There’s a lot of misconceptions about Street Fighter V’s Zeku running rampant on the internet.

That tends to happen to the less popular cast members in fighting games, and the stance-changing ninja’s two-in-one character complexity coupled with a low player base equals a community largely ignorant about the particulars. And despite months of various Zeku players of different skill levels doing well in both tournaments and online, it took recent top placements for people to start taking him seriously.

I’ve asked NASR|Big Bird and NASR|Angry Bird, two of the strongest and most knowledgeable Zeku players, to clear the air on the more common queries.

Ryan “Saint Cola” Collins: How strong is Zeku in relation to the rest of the cast, and how difficult is it for him to be competitively consistent?

NASR|Angry Bird: I think Zeku is top 12 in this version of the game and that’s my personal opinion. The character has all the tools that a character needs: a 3-frame button, a fast dash, good jump-in buttons, hit confirms, Old Zeku DP (Dragon Punch), corner pressure, good neutral, insane normals, and many more.

I would like to see more players using this character. Zeku can be consistent but he struggles against matchups where the player doesn’t know have experience, especially against top tiers.

NASR|Big Bird: I think Zeku is pretty strong, but I feel like he has the same problem as Ken.. Which is, he needs everything to go right for him. Runs unchecked, walk-in buttons not checked, etc. He doesn’t have a way of staying in without taking a risk. Consistently relying on conditioning people is tough in this game, so some days it’ll work out, others won’t.

However, ever since they buffed his back throw, he became really scary up close. For example, back throw, slide V-Trigger confirm, another back throw, you’re looking at 320 damage minus the grey health.

Overall, he’s strong but lacks in a few areas which prevents him from being independent.

R:What are Zeku’s best and worst matchups?

AB: I think Zeku’s best matchups, from matches that I have tried against top players, are Urien, Rashid, and Abigail. His worst matchups are Menat and Dhalsim.

But I think all of these are winnable matches — not that bad though, it’s all 5.5.

BB: I don’t know a lot about his matchups, but I personally felt that Bison, Menat, Dhalsim and Fang are hard for him. Every other matchup seems doable for him.

R: Is the Zeku VS Cammy truly favorable for Zeku?

AB: I don’t think Zeku beats Cammy, everyone is saying this because all the Cammy players don’t have experience against Zeku, that’s why. I think that the matchup is even, and more likely to be in Cammy’s favor.

BB: I don’t think he beats Cammy, I feel like it’s 5–5 but if I had to give someone the edge, it’d have to be Cammy. Her air approach is very hard for Young Zeku to deal with, then you switch to Old Zeku and you get bodied in the ground. Young Zeku covers the ground, Old Zeku covers the air, so a Cammy that knows how to play this match up well would give Zeku trouble and be a pain.

R: What are your expectations for Season 4 in terms of adjustments Capcom might give Zeku (character specific or systemic changes in general) or buffs?

AB: 1. I want Zeku to have two usages for V- Trigger 1 in Season 4.

2. I want the Young Zeku form to have a consistent anti-air because his Light Shoulder (Hozanto) has a lot of push forward.

3. I want Old Zeku to have faster walk speed so I can shimmy with him [laughs].

4. Old Zeku stand medium kick to be plus 3 on block.

BB: I don’t know what to expect from Capcom to be honest regarding buffs and nerfs, but I’d like to see LP Hozanto staying the same it is, but anti-airing better… Sometimes, it whiffs because he moves forward and you’re in a punishable state which sucks. Young Zeku feels like an overall complete character minus the anti-air and a threatening low without V-Trigger, I don’t think he should be buffed.

However, for Old Zeku, I’ve been asking for this buff for a while — if they gave him standing light kick > forward slash (Koku) without a counterhit confirm, it would help him massively. Maybe some hitbox adjustments on crouching medium kick, too!

R: Finally, who is the best Zeku player?

AB: Everyone is having different opinions about who the best Zeku is, but I actually don’t want to say who’s the best with the character because there are a lot of strong players that use him.

It’s correct that I’m the player who achieved something with him but still there are players that I believe if they traveled they would do something as well.

For me I think the best Zeku players are:

(Me and Nox) and then, after that, I can say Unsung from Japan.

BB: I personally played a lot of Zekus, but I feel like Angry Bird has been the toughest one for me to deal with. No bias here obviously, just 100% truth.