30 of the Most Difficult Combos in Fighting Games

Fighting games are infamous for their high difficulty curve. Any gamer can pick up a title like Mortal Kombat One or Street Fighter 6 and button-mash their way through a few low-skill CPUs, of course. But it takes a lot of practice and dedication for someone to truly master a fighting game. This is to say nothing of playing at competitive levels. One of the main reasons for this high skill ceiling is the existence of difficult combos. Success in a good fighting game relies on chaining together a long string of attacks into a seamless and fluid set. This calls for very tight reflexes and impeccable timing that not everyone can master. Here are thirty of the most difficult combos and techniques from across the fighting game genre.

One-Frame Links

The one-frame link isn’t a full combo in itself. However, it is an integral part of some of the most difficult combos out there. To that end, it’s worth discussing on its own merits. Most modern fighting games use sixty frames per second to ensure smooth and intricate combat flow. Performing one-frame links, which require execution on the exact proper frame, almost becomes impossible to achieve. The player who executes one of these must get the timing down to a sixtieth of a second, a window so tight that most viewers won’t even be able to register it happening.

Soul Calibur IV: Darth Vader Critical Finish

The Soul Calibur franchise has a reputation for featuring crossovers, with Darth Vader being one of the more unusual external characters to make an appearance. His critical finish is a particularly flashy way to end a fight. The Sith lord flings his opponent into the air with the force, then sends his lightsaber in to slice them to pieces. The actual inputs required to activate this move aren’t that complicated, but the circumstances must line up just right. Vader’s soul gauge must be full while his opponent’s is empty, and all their armor must be chipped away too. Due to this high barrier of entry, many fans of the iconic fallen Jedi will miss out on one of his most impressive displays to date.

Super Smash Bros. Melee: Jigglypuff’s Wall of Pain

Jigglypuff might not seem like a particularly intimidating figure. In Melee, however, this unassuming pink puffball has one of the most dangerous combos in Smash history. The wall of pain requires exploiting Jigglypuff’s high aerial maneuverability to repeatedly punish opponents as they hang helplessly in the air. This combo can be extended far off the edge of the stage, preventing your foe from landing and continuing the fight. This makes it a particularly dangerous combo for both the target and Jigglypuff. The creature is generally going to be safe due to its repeated air jumps, but one false move and it won’t just be your hapless opponent plummeting into the abyss.

Guilty Gear XX Accent Core Plus R: Order-Sol Dragon Install

The Guilty Gear franchise is known for its flashy, over-the-top characters and moves. This is common in most entries in the fighting game franchise, but it’s especially true here. One particularly notorious example comes from Guilty Gear XX Accent Core Plus R, which features Order-Sol. This is a younger version of Sol Badguy from his time serving as a knight in the Crusades. He has a much different take on many of his signature moves, including the iconic Dragon Install. Order-Sol’s Dragon Install is a long and brutal combat that requires frame-perfect inputs with perfect timing. The result is a savage string of attacks that can brutalize a foe. However, undertaking this combo is not for the faint of heart.

Capcom vs. SNK 2 – Neo Deadly Rave

The infamous Neo Deadly Rave is a super move used by Geese and Rock Howard, recurring characters in several of Capcom’s fighting games. The move is famous for its lengthy string of inputs, each of which requires split-second timing. The move is a swift and vicious string of brutal punches and kicks culminating in a massive energy blast to make sure the target is no longer standing at the end. With more than ten inputs to pull off, this combo is well worth the effort.

Mortal Kombat 11: Sindel Combo

This custom combo for Sindel is one of the strongest in Mortal Kombat 11, but also one of the most demanding. The combo strings together several of the character’s best and most impressive moves. It also relies on her superior air functionality, keeping her elevated above the competition and out of danger of having her moves interrupted.

