Akuma is one of the more popular characters on the Capcom roster. He has 4 super moves, is very mobile, and is one of the faster characters is the game. All of this sounds like he would be the ultimate character but the creators made sure to give him some negative qualities, the main one being his lack of defense. His defense is so terrible that it alone is what stop people from using him. Although he can deal a great deal of damage in a short amount of time, the damage he usually takes in the time is not worth the trade off. But for the people who believe a strong defense is a good offense then this guide is for you!
Tactics for Play
With him being so prone to taking damage, it is in your best interest if you can strike and move. Always being on the move with Akuma will make for a difficult target to hit. He is able to essentially sit in the air if you Super Jump and throw out continuous air fireballs, so be sure to use this to avoid falling into combos or supers.
He also has the arrow kick which can be performed from the air at anytime. This move is very convenient because it brings you down to attack very quickly and is great to travel with. Anytime I Super Jump, I just about always finish the jump with this attack. If you are using the air fire balls as a defensive strategy to pin your opponent and keep them blocking, the arrow kick is a great way to switch back to offense quickly. Great thing about this move is once you connect it with the opponent you can easily cancel after a few hits and go into the air fireball special.
Like all the other Shotokan members, traveling with hurricane kicks is a good practice to get across the screen. By jumping in a particular direction and performing this move you will be covering your travel to ensure people do not try and sneak off an air combo on you. But Akuma has one better use for this move. Just like the arrow kick, the hurricane kick can be cancel into the air fireball special. This REALLY comes in handy. This is how I end up landing the special about 90% of the time. It is much easier to combo into this special than it is to hit it alone. His kicks become ever more dangerous now with the combo ability they have attached.
Supers
Akuma is one of the few characters with 4 specials. Some come in handy more than others but they all have their time and place. The order of importance that I am about to list is based on how useful each of them is to me in a match.
Air Fireball Special
This is the one I use the most by far. Like I mention above it has the ability to be combo’ed into with his hurricane and arrow kicks which makes it that much more deadly. No matter how high or low to the ground you are, you can still get this off without a hitch. This is a great way to punish assisters when they are stationary behind the main character. They have no ability to block and the main character will be forced to block and won’t be able to protect the assist.
Ground Fireball Special
This is similar to Ryu’s main special but is not as long. This is best used just to keep the opponent honest from a distance and will let them know you are using Akuma’s full arsenal of attacks. So many times players fall into ruts of using the same moves and specials which makes them very predictable. Mixing it up keeps the opponent on their toes and makes your movements less predictable. This is another great special to punish their assisters with after they performed the move and are standing hopeless. Its start up is very fast so you will be able to do some damage with this before they are able to leave the screen.
Raging Demon
This may actually be my favorite move in the entire game! In my opinion this is the most embarrassing move to get hit with in the game (plus it looks cool as hell). The down side to it this it takes 3 specials to get off but I feel that is a small price to pay if you actually land it. It gives A LOT of damage but is difficult to land at times. The best way to ensure you land this and have not wasted 3 specials is to use this when opponents are pinned in corners. They have nowhere to go and blocking will be useless for them seeing how this move is unblockable. You will most likely kill them after landing it or they will be left with very little life depending on how much they had prior to this move. I recommend only using this move though if you want to show off or are in a life or death situation. Wasting 3 specials if you miss can really make winning the match very difficult so use a bit of judgment before dishing it out.
Vertical Hurricane Kick Special
I very rarely use this. Heck I can probably count on one hand the amount of times I ever used this. Akuma has 3 other great specials and this one does not come in handy as much as the rest. If I were to use this, it would be when a character is above my ahead in flight mode because they will be unable to block then. Otherwise you will have a pretty hard time landing this move in its entirety.
That is my Akuma guide. Hope you enjoy and if you have anything you would like to add on do so in the comments! No go out and land some Raging Demons 
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