Introduction
In SFD, you will hit an incredibly long waiting period once you get your units to level 239. It will require 200,000 breakstones to get past this roadblock before you can get them any higher in levels.
For some casual F2P players, this can take more than a month if you are not actively buying breakstones daily. So if you are stuck in breakstone hell, here is what you need to do:
- Re-roll bounties for 500 breakstone missions (best done on 200% bonus week)
- Buy from general shop daily (refresh 4 times at least for 2k per day)
- Make sure to do Shadaloo City every other day
- Climb as high in the faction towers for bonus breakstones
- Buy all breakstones from events (Tarot, special events etc.)
By doing this, it will reduce the time to get there. Once you get all units to 240, you will then be given the option to unlock the limit break that levels all units together. All your breakstones will be refunded and you will need experience and cash to level, with breakstones required to limit break for each level.
This is where the fun begins. At this point of the game, most casual F2P players will have at least 1 main DPS, with Fashion Blanka unlocked. Depending on who your key units are, you will need to start looking to build 3 solid teams over time. Ideally, you want a full SSS+ team for all 3 elements to climb the faction tower. This also benefits you greatly when you unlock hard mode for Shadaloo city after beating story 30-20, where you can only use specific elements for that week, alongside some penalties against your team.
While you will not need 2 teams until you are in chapter 36-24, you do need 3 solid teams for defense in PvP tournament if you want to compete in the higher ranks.
Read also: Street Fighter Assist Guide for F2P Players
Team Building
Once you get your main team to SSS and upgraded their equipment and fighting spirit, you will want to start paying attention to building your second team. For example, here is my main team that was built up over time (with steps of honor rewards):
- Viper (DPS)
- Street Poison (Support)
- M. Bison (Tank, Secondary DPS)
- Beast Zangief (Stun)
- Chun Li (Crit Assist)
- Juri (Speed Assist)
Some people will be using Guile as their main DPS while waiting for Fashion Blanka to unlock. If you used units like Cammy or Poison as your main DPS, it is not too bad actually. It is just that you progress a bit slower in story mode.
It is also key to start saving gems and pull enough M. Bison copies from Divination to get him to SSS to unlock his cars if you have not already. You need a secondary DPS to help lighten the main DPS’s job to get pass tougher stages. This will start to matter as you approach chapter 26+ and higher.
As for who to focus on, here are some suggestions. I will separate them into elemental factions.
Fashion Blanka
He is the only legendary that you want to focus on as F2P because he will eventually be your best AoE Attacker outside of Guile and Viper. His super hits everyone (as long as they are not wayyy out of range). His C1 can target the backline, but usually this slot is reserved for supports like Street Poison, Elena or Summer Yang.
His C2 also has a very wide AoE range, much better than Viper’s C2 for sure. His fighting spirit provides offensive/defensive buffs for the team once you can get him to +30.
When it comes to PvP (all modes), he does very well compared to Guile thanks to his tankiness and also having dodge on his gear as an agility type. As a F2P player, you will want him as your main PvP attacker aside from M. Bison. Guile and C. Viper can be on your second or third team AoE DPS.
His biggest downside is he is not usable in faction towers and it may slow down your progress there should you focus on him.
Wind
The wind units in my opinion are the best to build early and they make the game a lot easier. So it is a no brainer to focus on this faction first and move on to the others.
Street Poison
Probably the best unit to upgrade for story mode progression. Her C1 is the most valuable asset to being able to allow your team to do the additional damage required to get pass tougher stages. The good thing is, she doesn’t need to be upgraded much early on, until maybe you are in chapter 20+. She can also act as an interrupt alternative aside from B.Zang on the enemy front line.
While she can do some damage, she is primarily there for support and the you only really need to get her to SS and get her fighting spirit to +20 for some nice bonus damage.
If you really want to improve your boss damage though, getting her fighting spirit +30 will greatly improve the damage output of your team. Her cars are only useful if you want to utilize her damage, which is usually not the case for most teams.
Guile
Guile is one of the best DPS units available for F2p, especially if you are able to get 6/6 cars and fighting spirit +30. Both of these will sky rocket his damage as it eliminates his need to consume saber stacks while increasing his max stack count. Since each count ignores defense, he can ignore up to 35% of the enemy’s defense on top of stacking armor break on them.
