Akuma officially joined the Street Fighter 6 roster last week, and Capcom marked the occasion with the Giant Attack event, which runs through May 31, 2024. Instead of a Fighting Pass, which has both free and paid rewards, all of the Giant Attack rewards are free.

Giant Attack features a super-powered (and incredibly punishing) version of Akuma, called SiRN Akuma. He has all of Akuma's powers unlocked from the start and is set to CPU level 8 if fighting him on an arcade machine, or he's set to avatar Level 100 if taking him on in an avatar battle. If you're an expert player or have a high-level avatar from playing World Tour, this may not be so bad. For the general masses, though, SiRN Akuma is quite the challenge.

One tip that has been circulating online is to repeatedly use Cammy's Hooligan Combination into a Fatal Leg Twister to combo SiRN Akuma and keep him from retaliating. I gave this a try, and assuming you can land the initial attack, it works relatively well. If SiRN Akuma decides to jump, this attack will miss. He can also counter it with a well timed uppercut. If you are having trouble finding an opening, or if your attempts keep getting countered, you can setup SiRN Akuma with Cammy's Spin Drive Smasher super. If you land the super, it'll knock SiRN Akuma down, and position him for the Hooligan Combination/Fatal Leg Twister attack.

It's worth practicing this combo in training so you can learn the timing before trying to use it in Giant Attack. It may be the best chance a casual player has to take down SiRN Akuma. While I wasn't able to knock him out every time, I did notch a few wins with Cammy, which was enough to make me feel accomplished.

Win or lose, fighting SiRN Akuma nets Attack Points, which is the whole point of the event. You net 300 points per match if you lose and 4,000 points per match if you win. Additional points can be earned via Battle Hub activities. For example, playing a classic arcade game nets you 100 points.

Once you've earned them, Attack Points can be used to attack the giant hologram Akuma, who has taken up residence in the battle arena area of Battle Hub. Expended Attack Points are tracked for individual event rewards, similar to how a Fighting Pass tracks rewards. Earning (and using) a total of 58,000 Attack Points nets you an avatar emote, camera frame, EX Color 1 for Akuma, in-game phone background, sticker, title, and 1,150 drive tickets.

Although 58,000 points may seem like a lot, even if you never actually beat Akuma, grinding it out 300 points at a time doesn't take too long. Most matches take less than a minute when you're losing.

You can also net an additional 3,000 drive tickets just by logging in and claiming them as a group event reward. The group goal has already been met, so that is 3,000 tickets for the taking.

All in, that's 4,150 drive tickets, which is nearly enough to cover the 5,000-ticket cost of the new level. If music is more your thing, it'll also cover a selection of the new background music selections that were added to the store alongside the Akuma update.

In addition to the Giant Attack event, there is a concurrent Zangief birthday event that runs through June 1, 2024. You can net an additional 1,000 drive tickets by logging in and claiming them from the birthday event announcement in the News section of the game.

Whether or not you've purchased the Akuma DLC (or one of the character passes), this week is a great time to log into Street Fighter 6, try your hand against SiRN Akuma, and earn some free rewards.