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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

Bro wants the matrix learning program for tekken. Enzo sage has youtube videos on sidesteps, ducks and interrupts for every string. Asking for mixups is too much and too vague though you're better off watching an actual character guide for that.

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

Pick Hwoarang and do infinite strings

Be good at the game.

Play as King or Armor King. I can’t tech throws.

Just go offensive on me, I eat everything.

Just wait. I'll do unsafe shit for sure.