How to learn combo;

You go to youtube; look for <character name> tekken 8 combo

Pick one that you think you can do and is about ~70 damage. Go to Practice Mode. Keep practicing until you can do it with your eyes closed. Set the AI to AI (Or something, make them fight you), try fighting normally but try and do the combo.

Once you are familiar, do it online.

I recommend not using special style. You’re not actually gonna learn how to play the game using that. It might work in the lower ranks because no one there knows what they’re doing. I recommend learning your characters actual moveset through the move list in the practice menu. Also for combos, I recommend watching TheFURY on YouTube. Just look for the video with your character and he shows multiple combos from every launcher your character has ranging from easy beginner combos to more advanced combos that might give you more damage but won’t be very consistent in actually matches until you practice it enough. It’s better to do combos you can for sure do in a match than a combo that might give you more damage but you drop often.

Hey there and welcome back to the Tekken fam! Combos are interesting in this game. Personally, I look them up on YouTube for my character. I do learn various bound moves (the moves that flip your opponent in the air, extending the combo further), and then a few enders.

Combos can also be situational. Sometimes you can be near a wall and need to cut it short so that you can get a wall combo. Situational awareness comes with experience, so don’t worry too much about it now I would say.

Enjoy the game and your journey! There’s so much negativity surrounding this game, especially with season 2, and I suggest you block all that noise and focus on improving.

Go into training without special style, and go through your characters move list. You cab have a demo of each move play for you, and quickly go through each one to recognize each move and know what button does what.

Go on YT and search "(your characrer) combos" and learn how to do a few basic bread and butter combos. If you don't know input notations I recommend learning for the sake of brevity.

Special style helps with trying out new characters and see what moves they have and how they feel by oversimplifying the controls.

but that's the word: oversimplifying.

Tekken characters have at least 100 moves and you're gonna miss out on the majority of what your character can do. i say, use special style to get a feel on what characters that you think looks cool. once you find your character, go to practice mode, check out their extensive moves, do their combo challenges-- this will get you to feel what it's like to actually playing them.

dont even start learning combos just yet. find a simple combo you can successfully pull off and stick to it.

next, play ranked with your character and just enjoy playing. the more you enjoy playing the game, the more interested you at at discovering how to improve piloting your character.

all in all the key is finding the fun. more will come the more fun you get.

Heat smash round start is a choice you don't see often. It's very aggressive high commitment on the offence. It's hard to judge too hard when the Anna didn't break one throw. You can't judge King game play till you find a game where throws get broken then you see how they adapt.

definitely watch out heat smashing at the beginning of a round. i'm sure you've already ran into it at raijin but ppl will step you and launch you. buffer giant swing and other grabs into your moves. like a simple jab into giant swing

Bro you're wayyy too unga and you're probably getting eaten alive with sidesteps. Spam b1+2 grab, it's a really underrated homing 12f option. It'll make people respect the SS even if they break it. Spam mids. His poking is very good. Throw out DF2 for counter hits all the time and eventually you'll know exactly when to press it. Getting isw and GS down is essential. Learn even one wavu. You don't have to do loads just learn to do one into mix up and it confuses people with your timing.

Also, Tekken is Tekken. It requires a HUGE amount of match up knowledge. But it's the most rewarding game in the world when you start to figure it out. God speed! RAWR

So there's a lot to improve here.

First off, heat burst into heat smash first thing in the round is really bad. King is great in heat as his throws are homing, Jag Sprint becomes armored, Jag sprint options become powered.

You rely on doing the same string over and over that will be reactable and majorly punishable in higher ranks. I get that it worked here but it won't work that well in higher levels of play. You don't know neutral like at all. You don't know how to poke. I didn't see a single giant swing. You don't know how to shining wizard which is important for combo ender and such.

Fundamentally you're playing the character wrong. Your entire game style and plan needs a complete overhaul. Learn and focus more on poking, learn giant swing, learn shining wizard especially at the end of combos because the running power bomb is max damage ender as well as where you get your oki from. Jag sprint is....fine I guess. Technically there's nothing wrong with using it but lay off just doing 50/50 mix ups as it doesn't help you as a player. Once you're in heat though try to delay your attacks because you can absorb attacks and react accordingly. Learn a better combo since you're only doing 50 damage. You should be getting 65-70.

Overall you may have reached Raijin, you're playing like a red rank. You're basically hoping they don't know what to do against your character and that's bad.

