Street Fighter pro player, DC “Infexious” Coleman is back with another in-depth Street Fighter V: Champion Edition guide. This time, he breaks down the mechanics of option selects.

First, Infexious explains that an option select is a series of inputs that can cover multiple options. He adds, “Option selects reduce the amount of guessing a player has to make by countering multiple outcomes automatically.”

Infexious then broke down that in a specific scenario, after a hard knockdown, players are given multiple meaty wakeup options to control their opponent and counter their next move.

A meaty attack has a long attack frame animation. To perform a meaty attack, you’ll want to time your attack at the end of your character’s attack animation. This keeps you from getting counterattacked because you’re already a few frames away from recovery.

In Infexious’ demo, he showed three types of options you can do on wake up against Dhalsim. If your meaty wakeup option attack hits, you can hit confirm it into a combo. If the meaty wakeup option attack is blocked, you can throw another one to push Dhalsim into a neutral position. If Dhalsim decides to use a late invincible move like his teleport, you input a dash as an option select to punish his escape.

Infexious then broke down how option select blocks work. After scoring a knockdown, your opponents could use an ex-invincible attack to counter your wakeup pressure. To counter this, you can simply throw a light attack that has quick recovery and hold back at the same time. If your opponent does try an ex-invincible attack that has a slow startup, you will be able to block it and retaliate with a crush counter combo.

Next, Infexious showed how to properly execute option selects for V-Reversals. When an opponent uses a V-Reversal, the screen freezes for a short moment. Because of this, when you force your opponents into a block string using light attacks, you can input a throw at the end of it, which will counter a V-Reversal. Other characters can even use a parry, instead of a throw, as an option select to deal massive damage.

“Option selects require a lot of practice to perfect, as you have to time your inputs to make sure they register correctly. Timing can be different with each character, so make sure you experiment with your own [character]. By adding option selects to your game, you will improve both your offensive and defensive capabilities while limiting your opponent’s options.”

This is Infexious’ fifth Street Fighter V tips video. He has previously explained how to shimmy, use fireball traps, hit confirms, and how to defend. Fans can comment on his YouTube videos about which topic they would want to see Infexious explain next.

Infexious teaches you how to option select