NIP|Phenom is once again continuing his yearly tradition that has him polling top players about their top 5 characters in Street Fighter 6 in order to provide a better understanding of where the meta is for the community. He recently asked Reject|Tokido and heard mentions of Mai, Ed, Ryu, Blanka and JP.
It would seem that Phenom has decided to ask BST|Daigo Umehara about his top 5 character list next. It’s interesting to note that Daigo’s list ended up being extremely similar to that of Tokido’s.
In Daigo’s opinion, the top 5 characters in Street Fighter 6 right now are Ed, Mai, JP, Blanka and Ryu. Though Daigo talked about the same combatants as Tokido, they were listed in a different order.
Daigo also seems adamant that Ed is the overall strongest fighter at the moment. The character has become especially popular in Japan.
Ryu was the last character that Daigo mentioned in his top 5 list. It’s certainly worth highlighting that Daigo spent an especially long time considering who his final top 5 character was before ultimately deciding on Ryu.
Of course, it’s not at all surprising for Daigo to not mention the character that he’s been maining this season, Akuma. Daigo has even been recently advocating for buffs for Akuma.
Check it all out below:
Daigo Umehara’s Top 5 Season 3 Characters in Street Fighter 6
• Ed
• Mai
• JP
• Blanka
• Ryu
The GOAT, Daigo Umehara, gives us his top 5 characters in this season of Street Fighter 6! pic.twitter.com/toTvHpxTLr
— Arman Hanjani (@PhenomSF) March 11, 2026