The main thing about Lei is that he's all about whiff baiting, mind games, and 50-50s. You'll need to learn his stance-dance game, which means running different routes through those stances and the different moves within them and how they transition between each other. Every stance is a mixup situation for your opponent so you'll have to learn each of those options and how they work. You'll also want to learn basic ha-stepping for his whiff-bait game. His bread-and-butter rushdown combo is Razor Rush which also contains mixups and stance transitions depending on where you stop in the combo. Rave Sweep is one of his most reliable buttons. It's a mostly unseeable hell-sweep with a guaranteed followup on clean-hit. You should check out the Blasted Salami video about him if you haven't already.

It's been fun playing him lately.

Pick and choose fun moves from here

https://docs.google.com/document/u/0/d/1aGN96Ie1r-_5hWCQZLMOYiEuVZx0jLVwGxlFLg8yJfY/mobilebasic

just mash random shit and sidestep stance

be silly-man.

Oof trying to pull from memory without launching T7 lol

Honestly I'd love to pick just 15 out of his 180+ moves but I think every single one of his moves are important even if some are very situational. Lei has the most options for routes in stance transitions out of any character...in any game I think. Decision paralysis will happen until you get used to his large move list.

That being said the first thing I would do is set up your shortcuts on your shoulder buttons if you play on pad. Be prepared to do lots of backdashing, haha stepping, blocking.

If you need a visual guide look at TK_bilal kaka who's one of the best Leis in the world. He'll go over the frame data of his key moves.

I am somewhat in the same boat as you. I only just recently started my fighting game journey with MK late last year and picked up Tekken just this weekend. This game can be incredibly overwhelming so it is important to isolate key points of improvement and work on them one at a time.

A quick note for someone who is completely new to the fighting genre is the names of buttons and some terminology. I will assume that you are using a gamepad (PS/XBox controller), as someone who just entered is unlikely to use anything like an arcade stick. A great place to learn input terminology and verbage used, as well as getting a quick overview of each character is available via this Google Doc by u/Fergus2k8 where they provide a great little read for people who are just getting in to Tekken for the first time.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1CG-ZUE6EqqQk7QSfc1feddeS8411f8t38EMFQ1Le9Cc/edit

When you are trying to see if you like the way a character feels, I highly recomend trying the character out in the practice tool to see if you like their moveset visually.The great thing about Tekken 8 is the special style (L1/LB on gamepad to toggle). Special style massively reduces your move list, but it makes it FAR easier to use the character as you don't need to learn the specific commands to do combos, but instead can focus more on the mechanics of the game, which is INFINITLY more important than learning your character at the start. Once you decide on a character, I recommend sticking with them throughout your initial learning time in order to minimize your mental stack as you learn Tekken first.

The game has a built in tutorial (kind of) in the form of the arcade quest game mode in the Offline Tab. It is with this that you learn about things like the very basic inputs like normal punches and kicks as well as ducking and dodging to more advanced techniques like power crushes, wake-ups, and other defensive tools. It is a somewhat decent tutorial, but I feel that I am still missing a relatively large amount of information. It drops a new tutorial after each stage that you clear, so you can't directly flow from one tutorial to the next until you complete the game mode. I still highly recommend the game mode for an introduction to Tekken, as while it is somewhat slow in introducing you to the mechanics, it allows you to learn those mechanics against reasonably leveled bots and uses missions/goals to utilize the mechanics in these bot fights. As you play through this game mode, try playing through without special style, so you can familiarize yourself with your character's buttons without risk, but in a semi-live environment, so you can see what does and doesn't work to a degree.

Combos are the most enticing part of playing fighters to a lot of people, but it is something that I personally like to learn last, and this is especially true in Tekken in my experience so far. That being said, there are two tools that Tekken 8 has in the practice tool that allows you to learn/practice combos. I personally prefer to start with the "Practice Combos" section within the practice tool. This is good as you are still learning a character so you can experiment with differing launchers, fillers, and enders, but the list of combos is relatively small. The other tool is "Sample Combos" which is also accessible through the practice tool's menu. This list is more extensive than the prior option, but is less hand holding as well. These combos are nowhere near optimized, but they are relatively easy to execute and that is what matters in your early Tekken learning period.