This is incredibly important in the latter stages, especially past chapter 30+, where you will always be fighting teams with more than twice your combat power.
However, not everyone can get 6/6 cars without some garage luck, so it is not an option for everyone. Plus, Guile is weak in PvP due to M. Bison always being present. However, he does well against Zangief teams, which C. Viper struggles with.
Cammy
Cammy is the best boss killer thanks to her insane C3 damage and her great ability to stack many armor break on the enemy. However, this comes at a downside later on as her skill animations are often longer due to triggering her passive, making her easy to kill by the opponent team. Due to this factor, she is often only used for boss related events rather than in story mode.
Her assist is top tier though, which allows her to armor break an enemy whenever the assisted fighter uses a trigger skills. M. Bison and Beast Zangief’s passive are good examples as they will trigger and make her come out and attack.
Her 6/6 car will greatly improve her overall boss damage for F2P players. While she may not out damage her fashion version (Trendy Cammy), she is still an overall good pick.
Chun Li
Chun Li does very well early game, but her damage falls off a bit compared to her peers when facing enemies with MUCH higher combat power. However, due to her kit being good at quickly gaining combo gauge, she is a valuable asset in allowing your team to get more combo damage.
Her fighting spirit at +20 will give your team 50 speed and increased combo gauge gained for 15 seconds should you use her C3. This is well suited for longer battles and you will end up doing more damage overall.
Abel
Abel is a very good secondary tank or assist unit once you are able to get him to at least SS. His assist is very useful in keeping your unit alive against silly attacks like Adon or Dudley counters, Mad Ryu passive or anything that does heavy hit in 1 shot. In tough battles where the enemies are twice your combat power or more, it is a matter of life and death. Those additional shield blocks provided from him will ensure your DPS survives.
Once you are able to get 6/6 cars, putting him in your main/secondary team or alternate PvP teams will help keep your allies survive longer as they can take more hits. However, this only works if the enemy team has many attacks that only has a hit or two. For example, his shields are not as effective against units with multi hits, such as F Blanka.
Thunder
The thunder faction is probably the slowest of the 3 factions as the fastest unit here is Blanka at 112. That means if you do not put Fast Chant, you can get outsped easily.
Mad Ryu
This guy needs no introduction as he is mostly built thanks to the ease of getting him to SSS. You are going to get 3 copies of him from completing Trial Grounds and Wonderland Training.
He does great single target damage at the cost of losing health. His passive at 121 is where he starts to snowball if he can get a kill. However, he also needs a little bit of protection as he can easily get sniped if he is too low on health. Elena is the best pairing for him to utilize his passive.
He does decent against bosses and can be used as a great assist unit for additional attack bonus when below 50% HP. That means M. Bison will benefit greatly from being his assist unit.
I am primarily using him in the Thunder Towers over Poison.
E Honda
This guy becomes a beast once you get his fighting spirit to +30 with Elena or Rose in the team. He won’t die easily with both of these units present in the team. His C3 or 6/6 car bullet wall can also come in clutch against units like Combat Guile, Poison or any long range projectiles, which completely negates the incoming damage. His assist also soaks up some damage if you need more damage reduction.
This makes him a great tank and annoying to deal with in PvP as there is a lack of units that punish healing teams. He is best paired with Elena, Rose and 1 DPS unit. He becomes even god like if you have the Hugo and Sakura’s Ex-Move. If the enemy doesn’t have enough DPS to kill any of your units in 2 combo strings, you can survive most onslaughts.
Zangief
He is often overlooked early game, but he becomes a good PvP unit that can deal with elemental heavy teams thanks to his passive. In PvP, you will be dealing with C. Viper and F Blanka teams often. Just by having him on the battlefield will reduce all elemental damage done to him and his allies.
His 6/6 car passive allows him to negate enemy passive, which means your team can kill bison once he is able to land the C2 on M. Bison. He is still weak against physical damage though, so Guile will decimate him pretty easily.
