New defensive mechanic using the V-Gauge
The Street Fighter 5 community has known for about six months that their game would undergo a relatively major change, as the developers promised a new battle mechanic in August 2020 and said that the mechanic during the Today’s winter update would be V-Shift.
This new mechanic allows players to escape sticky situations. Similar to V-Skill, this maneuver is used to counter attacks, but where it is unique is that it can be used freely and does not require being blocked to activate it.
This new mechanic drains a V-gauge bar for use. During its animation, V-Shift makes the player invincible to throws, attacks and projectiles.
When this maneuver is used just when an incoming attack is about to land, fighters will go into a slow motion state and the character who used V-Shift will become temporarily invincible. This makes it a couple technique, albeit a little more complicated than we saw in Street Fighter 3.
The V-Shifting player in slow motion state can alternately perform a “V-Shift-Break” that makes them throw forward with an invincible attack. The idea here seems to be that if the V-Shift is used to thwart an incoming attack with a lot of recovery, the defending player can guarantee a punishment if he doesn’t have an attack on his standard arsenal that gets far enough.
It looks like it will add a lot of depth to many interactions as it provides a new way to defend yourself in this very offensive game. Players will need to be more mindful of how they want to use their V-Gauge, and V-Shift interactions have multiple routes and possible outcomes, as players can choose immediately after participating in this new mechanic.