Other external resources I would recomend looking at are PhiDX ( https://www.youtube.com/@PhiDX ) and Rooflemonger ( https://www.youtube.com/@rooflemonger ). PhiDX does a wonderful job of teaching and preaching general fundamentals for the game that translate across the roster. Cannot recomend this channel enough. Rooflemonger is great for introducing you to Tekken as a completely new player, covering things like character gameplans, basic fundamentals, and basic game mechanics. I would recomend watching Rooflemonger's Tekken intro videos before getting into PhiDX as PhiDX is more focused on gameplay and impoving, whereas Rooflemonger is more focused on introducing Tekken.

The last tip I can offer is to find someone to run games with. I am lucky enough to have a friend who picked up the game with me, so we are both learning it together. Playing games with someone who can provide feedback can help a lot with regards as to how they are feeling you out and some tendencies you may be displaying. Plus it's more fun that way IMO. I understand this isn't always possible, but it has been a great help for me personally.

Edit: I can actually help you get some games in today if you are interested. I am east coast and currently still at work, but I get off around 3 EST so any time after then I should be good to help. DM me if you are interested and I will shoot you my info.

I have to say this because it boggles my mind how many beginners do this.

If you are a beginner at tekken : DO NOT WASTE TIME WITH PRACTICING COMBOS RIGHT OFF THE BAT.

Here is a step by step roadmap on what to focus on if you are a complete beginner

-You first need to learn what frames are and how to use them.

-Then you need to learn how to defend. How to block, how to break throws and training your brain to react to lows. And using the knowledge of frames you acquired previously, how to counter and punish

-Then you realise there are moves where blocking is less effective. Thats where you will need to learn to understand and use movement to sidestep, bait whiffs etc etc.

-And finally once you have aquired that previous knowledge, start practicing combos to make use of the opportunities you made for yourself.

Now for characters specifically :

When you pick up a character, dont bother learning the whole movelist. Look up the key moves for your character. Learn those key moves, and over time and more moves and strings.

Tekken is a game where if you want to rush things you get nowhere because there is too much to learn and you need to "program" your brain. Do it step by step, take your time. Make sure you own any knowledge you gained. Over time you will see improvements.

And dont forget to take breaks, especially if you feel like you hit a wall. Breaks help your mind process learned information and keep a positive frame of mind.

My opinion, don't worry about frame data yet. Just focus on blocking and practice punishment training in the practice mode. Block everything, learn when to punish, and rinse and repeat. Go slow and learn about highs, mids, lows. You'll figure out some mixups and which moves are quicker/best in what situation naturally. Eventually, start learning frame data, but it's not as important for beginners as a lot of people say. Tbh it just confused and overwhelmed me at first. Blocking/punishment is much more important than learning combos so keep that in mind too.

Depends on how you learn but I think it’s best to hop into practice and just focus on your characters moveset and getting comfortable and familiar with it…. Then go play a few matches, after that you have to self evaluate, better defense comes with time so just know that’s a work in progress but your offense you can improve right away just through learning your moves… if your opponent is just standing there blocking and punishing you, learn your lows, if you’re getting ducked a lot, learn your mids… wanna improve your heat usage check your heat techniques and do so til you get as far as you can on your own with the character… combos you can learn any time but how to really utilize your moveset to its fullest will help you a lot early on

I heard this strategy also works well against bryan and steve, please press into them!!

Make sure to mash jab especially hard after Lee df1. He’s minus right? What’s the worst that can happen

Yes. Mash against us. We obviously had nothing to counter you!

Who wins

Hwoarang main

Lee main with prep time

that is correct. press more buttons against lee. that is the counterplay.

Xiaoyu's Cali Roll is an evasive move that can optionally be ended with an attack kick.

It tracks because it starts in a stance (back turned) so it is telegraphed to the opponent. Also, because it requires two separate inputs (the roll from BT then the attack), it takes a TON of frames to come out, giving the opponent time to react. The move is punishable by free hop kicks if it is blocked.

With all that against it, of course it should track really well. It'd be way too weak otherwise.

I do the exact opposite, i have 2000 games on qm with about a 52% winrate, and 80 ranked matches with 70% winrate.

I only play ranked if it gets to a point in quick match where i stomp too many people in a row lol

Good idea, I have to try qm as I really miss long sets from t7. And I hate lambing and never do it. Just hit emperor as well.

Thanks, I've stopped playing her and went to rank other characters. This could be helpful when i play her again.

Just picking up Nina so this will be super helpful!