Elena
Elena used to be the favorite during game launch, but has since lost the spot the Street Poison. While she may not be the top choice, she is still useful in thunder faction tower and also in teams with E. Honda. In PvP, her regen heals are clutch at keeping the team alive.
One of the drawbacks of her is that her fighting spirit +30 makes her come out at times where she will get attacked and end up dying. So it is better to keep her at +20.
Blanka
Blanka is the fastest unit in the Thunder faction at the time of writing (July 2023). You will want him on the team to get first attack advantage. Aside from that, he has a passive interrupt that can potentially stop the enemy’s combo if they hit him. It has some RNG involved but can come in clutch
Poison
As one of the starters alongside Cammy and C. Viper, she is the weakest of the 3 in my opinion. While she has a very versatile kit, which can shock enemies and silence them, it is a bit random and can come in clutch at times to interrupt enemies. However, it is not as consistent as B Zang when it comes to doing that.
Her C3 is also single target, which puts a minor con as the later stages (30+) require high AoE damage C3 like C. Viper or Guile to deal with enemies much stronger than you.
Combat Guile
Combat Guile is actually a decent AoE attacker, except that he also suffers from the same con as Poison, where his C3 is single target. With Guile and C. Viper having such a good AoE C3, Combat Guile can’t output the same damage as them.
However, he is still a good option for thunder faction tower and for secondary team in PvP purposes.
Flame
The flame faction also suffers from the lack of speed units except for Decapre. With the emergence of Summer Yang, climbing the flame tower got a bit better.
Summer Yang
Summer Yang is now the premium healer and shielder for not just the flame faction, but also for general PvE and PvP purposes. Since he can heal and provide shields, he offers a bit more than Elena other than pure healing. However, Elena does give the highest attacker a bit more stats.
Since Summer Yang is tankier, he can be used as the front line in non Bison teams and survive much longer, especially if you get his fighting spirit to +30. As an assist, he can also provide shielding and damage reduction for the assisted fighter.
His 6/6 car can also deal true damage back to the attacker, which is useful in longer battles.
Dudley
Dudley is often overlooked since his passive requires a good dodge rate for him to be effective. This means you need to invest SS gear to +2 in order for him to have a high dodge rate. Due to this, he is a late game unit once you can pour resources to him. His counter punches hit hard when it happens and can come in clutch in both PvE and PvP.
He is not much of a story mode carry but more of a bruiser type unit that is good for 1v1 situations. His assist is a bit RNG but can provide bonus attack for the fighter if he/she is able to dodge when casting their combo.
I currently use him in my flame faction tower and he can deal some good damage when he starts dodging.
Decapre
Decapre has always done pretty low damage if the enemy unit is at full health. Her potential only kicks in when enemies start to go below 50% HP. This is where her damage will start to sky rocket. She is more of clean up character. However, do not overlook her super combo as it does pretty good single target damage.
You will need her on the lineup in the flame faction tower to always go first (with fast enchant). Having got her to SSS and decent gear, she performs quite well there. As for PvP, she would be there for contesting the first turn in your second or third team in Super Showdown.
Dhalsim
Dhalsim is also a decent DPS that can deal big damage with his C3. The only problem is he has a terrible C1 that wastes time and if one of your units die during the battle, he will be channeling while doing absolutely nothing. The good thing is that his C3 more than makes up for that silly C1. As long as he stays alive, his damage will sky rocket with more penance stacks and decimating any team in 1 or 2 rounds of C3.
He does have decent dodge though, so sometimes he can avoid certain death. He also does really well in flame teams that include F. Blanka, Flame Chun Li, be it being the assister or staying on the main team.
If you have already built C. Viper, Dhalsim will not be necessary, but he can be the luxury unit as the 4th AoE DPS.
Hugo
The only viable tank in the flame faction. With Summer Yang, his potato stacks has more healing potency. His S2 actually throws the front unit briefly into the back, allowing units like Guile or C. Viper to hit their C3 on everyone.
Aside from that, he is quite average but is still worth building for the flame faction tower.
Fei Long
Fei Long is best used for his assist, which provides more flame damage to untis like Dhalsim, F. Blanka, Flame Chun Li, C. Viper and so on. His C1 can increase flame damage on a single target, which comes in handy against bosses. He is best used in secondary teams alongside flame DPS.
