What are the effects of EF?

Ultra Instinct

So when you hear Extend Force, a lot of the time people will actually be talking about the EF Mode which has all sorts of effects. If you are looking at this page, then chances are you have no idea what these effects actually are

First, how do you get into EF in the first place

EF Cancel
EF Blast
Guard Cancel EF Blast

For more info on these uses, check <This> page I wrote earlier

Once you get into EF

The EF Gauge will tick down to 0. Each Arcana's EF will last a different amount of time, and EFC/GCEB will reduce the duration to a half
The Stage background will change along with the characters Neutral pose
You get BENEFITS

And when EF runs out, it will slowly recharge back to full. You are looking at around 4-6 Seconds to recharge EF depending on the Arcana you chose

Eclipse increases recharge time, I think people said 25% but I don't really do exact numbers, Its definitely slower though
Blaze and Burst has a MUCH longer recovery time, like around 40 seconds...depending on the Arcana

Below is a video to show how the Arcana choice can change the duration and recovery of EF

Sacred on the Left, Punishment on the right.

Effects of EF

Increased Meter Regeneration - Self Explanatory

Increased Meter Build + builds a bit when not full - The extra you build is fairly negligible but every little helps

Speed Increase - You move faster, your attacks start up faster, they recover faster, etc. This effect is HUGE and it is why EF is incredibly dangerous. It's around 25% speed increase but again I don't know exact numbers

Damaged dealt and recieved modified - This is not always a buff. Some Arcanas take more damage and deal less while in EF. Notably, Punishment takes 40% extra damage while in EF for an 18% Damage increase.

Increased ground cancel chain routes. Special cancels on E normals, Aerial Reverse Chaining - This is huge because it allows for combos which were not normally possible, along with blockstrings and mixups. Easiest useful example is how jE's (which normally knock down) can cancel into jB/C which means you get re-jump combos like <this>

Arcana Special Effect - Every Arcana has its own special effect once you are in EF. The very notable ones are Tyr's Stacking EF, Earth's Superarmor, Thunder's Clashing Block and Halo's Instant Neutral Winning Specials

Blaze and Eclipse access - Can't Blaze or Eclipse without being in EF first

Chip damage on normals - Every normal deals 100 damage worth of chip.

How does this affect my game?

And to end this article, I want to talk about how this realistically affects the game

Combining the increased Meter Regeneration, Build and the Cancel from going into EF. Using EF often generally improves your Meter Economy, wether you use it to get Meterless combos to build Meter, or to recover your Meter faster so you can build more. This also means that Bursting really hurts
The duration of EF is generally too short to get a huge benefit in Neutral. Unless you are playing Tyr (Stacking EF Duration) or you are playing Halo (Instant Neutral win specials), most players use just the EF for Cancels or for Blast. Average EF duration is around 4 seconds, which just isn't a lot of time, especially if it gets halved on EFC or GCEB
The speed increase drastically improves pressure for a short time. Suddenly attacks which are minus on block before, can and most likely will be plus. Also being able to get faster mixups is a plus always. Also adding in the fact that normals do chip on block, those few seconds are going to be great in pressure

If you have any questions, as always, you can find us on <Discord>