Dead or Alive 4: Hayate Raijin

The infamous Dead or Alive franchise is primarily known for its female characters. However, this fighting game franchise has had numerous other competitors over the years, including the ninja Hayate. In Dead or Alive 4, this notorious fighter had one of the most complicated throws in the entire game. It requires a blistering sequence of inputs with near-perfect timing to produce a throw combo that’s very impressive and flashy but not especially powerful. To this day, the intricacy of Hayate’s Raijin throw is almost a mystery in the Dead or Alive community.

Skullgirls: Headless Ms. Fortune

It may not be a household name like Street Fighter or Mortal Kombat, but Skullgirls is still beloved for its vibrant art style and strange, quirky character designs. Miss Fortune almost inarguably takes the cake for the most complex fighter in the game, however. This odd catgirl has the power to fully detach her body parts and use them as weapons. The central tactic of the character involves having her remove her head and fling it at the opponent. Instead of instantly reappearing, however, the head then goes on to serve as a second fighter, performing attacks and moving separately from the rest of the body. This makes Miss Fortune extremely difficult to control, as you’re now effectively managing two fighters at the same time.

Street Fighter 6: JP Frame-Perfect 17-Hit Combo

The recent Street Fighter 6 opened up a whole new world of complex combos. To this day, dedicated fans of the game are chaining together their favorite fighters’ moves in unbelievable new ways. One such fan is Desk, who has put together a series of frame-perfect combos centered around Street Fighter combatant JP. At 0:16 in the linked clip, Desk strings together a 17-hit combo revolving around perfect frames, showcasing immaculate timing and unstoppable fighting prowess.

Guilty Gear Strive: Jack-O’

The Guilty Gear tradition of flamboyant characters and wildly complex moves continues in Guilty Gear Strive’s iteration of Jack-O’. This artificial being fights with a host of servants that she can summon to her aid, wildly extending her potential. She also has a wide variety of complex combos, making her exceptionally difficult to master and potentially extremely hard to fight against as well.

Soul Calibur V: Calamity Symphony

Ivy’s Calamity Symphony is one of the most infamously difficult combos in the entire series. This dramatically powerful grab and throw requires a lightning-fast series of frame-perfect inputs that are almost impossible to reliably land, especially if you don’t have a specially designed fighting game controller. If you watch a master pull it off, chances are you’ll need to slow down the footage if you want to have any idea of what you’re looking at.

Street Fighter V: 71-Hit Oro Combo

The Street Fighter community has a rich history of stringing together impossibly long combos. Back in Street Fighter V, user Prophet showed off one such combo that was quickly heralded as the hardest possible combo in the entire game. This chain, spotlighted by Event Hubs, strings together a blistering 71 hits with Oro. Their opponent is decimated by a series of frame-perfect hits culminating in a vicious slam across the arena. While it already looks incredible, the more important work is going on behind the scenes. Prophet must carefully register a series of movement inputs between each strike to avoid breaking the combo.

Tekken 7: Leo Max Damage Combo

The Tekken franchise is one of the most technically complicated fighting game franchises out there. Tekken 7 showcased this difficulty particularly well. Leo has some of the most difficult combos in the game, and YouTuber Fatalis showcases them remarkably well. These might not be the most efficient moves in the game, but they are some of the most impressive and some of the hardest to achieve.

BlazBlue Central Fiction: Naoto Trial

Any game with combos hard enough to merit their separate trials is going to have a prime spot on this list. BlazBlue Central Fiction’s combo trials test your knowledge of a character to the absolute limit. Naoto Kurogane holds the dubious honor of having the highest skill ceiling in the game. Even the most dedicated and skilled fans of the BlazBlue franchise will likely struggle to pull off Naoto’s demanding combo chains.