Divination Summons
Aside from Bison, I have worked on Rose to SSS as my second divination. So far, she has done really well in healing and defensive teams, allowing my team to survive while providing some nice damage buffs from her cards as well. Since I cannot give any advice other infernal and master SSS units here, I will have to refer you to Payneblade’s recommendations.
According to Payne, the top units to focus on are:
- Sagat – Secondary Tank/Bruiser like M. Bison for your second team
- Trendy Cammy – Strong single target DPS (better than Vega)
- Vega – Single target DPS and speed leader
- Rose (Still good as a support in the secondary team)
Team Suggestions
With that being said, here are some example teams that you can strive to build around for more options based on what you need in the game. The idea is that each team will be able to cover all the things required for a well rounded team:
- 1 Solid DPS (AoE and some Single Target)
- 1 Solid Support
- 1 Secondary DPS
- 1 Tank or Bruiser
Here are some examples of my defense teams for Super Showdown round 64:
My bracket has some strong players who spent money compared to my steps of honor account, so I usually lose on round 32. But it is nice to get 5 special summon tickets and some faith gems every 2 weeks.
Fighting Spirit +30 Priority List
Once you get your fighting spirit to +20 for any unit, the road to +30 is actually going to be a struggle because the resources are scarce. You can get them from the following areas:
- General Shop for 3k gems (worth it in my opinion)
- Shadaloo Shop
- Honor Shop (not recommended)
- Grants
- Battle Royale Top 10 Prize
- Special Events
- Guild Effigy event (highly recommended)
On average, you can expect to +30 one unit of your choice after 1 month give or take.
Your first unit to prioritize is going to be M. Bison 100% due to his true damage bonus for all teammates. So units that don’t usually do much damage such as B Zang or Street Poison can also contribute to the overall DPS of the team. That makes it super useful and can slot into pretty much any team.
As for the rest, I highly recommend this:
- C. Viper, Guile or F Blanka (whoever is your main AoE DPS)
- Street Poison (Mainly for boss events)
- Cammy (also for boss events)
Being able to +30 all of your main DPS will help in mostly PvP. However, if you do not care about PvP as much, then Street Poison or Cammy will be higher priority.
After that point, you are pretty much in late game and you will plan accordingly to what you want.
Car Priority
For cars, the first one to go for is going to be Beast Zangief. Having 20% interruption chance makes your runs much easier and can stun 3 times in a row. I highly recommend this.
As for the rest, you can go for some units you like:
- M. Bison
- C. Viper
- Guile
- F Blanka
- Cammy
- Street Poison
- Abel
- Chun Li
Resources to Focus On
General Shop
Things to buy here will depend on your needs. Personally, I go for the following:
- Car tokens (1125k cash and 360 gems)
- Occasional grey or yellow token (14400k)
- Special Summon Ticket (only if you want SSS Akuma, Evil Ryu etc.)
Guild Shop
Initially, only buy legendary agility gear for F. Blanka. After getting all 4 pieces, then you can either buy faction based gear for your other units or T2 engravings if you need it badly.
Dismissal Shop
I only buy blue fragments. You get so many purple ones over time that it is not really necessary to buy it once you are at late game.
City Shop
I only buy Boost Stone Kit first (unlocks after chapter 28 I think) and blue fragments. For those that want Juri, feel free to do so.
Honor Shop
Rose is the one I would get. Unless you really need a copy badly of a unit to get to SSS, I would avoid using it for regular A units. The Boost Stone Kit prices here are a bit too steep for how long it takes to gain honor coins. Not worth it in my opinion.
Grants
Every 30 days, you get to reset the grants from perks section. Here is what I suggest post 240:
- Heroic Grant – Boost Stone Kit
- Crusade Grant – Experience
Experience is the biggest bottleneck past 240. You will need a lot of it. You won’t need breakstones badly until maybe level 370+ and it also depends on how much breakstones you consistently saved up over time.
At the end game, it is about beefing up your team to be able to tackle chapter 36+. Outside of that, there isn’t much to do at the moment.
There you have it, hope this helps and if you are interested in climbing steps of honor on a new server, check this guide out.