Always appreciate your help Lightning :)

ha thought I read you were married to her over 20 years lol

thanks for the guide, always looking to learn new things about her, she is so versatile, and some strategies you showed, for example that backside grab from Oki you put in the character after combo is amazing, have never seen it before, really appreciate your work

I started trying to play Tekken at the end of T7 and really made the effort in T8.

I picked Azucena to learn the game, easy combos, good tools, not too hard to understand for a stance character and I liked her moveset, cool evasion.

Then character wise I made sure to know what combos I could do from all launchers and counter hit (CH) launchers. Then the different combo enders for wall carry and wall combos. Low parry combo, heat burst combo etc. What follow ups you can get after moves on CH, or knockdowns.

Learn the frame traps, spacing traps and wake up options. Plus on block buttons, tracking options, safe moves etc.

Learn the punishment options, 1,2 basically until -15 to keep it simple. Learn what your best whiff punishers are.

So learn as much as you can about your character while playing ranked or even ghosts. It's good to get the ghosts of aggressive, spammy players because you can learn how to deal with it, good players ghosts just back dash and step until you press a button.

Once you know this kinda stuff, the game is all about playing frames and match up knowledge. So if you're between +1 and -3 stepping is a good option, even -4 but it gets tighter with timing. Move properties like guard break, high crush, low crush, evasive etc.

To get the match up knowledge, I decided to play all chars up to at least Garyu, but now everyone is in Mighty Ruler because my highest rank is Fujin, so I have to go higher for the chars I have yet to play, but also my understanding of the game increased so I might go back to play characters again to go a bit deeper.

Anyway, I now main Azu, Steve, Feng and I've been recently playing Lee. I think I may even go back and learn Hwoarang more. He is one of the harder characters in terms of getting used to his options out of different stances and transitioning between them IMO. Not hard to win with, or even to mash with but pretty difficult to use properly. Don't ever whiff in general but Hwoarang's b3 is one hell of a whiff punisher.

What greatly helped in quickly picking up different chars was the Tekken Library, Google it, it's like a small guide with combos that works with most launchers that are easy enough to execute. Also has key moves, punishes, whiff punishes, wall combos, follow ups etc.

I think a mix of brute force and learning on the side is best

Tekken in general has a steep learning curve so you will have to enjoy the process of learning the game

Brute force is bad. You need to engage mentally. Fighting games aren't like shooting hoops or hitting a golf ball where you can do the same thing 1000 times and get incrementally better through minor adjustments. You improve by learning things, like actual things you can verbalize.

Think of it like a logic puzzle with a little bit of math and a little bit of psychology. There's nothing that crazy that you can't figure out and over time you will pick up some nuggets from watching guides, tournaments, etc.

But if you go head empty, press buttons mode all the time, you will see very little improvement.

1. Watch phidx beginner guide on youtube.

2. Find a lidia beginner guide. Learn her gameplan, pokes, launchers, follow ups, and a BnB combo.

3. Play matches in ranked or quick play. Watch the replays when you lose. Try to understand why you lost. You are probably letting your opponents get away with murder. Note that every move -10 or worse gives you a free punish. If you keep dying to a string or something, do replay takeover, and figure out how you can defend against it.

That's how I learned, being new to the series with Tekken 8. Since I've won a local and an online beginner bracket.

Two things:

1. These characters have move lists nine miles long, but once you really understand how moves work and how to use them, you can get by with a fraction of them, then slowly build in the rest of them as your mastery grows.

2. This is more of a personal anecdote, but I find characters like Lidia hard to pick up. When the game plan is "use these moves to get into this stance and from this stance you have four options which put you into different stances and those all have..." I get absolutely lost. I have a lot of fun with Bryan. And the Mishimas.

Gonna have to use the replay system to lab scenarios.

A large part of tekken is just general knowledge of the opponents character. It’s a very hard game to be a newcomer in. Especially in its current state.

Main Lars silent entry and then press a random button no one knows what will happen not even you.

You have to lab a lot with this game. It’s a franchise that really relies on legacy knowledge and knowledge checks.

Watch your replays

Learn how to counter and punish

you have to change characters. It's not the same game since S2. Asuka and Lars are top 2 imo. Change to them or people who are like them.

Learn the cheesey easy to win moves ...

memorize them. use them constantly to the point of muscle memory.

Then learn moves 1 by 1 as a set up to the cheese. Make sure that you focus your play style around the cheese and slowly extend your moveset knowledge

Then learn combo paths

Then focus on defence.