Mortal Kombat 11: Cassie Cage One-Frame Link

YouTuber TrueUnderDawgGaming recently showcased some of the most difficult combos in the Mortal Kombat series. One of the standouts of this video was a combo from MK11, courtesy of a pro named Waz. Waz strings together a truly vicious combo with Cassie Cage and her helper drone. One of the most important parts of this combo is the fact that it relies on a one-frame link, one of the aforementioned perfectly timed moves that make certain combos so impossible to pull off. MK11 is not known for utilizing one-frame links. This makes it all the more surprising that Waz found such a technique, and it also makes it much more impressive that they were able to do it at all. Most games that rely on perfect-frame techniques have exploits fans can use to widen the window. MK11 has no such aid. Waz pulled off this combo through raw skill alone.

Street Fighter 6: Dee Jay’s 69-hit Combo

Street Fighter fan Persona Entertainment showcases this particularly brutal 69-hit combo starring fighter Dee Jay. You can see the nearly thirty-second long string starting at 1:08 in the clip linked above. Persona Entertainment rushes out a barrage of punishing moves in response to a fireball attack from his opponent. After a vicious string of punches and kicks, Dee Jay finishes off with a brutal super move, rocketing his foe into the air and unleashing a volley of strikes for a powerful series of attacks that truly must be seen to be believed.

Ultra Street Fighter 4: Crimson Viper Level 24 Trial

Fighting game trials often prove which characters in a given roster are the toughest, and Ultra Street Fighter 4 is no exception. Crimson Viper’s final showcase trial requires a very demanding series of attacks, flinging together basic crouching high punches, thunder knuckles that must be canceled into other moves, and blisteringly complicated special attacks like EX Seismic Hammer and Burst Time. Completing this brutal and complicated string of attacks will cement your reputation as one of the best Ultra Street Fighter 4 players out there.

Tekken 8: Lee

This year’s Tekken 8 continued the series tradition of overwhelmingly difficult combos. Lee Chaolan is a particularly key example of this. The character is built around executing long, demanding combos, making him an absolute nightmare to master. You will need frame-perfect reflexes and timing if you want to succeed as Lee, but the payoff will be a character who is extremely difficult to counter.

Street Fighter 6: Marisa’s 12-Hit Combo

A 12-hit combo might not sound particularly impressive in the context of Street Fighter 6, but this Marisa chain is still definitely worthy of attention. Recurring master gamer Persona Entertainment strings together this brutal high-damage combo. It requires two back-to-back Drive Rushes, a swift and very difficult input string that very few players will be able to pull off with the right timing. The result is one of the highest-damage combos possible with Marisa, and maybe one of the highest-damage combos in the entire game.

Mortal Kombat X: Liu Kang Combo

As one of the oldest fighting game series on the market, Mortal Kombat has a long history of difficult and baffling combos. One of the most fathomless was showcased on Reddit by SUQMADIQ63. This blistering combo stars Liu Kang, firing off a wild and seemingly never-ending series of kicks straight to his opponent’s face. The Mortal Kombat franchise has more entries than most modern video game series, and as long as it continues, we’ll likely continue to see incredible combos like this.

Marvel vs. Capcom 2: Magneto ROM Infinite

The Magneto ROM Infinite is one of the most famous combos in the fighting game community. Named for the pro who first showed it off, this ludicrous infinite move can chain into most of the hits in Magneto’s moveset. As the name suggests, you can keep this combo going forever with the right inputs. Chaining it sufficiently enough to finish off a foe can be a massive challenge, of course. If you pull it off, though, you will have successfully mastered a piece of video game history.

Street Fighter IV: Zangief Dash 720

Zangief’s infamous Dash 720 is one of the most technically complex combos out there. This high-skill technique involves concealing Zangief’s ultimate in the animation for his dash move. In theory, this could let you rush out a powerful move before your opponent expects it. However, due to the high amount of directional inputs involved, most of the time this move will lead to a confused barrage of rolling and stumbling around the stage.

