are undiscovered but shes a handful!
— Long Phi Nguyen (@Circa_LPN) February 16, 2017
Kolin's normals seems stubby & her walk speed isn't fast but I think all in all works out well in how she gets her offense going in neutral
— Long Phi Nguyen (@Circa_LPN) February 16, 2017
However, not everyone is impressed with Kolin. Ari “Floe” Weintraub lamented the fact his initial concept of Kolin’s abilities didn’t match up with his first hands-on impression:
I hate Kolins normals and all the ideas i had are completely artificially limited =(
— Ari Weintraub (@Floejisan) February 16, 2017
Its horrible and not cancelable lol https://t.co/LkeeXxo2kM
— Ari Weintraub (@Floejisan) February 16, 2017
It should be emphasized that these are hot takes on a new character these players have had access to for a limited amount of time. Some things could change before her release, especially if Capcom is considering a balance patch in the near future, as they hinted at recently.
You can watch the archive of the event, which includes matches featuring Kolin, on CapcomFighter’s Twitch. Kolin is slated to release on February 28.
Michael Martin may or may not be a Kolin player in SFV soon because Ryu is a bum in Season 2. Follow him on Twitter @Bizarro_Mike.