King of Fighters 13: Ash Trial

Another particularly infamous combo trial comes from King of Fighters 13. YouTuber VesperArcade shows off the brutal and demanding series of inputs required for Ash’s trial. The final stage in particular requires five lines of inputs, all of which must be pulled off with flawless timing if you want any hope of successfully conquering the trial. King of Fighters 13 has some of the hardest combat trials in the game, and Ash’s gauntlet is one of the most notorious.

Dragon Ball FighterZ: Jiren Trial 9

The massively popular Dragon Ball series is prime material for a fighting game franchise. Dragon Ball FighterZ is one of the most prominent examples of just how serendipitous the concept can be. This game lets you pit the powerful, godlike champions of Dragon Ball Z against each other in cataclysmic fights. Like many other fighting games, it also offers combo trials for you to test your skill with your preferred character. The imposing Jiren the Grey has one of the hardest trials in the game. His spacing must be exact, and his combos are riddled with infinitesimal delays that you need to overcome if you want to succeed.

Street Fighter 6: Juri 69-Hit Combo

Returning to Street Fighter 6 finds one of the longest combos in the entire genre, courtesy of Desk once more. This 69-hit combo stars the energetic Juri, and according to the YouTuber, it took several hours to perfect. The combo requires deep and intricate tactical planning. Desk surrendered several easy hits toward the beginning of the combo to extend it longer on the back end. This move requires deep, intimate knowledge of Juri’s resources and moveset, and the slightest slipup will end it entirely.

Mortal Kombat: Reptile’s Infinite Combo

It’s fitting that one of the oldest combos on this list comes from Reptile, possibly the first secret video game character ever. This legendary ninja is the master of the infinite combo. With pitch-perfect timing, you can juggle your enemy in midair indefinitely, rushing their health bar down while they’re suspended completely helpless in midair. The combo is wildly difficult to pull off. It requires not only flawless timing but perfect positioning. If you’re even a pixel out of place, Reptile’s hapless victim will hit the floor and quickly scramble to their feet, eager for revenge.

Virtua Fighter 2: Stun Palm of Doom

Akira’s Stun Palm attack is one of the most famous video game combos out there. Of course, it didn’t get that reputation for being easy and accessible to all. The SPoD, as it is commonly called, requires a demanding combination of split-second inputs and long pauses to line up the proper timing. The rhythm is hard to pick up and nigh-impossible to master, but the result is a devastating strike that can completely incapacitate a foe.

Street Fighter 6: Guile 84-Hit Combo

It’s hard to say which Street Fighter 6 combo is the hardest. Any of the SF6 combos in this list would be prime candidates for the role. But Fight Element’s 84-hit Guile combo might just take the cake. This combo lasts a staggering 49 seconds long, requiring the user to be on the ball hitting inputs for almost a minute. If you get it right, you’ll push out a staggering 9802 damage, enough to lay low even the mightiest warrior. The combo requires 24 perfectly landed Sonic Booms and 10 full Drive Meters. With the staggering list of inputs required, it’s a test of endurance as much as it is a test of skill and reflexes.

King of Fighters 13: Leona Trial

If you need further evidence that King of Fighters 13 has some of the hardest trials in the genre, look no further than the Leona trial. Like Ash before it, this trial requires precise timing with vanishingly small windows of opportunity to land her most intricate moves. Only the best fighters out there will be able to master this trial, and only with a lot of practice.

Darkstalkers 3: Sako Combo

The Sako Combo is a pinnacle of difficult video game combos. This infinite loop was named for the player who discovered it, like the equally legendary ROM Infinite from Marvel vs. Capcom 2. To pull off the Sako combo, you must play as fighter B.B. Hood and repeat three normal moves over and over again. While the inputs seem simple on paper, in practice they are anything but. Pulling off the Sako combo even once requires you to hit two frame-perfect moves back to back. This is almost impossible to manage even once. However, to go infinite with the combo, you must hit this window over and over again. This is a level of timing that’s nearly impossible for the normal fan, making Sako’s fame very well-earned.

The image featured at the top of this post is ©Promotional image for Street Fighter 6.